The Practical Atheism of the Predator Text: Psalm 10:8-11
Introduction: The World As It Is
We live in a world that is profoundly confused about the nature of evil. On the one hand, our secular culture wants to scream about injustice, oppression, and cruelty. They will march in the streets, cancel men for wrong opinions, and froth at the mouth over perceived slights. But on the other hand, this same culture has methodically dismantled every possible foundation for calling anything evil in the first place. If we are nothing more than sophisticated apes, the accidental byproduct of time and chance and matter, then on what basis do we call the strong devouring the weak "evil"? In the jungle, that is just called Tuesday. Predation is not a moral category; it is a biological one.
The atheist has a problem with evil, and the problem is that he cannot actually have one. In order to object to God because of the evil in the world, he must first borrow from the Christian worldview the objective standard of goodness that makes evil intelligible. He must stand on God's shoulders to slap Him in the face. But the Bible is not so confused. The Bible is brutally realistic about the nature of sin. It does not flinch. It stares squarely into the abyss of human depravity and calls it what it is.
Psalm 10 is a raw, honest cry to God from a man living in the real world. This is not a sterile, academic debate about the problem of evil. This is a man who sees predators ruining the lives of the innocent and asks God, "Why are you standing so far off?" This is a holy complaint. And in the section before us, the psalmist gives us a detailed field guide to the predator. He shows us the tactics, the mindset, and the foundational theology of the wicked man. And what we find is that at the root of all predatory wickedness is a very practical, functional atheism. The wicked man is not wicked because he has made an intellectual mistake; he is wicked because he has made a theological decision. He has decided that God is irrelevant.
This passage is a description of how the wicked operate, but it is also a diagnostic tool for our own hearts and a comfort for the afflicted. It shows us what sin looks like when it is fully grown, and it reminds us that God sees every bit of it, no matter how well the predator thinks he is hidden.
The Text
He sits in the places of the villages where one lies in wait; In the hiding places he kills the innocent; His eyes stealthily watch for the unfortunate. He lies in wait in a hiding place as a lion in his lair; He lies in wait to catch the afflicted; He catches the afflicted when he draws him into his net. He crouches, he bows down, And the unfortunate fall by his mighty ones. He says in his heart, "God has forgotten; He has hidden His face; He will never see it."
(Psalm 10:8-11 LSB)
The Predator's Tactics (vv. 8-9)
The psalmist begins with a description of the wicked man's methods. He is not a straightforward, open enemy. He is a coward and an ambusher.
"He sits in the places of the villages where one lies in wait; In the hiding places he kills the innocent; His eyes stealthily watch for the unfortunate. He lies in wait in a hiding place as a lion in his lair; He lies in wait to catch the afflicted; He catches the afflicted when he draws him into his net." (Psalm 10:8-9)
Notice the vocabulary here: "lies in wait," "hiding places," "stealthily watch." This is the language of the hunter, the trapper, the predator. He does not operate out in the open. He finds the dark alleys, the unlit corners of the village, the places where people are most vulnerable. He is a creature of the shadows. This is because sin, at its heart, loves the darkness. Jesus said that men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil (John 3:19). Openness, transparency, and light are terrifying to the man who is bent on wickedness.
And who is his target? "The innocent," "the unfortunate," "the afflicted." He doesn't pick on someone his own size. He is a bully. He hunts those who cannot defend themselves. The Hebrew word for "unfortunate" here carries the idea of the helpless, the luckless one. He is looking for the easy mark. This is the very definition of cowardice. The man who abuses his wife and children, the online troll who hides behind anonymity to destroy reputations, the swindler who targets the elderly, the corrupt politician who preys on the poor, they are all cut from this same cloth. They are lions in their own lairs, but terrified kittens in the open field of fair combat.
The imagery is powerful. He is a lion in his den, patient, watching, waiting for the precise moment to strike. He is also a fowler, a trapper, who "draws him into his net." This points to a calculated, strategic evil. This is not a crime of passion. This is premeditated. He sets traps. He uses deceit, seduction, and manipulation to lure his victim in. Think of the prosperity gospel preacher who nets the desperate and financially naive. Think of the pornographer who nets the lonely and lustful. Think of the ideologue on the college campus who nets the insecure and impressionable. The net is any scheme, any lie, any system that entangles the vulnerable for the predator's own gain.
