Psalm 9 and 10

As you know last summer we began a sermon series that I said will be about 15-18 years long! It is called the Summer in the Psalms. People are here, there and everywhere over the summer, so I thought it would be nice to have some stand alone type sermons that can be served to us al-a-carte style and so we started our Summers in the Psalms series. We can digest them one week at a time and not have a fear of missing out or falling behind if we miss a few weeks here and there.

Welcome to Year 2 of 15 to 18 years.

As we resume this series in the Psalms, I want to lay out a road map for the rest of this summer as it will be a little different than last year. My intention as we started the series was to plow sequentially through the Psalm 1-150.

But as we began working through the Psalms last year, I realized that so many of the first 72 Psalms are Psalms of Lament. They help us express the tension we feel in our souls as we see the tragic state of our world. I thought to myself, man that is going to be a lot of consistent lamenting for the next 9 to 10 years! Maybe we should amend how we go through the series!

The book of Psalms is broken up into 5 separate books and so we are going to start at the beginning of each of those books this summer so that our intake will be a little more varied throughout the years. (Explain more why the book of Psalms has five segments next week).

Laying out the road map for this summer.

We will pick up we left off last year, in book one and we look at Psalms 9-10. Next week, we will introduce the 2nd book in the Psalms as we look at 42-43. July 21 Pastor Danny will introduce Book 3 as we preach from Psalm 73 (a wonderful Psalm of Asaph). July 28, Shane will begin Book 4 with Psalm 90 (a Psalm of Moses). Then the following week Pastor Danny will start Book 5 (Psalm 107). Then through the remainder of the summer we will go back and sequentially keep working through those books until we get to our fall kickoff Sunday on September 8!

Today we are going to look at Psalm 9 and 10 together because many believe that these were originally one Psalm. Between Psalm 9 and Psalm 10 you have a slightly irregular acrostic, some a few letters are missing, and one is out of order, but there is clearly a connection between the two Psalms. (A-Z - complete thougth).

Plus, If you look in your bibles, you might notice that Psalm 10 has no “superscription” or subtitle…and the reason for that is because in the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament, treated them as one psalm.

Let’s turn in our bibles to Psalm 9 now and notice something before we read. Depending on your bible translation it will say one of two things in the superscription. ESV / NASB “According to Muth-Labben” or NIV / NKJV “To the tune of ‘Death of the Son.”

Okay, what is the difference?

ESV and NASB transliterated the Hebrew words into English. Transliteration is when you transfer letters into a different language by using the closest corresponding letters in that language. So we get “Muth-Labben” (al -mut /ha - ben). That phrase is a little obscure and so that is why some of your translations will leave the meaning ambiguous and say something like “probably a musical or liturgical term.”

The NIV and NKJV does a little bit of calculated interpretation for it’s readers and links Psalm 9 to Psalms 3 where David is in an epic struggle with his son Absalom, so that is why you see the interpreted phrase, “to the tune of Death of the Son.”

I think there is validity in connecting the Psalm to it’s surrounding context and we will see David in Psalm 9 celebrating God’s justice in preserving His promises to Him even though his own son was out to get him.

Let’s get into Psalm 9 where we see David rejoicing because he knows that God rules over all and judges justly. The main take away for us is this,

We can rejoice now because all will be made right later.

God’s people can rejoice even in a season of uncertainty and injustice because we know that eventually the righteous will be rewarded the wicked will be wiped out. It might take time, but eventually the wheat will be separated from the tares. The sheep will be divided from the goats.

Knowing that all will be made right later by the Almighty God of justice, the people of God can rise up and rejoice now.

Today we are only going to study and apply verses 1 and 2 of Psalm 9. We won’t take time to teach every verse of these 2 Psalms because the primary points of application of these Psalms are found in the first two verses. In those two verses, David says 4 things that He will do. He is resolved to do them, and they all center on rejoicing in who God is and what He has done.

Psalm 9:1–2 ESV

1 I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. 2 I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

Pray:

I am resolved to…

These 4 “I will” statements come exploding out of David’s heart right from the beginning of this Psalm. There are 4 things that he will do. It sets a strong tone for the Psalm. Like no matter what we get into throughout the rest of this Psalm and the next one, let it be know that a decision has been made that is fixed and firm. There is a settled conviction that has captivated David’s soul.

This is not “I might.” This isn’t, “If it just so happens.” This isn’t “if I feel like it or if it just so happens to make sense to me at the time.” This isn’t, “well if everyone else around me does so as well.” This isn’t, “As long as it won’t cost me anything.” This is “I WILL.” This Psalm as become intensely personal for David. Later on in the Psalm, in verse 11, he will admonish us his readers to join him, but for right now, you and me and nothing else in all the world factors into the equation. David is going to do this these 4 things, no if’s and’s or but’s.

