God Has Not Forgotten

“His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue are mischief and iniquity. He sits in ambush in the villages; in hiding places he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless; he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket; he lurks that he may seize the poor; he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net. The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might. He says in his heart, “God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”” (Psalm 10:7–11, ESV)

In the ancient world, “might makes right” was a way of life. Those with the most power made the rules and the rest of the world suffered at the whims and desires of the powerful. Thucydides, the historian who documented the Peloponnesian Wars between the Athenians and the Spartans noted that, “The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.”

Nothing resonates more closely with the description of the wicked in this holy hymn than the modern abortion industry where “might seems to make right,” where the helpless and innocent are seized and crushed by deceitful people whose tongues are full of mischief and iniquity.

But this is not the Christian imagination, where the Incarnation of Christ reveals human life is more valuable than the personal, temporal gain of money or power, and that God has not forgotten helpless.