Four Characteristics of Wickedness

But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands. PSALM 10:14Even though he knows that God sees everything, David spells out in this prayer what the wicked person is doing. He gives us a profile of the wicked person and shows us what wickedness looks like.Pride: “The wicked boasts of the desires of his soul... He says in his heart ‘I shall not be moved’” (Psa. 10:3, 6). The wicked make a virtue of whatever they do. Whatever they want is good because they want it. But this approach to life is wicked because it is putting yourself in the place of God. The wicked person says that he is secure: “Throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity” (10:6). The wicked are always saying, “There’s nothing to worry about!”Hostile speech: “His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue are mischief and iniquity” (10:7). What’s in the heart of the wicked comes out of their mouth in all kinds of cursing and lies.Greed: “The one greedy for gain curses and renounces the LORD... He lurks that he may seize the poor” (10:3, 9). This is how the wicked person plans to advance the purpose of his greed.Violence: “He lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket” (10:9). Maybe you know someone like this: Everything seems quiet and peaceful, but suddenly this person springs up and they’re in a rage. You wonder, Where did that come from?The wicked person is volatile, unpredictable, frightening, and destructive. Like a lion, the wicked know that they have power, and they always use it in a destructive way. Do you see traces of any of these in your own life? Rank them from 1 (no trace that I can see) to 4 (I see more than a trace).Written by Colin SmithRead by Sue McLeish www.openthebible.org.uk