Psalms 9

Psalms 9:1-20

THE SOUL’S SHOUT Psalms 9:1-20PARKER, in his “Peoples’ Bible”, after having treated a book, gathers up the untouched fragments and discusses them under handfuls of purpose. We are compelled to do the same with chapter nine. It is so rich in suggestion that we dare not pass it over, but up to the present, in our pastoral work, we have not treated it, and the pressure of duties renders that impossible at the present. We, therefore, ask the reader to accept this simple outline, believing that it may prove helpful to ministers and Sunday School superintendents, as well as to devotional readers of the Book. The Psalm seems to deal with The Great God, The Gracious God, and The Discerning God. The Psalmist literally bursts into his praises. There is no marvel in that fact when one reads the eighth chapter. It leads naturally to this outbreak of enthusiasm. In his praises, he pays his tributes to the most High God, the God who is most just, and the God who is ever dependable.He is the most High. “I will praise Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all Thy marvelous works. “I will he glad and rejoice in Thee: I will sing praise to Thy Name, O Thou most High” (Psalms 9:1-2), The phrase with which David concludes this outburst is accurately descriptive. It not only voices the psalmist’s view of God, but states a fact confirmed by all creation. One’s view of God is the soul of religion. In proportion as the view is great, the man entertaining it is lifted.He is the most Just. “When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at Thy Presence. “For Thou hast maintained my right and my cause; Thou safest in the throne judging right. “Thou hast rebuked the heathen, Thou hast destroyed the wicked, Thou hast put out their name for ever and ever. “O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end: and Thou hast destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them” (Psalms 9:3-6). No man needs fear his enemies when once he feels that God fights with him and for him. All enemies easily fall and perish in God’s Presence. No man need be disturbed about a righteous cause if God is to judge the same, for He can judge righteously only. No man need be afraid of healing, or fearful of the wicked, or alarmed at the power of his enemy, if God be for him. They will perish and even their memory will be obliterated.He is an enduring God. “But the Lord shall endure for ever: He hath prepared His throne for judgment. “And He shall judge the world in righteousness, He shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness” (Psalms 9:7-8). The judges of this earth pass away. Their judgments may be cut short. They themselves may fall while they are yet about delivering them, but not so with God. He shall endure forever. Therein is stability; therein is certainty; therein is security. He isTHE GOD He never forgets nor forsakes. “The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. “And they that know Thy Name will put their trust in Thee: for Thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek Thee” (Psalms 9:9-10). How different from the truest friends of earth! They forget us. How different from the pretended friends! They forsake us. Even our fathers and mothers sometimes do the same, but God—never. The oppressed may depend upon Him as a refuge, and those that have put their trust in Him may rest securely.His mercy is ever accessible. “Have mercy upon me, O Lord; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death” (Psalms 9:13). How good to know that God does not shut us off from Himself, but in Christ has opened a way! How good to feel that His holiness does not exclude our approach, sinful though we be! How good to know that He can be touched with a feeling of our infirmities, and that in the Person of His Son, He has been tempted in all points as we are, and knoweth how to succour us in the day of trouble! And how good to feel that even when affliction has befallen us, we have in Him a sufficient Physician who can lift us up from the gates of death.His salvation is the basis of our song. “That I may shew forth all Thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in Thy salvation” (Psalms 9:14). Salvation is more than an experience. It is a jubilation. Salvation is more than a snatching from the hands of the adversary, or even a withholding from the claims of hell. Salvation is freedom. Salvation is security. Salvation is a song.We look a bit further and find with the PsalmistTHE GOD His judgments express His discernment. “The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken. “The Lord is known by the judgment which He executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah. “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psalms 9:15-17). Men naturally start back from any reference to God’s judgments. The recitation of time fills us with fear. Men are increasingly disposed to eradicate hell from human speech, but even that would not end its existence. The fact will forever remain that the wicked is snared in his own work, and the fact will forever remain that the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God, for “the wages of sin is death”, and though hand join in hand, sin shall not go unpunished.But His discernment is shown in His care for the needy. “For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever” (Psalms 9:18).How precious! God’s table is spread, and when high-class society has refused His invitation, then the neglected will be the recipients of even a more urgent invitation. And when they have been brought in, the social outcasts shall be sent for and lovingly compelled to occupy seats at the festal board, for “the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever”.

He can even make nations to know themselves. “Arise, O Lord; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in Thy sight. Put them in fear, O Lord: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah” (Psalms 9:19-20).How needful a knowledge is this! How prone men are to forget their own sins, shortcomings! What pride stands in the very place appointed for humility! What self-exultation seeks to occupy the space set for self-abasement!

It is when we come into the Divine Presence that we see humanity as it is. It was when the prophet saw God, “high and lifted up”, His train filling the heavens, that on his face he confessed himself a man of unclean lips, dwelling in the midst of a people of unclean lips; and it was when Jesus manifested His Deity, that Peter was compelled to cry, “Depart from me: for I am a sinful man, O Lord”.