The Predator's Posture (v. 10)
Verse 10 describes the physical act of the attack, revealing the wicked man's true nature.
"He crouches, he bows down, And the unfortunate fall by his mighty ones." (Psalm 10:10 LSB)
This posture of crouching and bowing down is fascinating. On one level, it is simply the physical posture of a lion getting ready to pounce. He makes himself small to be unseen before he explodes with power. It is a posture of feigned humility, of deceptive meekness. He makes himself appear non-threatening right before the kill.
This is the tactic of the wolf in sheep's clothing. He adopts the language of piety. He bows down. He might even look religious. He crouches in false deference, all the while preparing his attack. How many cult leaders, abusive pastors, and religious charlatans have used this very posture? They bow down in supposed service, all so that the "unfortunate" might fall by their "mighty ones," which could refer to their claws, their accomplices, or their powerful influence.
This is a picture of utter hypocrisy. The posture of worship, bowing down, is used for the purpose of destruction. He mimics the posture of a saint in order to accomplish the work of a devil. We must be a people who are not naive. We are to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. We must recognize that not everyone who bows down is worshipping God. Some are simply getting a better angle for their attack.
The Predator's Theology (v. 11)
Here, in verse 11, the psalmist pulls back the curtain and shows us the foundational belief system that makes all this wickedness possible. This is the key to the entire passage.
"He says in his heart, 'God has forgotten; He has hidden His face; He will never see it.'" (Psalm 10:11 LSB)
Notice where he says this: "in his heart." This is not a formal, public declaration of atheism. He might be a pillar of the community. He might even be in church on Sunday. But in his heart, in the place where his true convictions reside, he is a functional atheist. His worldview is built on a very simple creed with three articles of faith.
First, "God has forgotten." He believes in a senile God, a deity with a bad memory. God might have laid down some rules back in the day, but He's old now. He's moved on. He's not paying attention to the details anymore. This allows the predator to live as though the moral law of God has expired.
Second, "He has hidden His face." He believes in an absentee God. God is remote, distant, and disengaged from the affairs of men. He is the great clockmaker who wound up the universe and then went on a permanent vacation. He is not immanent. He is not involved. His face is turned away, so what happens down here in the dark alleys doesn't concern Him.
Third, and this is the damnable conclusion, "He will never see it." He believes in a blind God. Because God has forgotten and because His face is hidden, He is ultimately ignorant. He will not see the crime. And if He does not see it, there can be no record of it. And if there is no record, there can be no judgment. This is the sinner's trifecta, the unholy trinity of self-deception that licenses every form of cruelty and oppression.
Conclusion: The God Who Sees
This is the anatomy of wickedness. It is a lion's cunning, a trapper's patience, and a hypocrite's posture, all built on the theology of an absent and blind God. But the entire psalm is a refutation of this lie. The psalmist is crying out precisely because he believes the opposite. He believes God does see, that God has not forgotten, and that God will act.
And this is where the gospel crashes in. The predator says in his heart, "God has hidden His face." And for a moment, on a dark afternoon outside of Jerusalem, it appeared he was right. The Father did hide His face. But He hid it from His own beloved Son. On the cross, Jesus Christ cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He endured the ultimate sense of divine absence. He took the full force of God's hidden face upon Himself.
Why? So that God would never have to hide His face from us, His afflicted people. Jesus was caught in the net of wicked men, He was surrounded by lions, He was crushed by their might, so that we could be set free. He endured the ultimate affliction so that the afflicted could be brought near to God.
Therefore, the wicked man's theology is a catastrophic blunder. God has not forgotten; He has every hair on your head numbered. He has not hidden His face; He has revealed it in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6). And He will never fail to see; His eyes roam to and fro throughout the earth, and He sees every secret thing. The writer to the Hebrews reminds us that "no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account" (Hebrews 4:13).
For the unfortunate, for the afflicted who feel trapped in the predator's net, this is our great comfort. The God who sees is your Father. He is not standing afar off. He is with you in the trial, and He will vindicate you in His time. And for any who see themselves in the portrait of this predator, who have lived by the creed that God does not see, the warning is severe, but the invitation of the gospel is still open. Repent of your practical atheism. Turn from the shadows and come into the light. For the God who sees all your sin is the same God who offers to wash it all away in the blood of His Son. The face that the wicked believe is hidden is the very face that offers mercy.