READ: Ps. 9:1–21: … I will rejoice and exult in You … You have maintained my right and my cause … The LORD also will be a refuge … Those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You … Be gracious to me … Let the nations be judged in Your sight …
This is a song of victory, a song of praise in which not humanity stands central, but the LORD alone. David knows himself to be completely dependent on Him, also when it comes to the struggle against adversaries. This breathes throughout the entire psalm, referring to both past and future.
David is not disappointed in the LORD; on the contrary, in this song, which he has God’s people sing, he expresses his great gratitude toward the LORD. He has every reason to praise and honour Him exuberantly and does so with an expression of deep and special joy: he praises the LORD with his whole heart, declares all His wondrous works, and rejoices and exults.
David sees that the LORD is for him, protects and preserves him. He has maintained David’s right: as righteous Judge, God has decided the fate of David’s enemies, as enemies of God’s people and thus as God’s enemies.
How should we see this for our own lives? We have enemies: the devil, the world that follows the devil, and our own flesh. These too are enemies of us personally, of God’s church, and of Christ, the Head of the church. In Christ we can overcome them through His Word and Spirit (Eph. 6:10ff.).
The battle can become heavy, especially in the last time when the devil stirs up all nations against the church (Rev. 20:7ff.). But even then Christ overcomes by the breath of His mouth and by fire from heaven (Rev. 19:15ff.; 20:9). Finally, everyone will come before God’s final judgment.
Besides overcoming the enemy, the LORD also shows Himself during our lives to be a refuge against the ungodly and defectors in the church, such as false prophets (vv.10–11). In David’s time this included Saul. But thus David says to all who follow the LORD in faith wherever He goes (v.11): “Those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.” This is our comfort.
Do we show that same gratitude?
Singing: Ps. 9:4,5,6,10