Let’s look at them and make them your own. I am resolved to…

…give thanks with my whole heart. (1a)

Psalm 9:1 (ESV)

1 I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;

He is going to give thanks to God with His whole heart. No half hearted thanksgiving is going to be coming from David. This isn’t some forced “thanksgiving testimony time.” This is, my heart is bursting to say thank you to God.

Many of us haven’t had that feeling in a long time or maybe even ever. Why is that and How can you “fix?”

First of all, the solution is not to force yourself to say thank you more often with a half-hearted effort. God is not impressed with your “partially filled expression of thanks from half of your heart.” We need to have a fuller understanding of our overwhelming indebtedness to Him so that words of gratefulness and gratitude come spilling out of our hearts that are full.

Jesus said, “out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.”

So, how do we fill up our hearts full of gratefulness to the degree that we can naturally, authentically “give thanks in all circumstance” as Paul told the Thessalonians?

The answer to that is found in David’s second resolution. He said that he was resolved to…

…recount all of God’s wonderful deeds. (1b)

Psalm 9:1 (ESV)

1 I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.

This is the key for us keep our resolves. In order for us to overflow with gratitude, we first have to be acted upon. In order for us to “be thankful” we will have had to have something come to us from outside of us that we could never have come up with on our own, but is our none-the-less.

David says, “I will recount all of God’s wonderful deeds.” Well how long is that going to take? That is going to consume your mind for a long time!

We are too preoccupied thinking about what we haven’t recieved from God, when we should be fascinated with what He has already given to us.

Remember what Paul told the Athenians about God in Acts 17:25

Acts 17:25 (ESV)

25 … he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

That is pretty all encompassing! Life. Breath. Everything. Do you know that right now you are being sustained and held together by Jesus Himself? He is before all things, and in him all things hold together (Col. 1:17). You might feel like you are barely holding your life together, but it isn’t up to you to do that. Jesus is holding your life together. If you are hearing these words, you are being sustained and upheld by His mighty right hand and underneath are His everlasting arms. You might not feel the friction of His embrace, but that is because you are so cradled in your Master’s touch that the feeling may be imperceptible to you. In order for you to start feeling it, you and I need to start “re counting” all that He has done.

This resolve will catapult us out of our moments of anxiety and depression. We too often focus on the wrong things. We can’t stop automatic thoughts from coming into our minds, that trigger feelings that impact our behavior causing us to avoid situations or catastrophizing outcomes, but we can take those thoughts captive once they come in there. We can challenge them and evaluate them to see whether or not they are true based off of what God has revealed in His word.

He has give us life and breath and everything! If I currently have life, and breath and everything, I can be thankful for what I have.

When upon life’s billows you are tempted and tossed. When you are discouraged thinking all is lost. Count your many blessing, name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

This is not childish. This isn’t just applicable for “old timers” at a Thanksgiving Eve service .

Count. Re Count. There are wonderful deed(s) (plural) that God has done in your past that we need to go back to examine and count. But for the sake of time, let’s just count one of them.

In the OT, there is one main primary act of delieverance that is referred to time and time again. It was to be remembered perpetually generation after generation. It was the exodus event that allowed God’s people to be freed from slavery and that set on a journey toward the Promised Land.

This last week we just celebrated our nations Independence. We shot off a whole bunch of expensive fireworks all throughout this land to remember something that took place 248 years ago. Every time one of those explosion of sparks lit up the night sky we were essentially saying “remember.” Recount how we got here. Each flickering ember that descended to the ground was a flashpoint of remembrance of our status as people occupying the land of the free.

This is what the Hebrews did. They would remember the Exodus yearly with the slain Passover lamb, but in a much more complete way, Paul tell us that…

1 Corinthians 5:7 (ESV)

7 For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

We need to remember that. We need to recount that. Daily. There are a lot of things that we can and should say, “Thank you for” even in the midst of hard circumstances, but the gift of delieverance from hell that Jesus Christ has brought us, ought to be the the prevailing thought that preoccupies our minds at all times.

Remember Christian as he is running away from the city of destruction in Pilgrims Progress. “Life! Life! Eternal Life.”

The times we remember what Jesus has done for us needs to be more numerous than the flickers of light we saw in the night sky a few days ago. We need to be immersed in and saturated with His great gift of love for us that allowed us to go free and that nailed Him to a cross.

