Mensa Otabil - Destroy the Work of the Wicked (11/03/2025)
We’re still in Psalm 10, and we look at verse 15: «Break the arm of the wicked and the evil man; seek out his wickedness until you find none.»
Now, if you pay attention to this Psalm, it starts with the psalmist asking questions. He seems despondent and discouraged by what the wicked are doing around him. But then he shifts in his meditation to the Lord and says, «God, I know you see what is going on and that you will do something about it.» Now, in verse 15, he’s making a bold request to the Lord. He has moved from thinking God is not doing anything about this situation to now believing that God will do something about the situation he’s going through and that he can make his request to the Lord. That’s helpful for us in our prayers: we can start with uncertainty, but we must always end with confidence in the Lord. That’s what prayer is about.
So, look at the two prayer requests that he places before God. First, he says, «Lord, break the arm of the wicked and the evil man.» «Break the arm of the wicked» refers to the might of the wicked. The arm there is not literally the arm of the wicked; in other words, he’s not praying, «God, go and take the hand of the wicked man and break it.» He’s saying, «Lord, disempower the strength of the wicked. Lord, take down his power and disarm every evildoer.» That’s what our prayer is. We pray that God will disarm every evil weapon that is set against us and that the advantage that evil and wicked people have over us will be taken away. God will break the arm, and God will render them powerless.
So, that’s the first thing he’s praying for: he says, «Lord, don’t let them be powerful against me.» Then he makes a second request, saying, " Lord, seek out his wickedness until you find none.» What is he talking about? He’s saying, «Lord, uproot all the work of the evil person; uproot all his work.» The one who writes the psalm has a sense that this wicked person has done a lot and has probably worked very deeply around him. He’s infiltrated many systems and is now using those systems against him. So, he says, «Lord, seek them out.» In other words, «Lord, look for all the things he has done, all the wicked things he has planted, all the agendas he has set, and Lord, pull them out one by one. Disarm the wicked person; investigate all that he has done until every evil deed is exposed and judged.»
That is a very useful prayer that we should also be praying to the Lord when we go through difficulty and find ourselves overwhelmed by circumstances far bigger than us and by people far bigger than us. We should also pray that the Lord will disarm the wicked, that He will take their strength from them, and we should pray that God will look at every evil work that has been planted, seek them out, and uproot them. It is in answering this prayer that God delivers us from evil.
Now, I know sometimes people really want to see wicked people physically harmed, but that’s up to God. God’s work is not to physically harm even your enemy; God’s work is to disarm them so that they are powerless against you. That’s what you truly want-you don’t really care whether they are harmed or not. All you care about is that God delivers you from them and that they have no power over you. God seeks out all the things they have planted against you and uproots them. In the end, that is the prayer we desire from the Lord.
Let us pray. Pray, say with me: «Heavenly Father, you are the defender of those who trust in you. Disarm the wicked and uproot their evil works. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.»