Psalm 9
Triumphant Thanks
For the Pure and Shining One
To the tune of “The Secrets of the Son,” by King David
1 Lord, I will worship you with extended hands
as my whole heart explodes with praise!
I will tell everyone everywhere about your wonderful works
and how your marvelous miracles exceed expectations!
2 I will jump for joy and shout in triumph
as I sing your song and make music for the Most High God.
3 For when you appear, I worship
while all of my enemies run in retreat.
They stumble and perish before your presence.
4 For you have stood up for my cause
and vindicated me when I needed you the most.
From your righteous throne you have given me justice.
5 With a blast of your rebuke nations are destroyed.
You obliterated their names forever and ever.
6 The Lord thundered and our enemies have been cut off,
vanished in everlasting ruins.
All their cities have been destroyed—
even the memory of them has been erased.
7 But the Lord of eternity, our mighty God, lives and reigns forever!
He sits enthroned as King ready to render his verdicts
and judge all with righteousness.
8 He will issue his decrees of judgment,
deciding what is right for the entire world,
dispensing justice to all.
9 All who are oppressed may come to you as a
shelter in the time of trouble, a perfect hiding place.
10 May everyone who knows your mercy
keep putting their trust in you,
for they can count on you for help no matter what.
O Lord, you will never, no never, neglect those
who come to you.
11 Listen, everyone! Sing out your praises to the God
who lives and rules within Zion!
Tell the world about all the miracles he has done!
12 He tracks down killers and avenges bloodshed,
but he will never forget the ones forgotten by others,
hearing every one of their cries for justice.
13 So now, O Lord, don’t forget me.
Have mercy on me.
Take note of how I’ve been humiliated
at the hands of those who hate me.
Bring me back again from the brink, from the very gates of death.
14 Save me! Bring me to the spiritual gates of Zion
so I can bring you the shout of praise you deserve.
15 For the godless nations get trapped
in the very snares they set for others.
The hidden trap they set for the weak
has snapped shut upon themselves—guilty!
16 The Lord is famous for this: his justice will punish the wicked.
While they are digging a pit for others,
they are actually setting the terms for their own judgment.
They will fall into their own pit.
Consider the truth of this and pause in his presence
17 Don’t forget this: all the wicked will one day
fall into the darkness of death’s domain and remain there,
including the nations that forget God and reject his ways.
18 He will not ignore forever all the needs of the poor,
for those in need shall not always be crushed.
Their hopes shall be fulfilled, for God sees it all!
19 Lord, won’t you now arise to judge and
punish the nations who defy you?
Aren’t you fed up with their rebellion?
20 Make them tremble in fear before your presence.
Place a lawgiver over them.
Make them know that they are only puny, frail humans
who must give account to you!
Pause in his presence.
I hate election seasons. I hate turning on the tv and seeing campaign ad after campaign ad hyperbolizing all the positives and negatives of each candidate. I can’t even turn on the “news” and not be met with some sort of editorializing related to politics, policy, and candidates. And, social media...wow. It’s amazing to me the hate, the bigotry, and the attacks vomited out onto these platforms. I wonder how different our newsfeeds and Twitter Feeds would be if instead of spewing hatred and malice, we started to mimic David’s attitude in this psalm.
David wrote this psalm when he was King, likely after Israel’s defeat of the Philistines (I Sam 5), long after the death of Goliath. He opens the psalm with unrelenting praise, saying, “Lord, I will worship you with extended hands as my whole heart explodes with praise! I will tell everyone everywhere about your wonderful works and how your marvelous miracles exceed expectations!” We can learn so much from these few short words. When was the last time our whole hearts exploded with praise, not just a portion of our hearts, not just half of our hearts, but our whole hearts? David was filled to overflowing with genuine praise of God, and he is not going to keep quiet about it. He is so full of praise that he says he’ll tell everyone everywhere about God’s wonderful works and marvelous miracles that exceed all of his expectations. This isn’t just something David says, but it’s something David lives. After Israel defeats the Philistines, not once but twice, David brings the ark of the covenant home, and we see David humble himself before his God and his people and dance unashamed and undignified before his God (I Sam 6). Truly, David fulfilled his promise to jump for joy, shout in triumph, make music for his God, and worship.
David doesn’t stop there, though. Sometimes, I think it’s tough for us to relate to the characters from bible stories because we know how the story ends. But, David didn’t know how his story was going to end. He didn’t know how or when God was going to continue to rescue him and show him mercy. And, he’s incredibly honest about that. Even though God had given David and the Israelites victory over the Philistines, David found himself oppressed, once again. We don’t see him pouting or wallowing around in self-pity, though. No, instead, we see him begging God for mercy once again and asking for deliverance. Isn’t it interesting how David approaches God here? He acknowledges God for all he has done for him and Israel in the past. He praises God for his miracles and faithfulness, and he cries out, in faith, for God to do it again. I don’t know about you, but I know I desperately want that to be my attitude and how I approach my God and my Father.
I wonder how different our lives and our social media feeds would look if we chose to live with an attitude like David’s, well, maybe minus the whole “kill my enemies” part--if instead of focusing on the negatives and the seemingly impossible giants before us, we praised God and remembered his miracles from history and our lives and trusted in faith that he will do them again? I don’t know what giants are standing in your path right now, but I pray that you will approach them like David, with endless praise and faith and hope and trust in God.
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