HOLY PSALM OF DAVID (ZABUR) NINE

1 I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvellous things you have done.  2 I will be filled with joy because of you. I will sing praises to your name, O Most High!

Here the prophet David reflects the fact that true worship of God is based on the marvellous things that God has done, evident to us both in creation, in history and in the lives of believers today. And that worship is a matter of our wills and of our emotions. We need to praise God from our hearts and we need to tell of what God has done! The things we tell of must be weighed carefully since it is possible for believers to attribute to God their own misguided perceptions.  The other mark of a true believer is ‘joy.’  Joy can’t be manufactured – it is a sign of the touch of God’s Spirit in us enjoying humanity as God designed us to be, and is necessarily accompanied by a person’s peaceful conscience and goodwill to all humanity.

8 God (the Lord) will judge the world with justice and rule the nations with fairness. 9 The Lord is a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.

Since it is true that God’s purpose is to create an eternal people who will be perfected in worship, then it is quite logical that God will judge humanity.  The NT/ Ingil and the Qur’an state that God will judge the world through Jesus Christ (though Muslim and Christian interpretation of how that will happen is different!). However, the outcome will be clear to all humanity since God is perfect love and justice.  All wrong done to all humanity whether done in the name of God/Allah/Yahweh or just from self-centred greed, hate or lust, will be exposed to all.  And there will be only one solution, viz., the solution God offers humanity in the person of Jesus Christ!  God is merciful as the Qur’an (Surah one) and the Book of God proclaim; however, this mercy must be received in total repentance and faith.

Since God is merciful it follows that he is a refuge for the oppressed.  Oppressors should therefore beware! They will come under God’s judgement in due course.

18 The hopes of the poor will not always be crushed. 19 Arise, O Lord!

The Book of God makes clear that God cares for the poor and needy even though that may not always be apparent in this life.  It should be a warning to the powerful and rich who often oppress the poor.  Hence David’s prayer (v.19) for God to arise and let oppressors know that they are merely mortal.  God’s judgement on all who will not receive the mercy that God offers them, is death, viz., they will not enter eternal life God has prepared for those who are perfected with his character (i.e., perfected in compassion, humility and self-giving love).

In this Psalm and in others, David appears to locate God’s reign as based in Jerusalem (v.11), although he also saw God as Lord of all creation. Clearly God is not (and never was) located in any one place. The following poem envisages the place where God ever reigns, as a spiritual tree that is ever growing.

A poem inspired by Psalm 9

“In earth's culture, I have established

My holy tree from where I rule.

My branches draw the living water -

Through my Son my justice comes.”

O Lord our God we sing your praises

Our trust is in you to prevail

Against all ignorance and hatred

Done to your tree of righteousness.

A prayer: - Help me to be a living branch in your tree, O God!

mjk 02/12/17 c. mikereflects