Psalm 9 - Praise For The Power Of God Series

-We all would do ourselves well if we would quit worrying with everyone else’s dirty laundry and wash our own! May God help us to put a guard on our tongues!

D. Psalm 9:9-16, 18-20—God’s Righteous Rescue of the Needy

Psalms 9:9-16 KJV The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. [10] And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. [11] Sing praises to the LORD, which dwelleth in Zion: declare among the people his doings. [12] When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble. [13] 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: [14] That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation. [15] The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken. [16] The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.

Psalms 9:18-20 KJV For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever. [19] Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight. [20] Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.

-We come to the last segment of this Psalm. . . We have seen. . . God’s redemption, His rule, His resistance, and lastly we come to His rescue.

-David paints for us a picture of what God is doing as He is a refuge for the oppressed and the troubled.

• It is a high place in the mountain.

• It has great security and is very well defended.

• It is lofty and inaccessible to the enemy.

• It is a place of retreat and refreshment away from the battle.

-But David goes further in Psalm 9:13-14 when he writes that he is standing at the very gate of death. There are life-threatening dangers that he has to believe the Lord will save him from.

• Mordecai was there when Haman constructed the gallows for his death. But the Lord prevailed and Mordecai’s enemy was hanged on his own device.

• The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fell into the slime pits they had constructed for Amraphel in Genesis 14.

-Don’t ever think the Lord cannot help you when it seems as if the whole host of hell is against you. His will is going to prevail and it is for weary saints and harassed preachers to believe and trust in!

III. CONCLUSION—WHEN I THINK OF THE GOODNESS OF THE LORD

-We can see that ultimately the power of God toward those who love and serve Him is all about His goodness.

-James Montgomery Boice, in his fine three-volume commentary on the Psalms, noted that when he started studying the Psalms in depth that something happened to him. He was aware that many of the psalms had tones of praise in them but that these were not kept in private to the writer. Each author of these psalms had a willingness to publically pronounce a blessing to Israel.