Psalm 9 - Thanksgiving for God's Justice!

 

Psalm 9 NKJV A Psalm of David with Commentaries by Dennis Edwards

Psalm 9:1-2 I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.

David starts his prayer with praise. God dwells in the praises of his people. We enter into God’s presence with praise and thanksgiving. The Bible is full of passages proclaiming the goodness and importance of praising God. “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it,” Psalm 118:24.

Psalm 9:3-4 When my enemies turn back, They shall fall and perish at Your presence. For You have maintained my right and my cause; You sat on the throne judging in righteousness.

David says that his enemies shall fall at God’s presence. A passage in the Gospels shows that Jesus' enemies fell at God’s presence in Him. Let us read from John 18:3-6.

“Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, comes thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.”

Jesus just spoke to the crowd that came to capture him and they fell to the ground. God’s presence within him made his enemies fall to the ground. Jesus was showing them he had power to withstand them if he so wished, but instead he gave himself up willingly that the plan of God should be fulfilled. "No man takes it (my life) from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father." John 10:18. 

In the story of Elijah in the Old Testament we see Elijah had power to call down fire from heaven and burn up his enemies. 2 Kings 1. Jesus had that same power, but He came as the Good Shepherd to lay down His life for the sheep. When Jesus was heading to Jerusalem to complete His mission, the Samaritans did not receive him. The disciples asked, "Lord, will you that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elijah did?" But Jesus turned, and rebuked them, and said, "You know not what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them," Luke 9:54-56. 

Jesus came that He might destroy the works of the devil. He destroyed the works of the devil through His death on the cross, He who was "slain from the foundation of the world," Revelation 13:8b. 

Jesus fulfilled God's plan and broke the curse that was upon us through sin, that through His death, both sin and death should be destroyed. Whosoever that believes on Him shall be saved and have everlasting life, the gift of God to those that believe on Jesus.

Psalm 9:5-6 You have rebuked the nations, You have destroyed the wicked; You have blotted out their name forever and ever. O enemy, destructions are finished forever! And You have destroyed cities; Even their memory has perished.

The enemy with his wars and evil military might has destroyed cities and nations. But the day is coming when God will destroy the cites of men that had polluted the body politic. In Isaiah we read of God's judgement on Lucifer where God says, "Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities," Isaiah 14:21.

Zephaniah 3 we find the same sentiment. "Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! She obeyed not the voice (of God); she received not corruption: she trusted not in the Lord; she drew not near to God. Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; ... Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law. ... I have cut off the nations: their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passes by; their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant," Isaiah 3:1-4 and 6.

In Revelation 18 we see the mighty destruction of the leading city of the final Babylonian Empire. God warns us, "Come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities,"  Revelation 18:4-5.

According to Scripture the final judgments of the present dispensation take place during the Wrath of God, that 75 day period after the tribulation trumpets have sounded and the rapture has taken place at the last trumpet. When the seventh angel pours out his vial of wrath a great earth quake occurs on the earth. "And the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath," Revelation 16:19b.

God is not happy with the present day worldwide city system. He would have mankind live a more agricultural lifestyle. Since the time of Nimrod of Babel, mankind has been trying to make a unified city system in defiance of God and his ways and commandments. God had to come down and destroy evil men's first attempt and confound the languages. "And they left off to build the city," Genesis 11:8. Evil men however continue in their attempt to rebuild the united city system of the world in rebellion against the Lord and His ways..

Psalm 9:7-8 But the Lord shall endure forever; He has prepared His throne for judgment. He shall judge the world in righteousness, And He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness.

God will judge righteously. The peoples of the world desire a righteous judge who will judge the wicked and deliver them from his hand.

Psalm 9:9-10 The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, A refuge in times of trouble. And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.

Our hope is always in God, that He will save us. We are not strong enough to save ourselves. We don’t have the finances to go off and escape to some place of refuge far from the maddening crowd. Our refuge is in Him, that He will keep us and protect us and find us a secure dwelling place, safe from evil, safe within His presence.

We know the name to call on that we shall be saved and that name is Jesus. It is at the name of Jesus that every knee shall bow, and that every tongue shall praise. See Philippians 2:9-11 and Acts 4:12.

Psalm 9:11 Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion! Declare His deeds among the people.

God wants us to continue to be a witness to the nations, to declare the Gospel wherever we go, to sing of His mercies to all generations. Apostle Paul wrote, "And the things that you have heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also," 2 Timothy 2:2.

Jesus Himself had said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature," Mark 16:15. "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you," Matthew 28:20a. 

Psalm 9:12 When He avenges blood, He remembers them; He does not forget the cry of the humble.

When His judgments come, He remembers those that are His and sets a mark on them for good. See Revelation 7:3 and Ezekiel 9:1-7. His angels go forth and protect His beloved. Psalm 91, amongst others, is filled with promises of His protection for those that love and obey Him.

Psalm 9:13 Have mercy on me, O Lord! Consider my trouble from those who hate me, You who lift me up from the gates of death,

It is only the Lord that sustains us and keeps us alive. We trust in His mercy to save us from those that hate us and wish us evil.

Psalm 9:14 That I may tell of all Your praise, in the gates of the daughter of Zion. I will rejoice in Your salvation.

Again, we praise God for the mercy He shows us, and sing of His goodness. We declare His salvation to the nations. As Apostle Paul admonished, "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season," 2 Timothy 4:2a.

Psalm 9:15 The nations have sunk down in the pit which they made;
In the net which they hid, their own foot is caught.

The nations have indeed sunk down into iniquity. The United Nations, the World Economic Forum, The World Health Organization, etc., have been capture by the forces of evil. Let the net they have laid for the poor catch themselves, O Lord. Save us from the hand of the wicked.

Psalm 9:16 The Lord is known by the judgment He executes; The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Meditation. Selah

Execute Your judgments in the earth, O Lord. Judge the wicked for his wickedness.

Psalm 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, And all the nations that forget God.

Turn them into hell, O Lord, in Your righteousness, for they have indeed forgotten You. Let them feel Your righteous judgments.

Psalm 9:18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten; The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever.

Let not the poor lose hope. Send Your judgments on the wicked, that the poor may see it and be comforted. You promised, Lord, that the meek, the humble, the poor in spirit would inherit the earth and delight themselves in the abundance of peace, Psalm 37:11.

Psalm 9:19-20 Arise, O Lord, Do not let man prevail; Let the nations be judged in Your sight. Put them in fear, O Lord, That the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah

Do it, Lord. The time is at hand. Iniquity has exalted itself against You and against Your people. Have mercy upon us, O Lord, for our enemies are too great for us. They are rich and increased in goods. They oppress us and we lose hope. Arise, O Lord, save Your people who trust in You, that the nations may know that they are only men.