Psalm 9

Again we hear David coming before the Lord, pleading for deliverance from enemies.  In this prayer the righteous are seen as being the oppressed and the enemy as the oppressors.  It is the humble man seeking God’s help against the proud.  Note these simple thoughts that show the movement of this prayer.

·        In v1-5 David speaks of the “predicted outcome” (v1-2) based on God’s “past actions” (v3-5).  The 4 “I will” statements in v1-2 show David’s confidence; he will praise God and proclaim His works with respect to the immediate trial.  The 5 “You + verb” statements are encouragements to David’s faith.  We need to pray in this way, giving ourselves encouraging thoughts that will build our faith as we bring our needs to God.  v3 in the midst of the stanza tells what is predicted for the enemies of the man of faith and the people of God.  They will fall in God’s presence, not David’s.  In other words, God is the one to trust.  In this stanza David speaks to God.

·        In v6-12 there may seem to be a variety of things said, but in the end it is David stating his theology, his view of God.  In v6-8 God endures.  Even if the enemy destroys, God will still be there and will judge the destroyer.  In v9-12 God is a refuge for His people.  And note how His people are described or defined: they are the oppressed (v9) who know Your name …  who seek You (v10), the humble (v12).  Again, this is an encouragement to faith.  It is the way we need to pray.  We need to speak truthfully about God in ways appropriate to the struggle we are facing.  In this stanza David speaks both to the enemy and to God.  It is as if he is in the middle, facing the enemy, with his God standing behind him, so to speak.  And yet it is a conversation held in the presence of the rest of God’s people so they too are encouraged.

·        In v13-20 we come to the prayer.  There are two requests: have mercy (v13-14) and arise, O LORD (v19-20).  He pleads for God’s heart and then God’s strong arm.  The enemy is addressed in the middle of the 8 verses.  He will reap a harvest of what he has sown, which is the essence of God’s judgment (v15-16).  And he will be turned to hell because God will not always forget (or seem to forget) the needy (v17-18).  There is a great progression here, as David prays intelligently, pleading on the basis of the good theology he espoused in the middle stanza of the Psalm.

v13-14: have mercy that You may receive praise			v19-20: arise O LORD, don’t let man prevail & receive praise
	v15-16: the wicked will reap a harvest so God will be known in judgment (v6-8)	v17-18: the wicked will be turned to hell so God will be seen as refuge for the needy (v9-12)

One thing that is constantly seen in the Psalms is the knowledgeable praying of God’s people.  They do not come with the same old things.  Every situation is related to the character of God as well as to His past works.  Faith rests on truth.  So let us pray intelligently.  Let us pray the truth.  Is that not what it means when we are told that we have confidence in prayer if we ask anything according to His will (1 John 5:14)?  Pray with good theology.  Pray with the encouragement of the record of God’s dealings with His people in the past.  

May God be praised!

2018 Additional note:

This Psalm is about fame, about what we often call “name” recognition.  Consider these encouraging thoughts from the Psalm, again giving us truth on which we can stand in prayer.

Ø 9:5: God blotted out the name of the wicked forever.

Ø 9:6: The wicked made the memory of the cities they destroyed to perish.

Ø 9:7: But the LORD endures forever.

Ø 9:10: Those who know His name will trust Him and find refuge in Him.

Ø 9:12: He remembers the humble.

Ø 9:16: And He will be known (famous) by the judgments He executes.

Ø 9:17: True, some will forget God in the sense of ignoring Him.

Ø 9:18: But He will never forget the needy, He will never ignore them.  To Him they are “well known.”

Ø 9:20: Bottom line for us is that we come to see that we are mere men.