“He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.”
The quotation of the wicked's internal conviction that God has forgotten and hidden His face and will never see it establishes that the wicked believes God incapable of or unwilling to judge. The doubling—forgotten and hidden face—emphasizes that the wicked imagines God as absent or inattentive. The declaration that God will never see suggests that the wicked believes his actions will escape divine notice and judgment. This verse reveals the theological conviction underlying the wicked's predatory behavior: the belief that God permits or ignores wickedness.
Church Fathers on Psalms 10:11
“Why, O Lord,” says he, “have You withdrawn afar off?” Psalm 9:1. Then he who thus inquired, as if all on a sudden he understood, or as if he asked, though he knew, that he might teach, adds, “You despise in due seasons, in tribulations:” that is, You despise seasonably, and causest tribulations to inflame men's minds with longing for Your coming. For that fountain of life is sweeter to them that have much thirst. Therefore he hints the reason of the delay, saying, “Whilst…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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