Joe Stowell - If Jesus never did anything else for you...Hell cancelled, Heaven guaranteed – that is the confidence of all who have peace with God through Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1).

David says, “I will recount all of God’s wonderful deeds.” If we are to escape the pit of anxiety and depression, we need to do the same. If we are going to keep our first resolve to “give thanks with our whole hearts,” we need to fill them up by remembering all that God has done for us.

I am resolved to…

…be glad and exult in God. (2a)

Psalm 9:2 (ESV)

2 I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

This is a resolve that is so hard to commit to and I think it is the one that is is probably the hardest of the 4 to actually do. It can be rather natural for us to “count blessings” and then say thanks to the Giver of the Blessings. That is just practicing common courtesy. But this next resolve of David can’t be completed by keeping and itemized list. Here David takes control of his emotions and demands that they correspond with his ultimate reality.

Whoa. We have stepped into a whole new arena. Here David’s eyes are lighting up and the sides of his mouth are climbing up the side of his face. He is “glad” and he is “exulting” which means he is “rejoicing.” He is jubilant and overjoyed and he isn’t faking it.

Our emotions give us away. They are like check engine lights to our souls. They indicate to us what we value and hold dear. Our emotions indicate activity within our hearts.

But so often our gladness and our “exulting” (rejoicing) is so often based on the wrong things. We get our hopes up for some many things that we have no ability to control making us incredibly susceptible to disappointment. The key to eliminating disappointment in your life is to set you hope on the right thing.

David says he is “glad” and “rejoicing” IN GOD. In this instance, David’s emotional life is in perfect alignment with a God known for His immutability. Everything in this world is in a constant stage of change, so we need to be anchored to something outside of our world that will never change.

God. He has always existed in a state of perfection and Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. So why not put all your hope in Him and when you do that you can be glad and exult no matter whatever “unjust situation” you might find yourself in.

David’s son was trying to kill him and take the throne; and here David is glad and rejoicing “IN GOD.”

Biblical hope is not “wishful thinking,” it is a rock solid reality that is certain to come.

Biblical hope is confidence in something, that just hasn’t happened yet.”

Jesus once consoled a confused bunch of disciples with a resolve of His own on the night He was going to be taken away from them. Before His departure, He resolved to them. .

John 14:18 (ESV)

18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

Some of you need to hear that message today. I will not leave you. I will come to you. These are the resolves of Jesus that He will make good on. “He is coming to you.” Rejoice in and be glad in that.

Command your emotions to correspond with that ultimate reality. And to assist you in that endeavor, look at the good gift that God Most High has given David in the second half of verse 2.

I am resolved to…

…sing praises to the Most High God. (2b)

Psalm 9:2 (ESV)

2 I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

What a beautiful, helpful gift that has been given to us. We can sing. We have the ability to stir our emotions with melodies and lyrics that elevate the worth of the MOST HIGH GOD.

I think these 4 resolves are progressive. I think if we make firm commitments to thanking God, remember what He has done for us, basing our emotions on His constancy instead of things that can be taken away from us in a moment, if we do those…then, this last resolve just might be like the icing on the cake. Praise comes pouring out of David’s lips as he sings to the One who is exalted over all, Who reigns with purposed sovereignty while being enthroned in the heavens as He works His wonders.

So we have looked two verses and there are 38 more to go (how are we with time?).

All I want to do with the remaining time is read the rest of the text of Psalm 9 and 10 and wrestle with the reality of what they present. The rest of Psalm 9 informs us that judgement is coming and that all injustice will come to an ultimate end, but in Psalm 10, in the here and now, David is going to look around and see them all over the place and when he seems them they challenge his commitment to keep his 4 initial resolves.

That’s life right? We might know the end from the beginning but we live in the here and now and it can be excruciatingly difficult to deal with. Take consolation in the fact that you are not the only one dealing with the difficulty but resolve to keep your commitments until His Kingdom comes in its fulness and all wrongs will be righted.

We can rejoice now, because all will be made right later.

Let’s read the rest…stating with more proclamations of David in verses 3-12.

Psalm 9:3–12 (ESV)

3 When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before your presence. 4 For you have maintained my just cause; you have sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment.

5 You have rebuked the nations; you have made the wicked perish; you have blotted out their name forever and ever. 6 The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins; their cities you rooted out; the very memory of them has perished.

7 But the Lord sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice, 8 and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness.

9 The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. 10 And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

11 Sing praises to the Lord, who sits enthroned in Zion! Tell among the peoples his deeds! 12 For he who avenges blood is mindful of them; he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.

the blood that was spilt. He is mindful (our suffering hasn’t eluded His watchful eye.)

And now David expresses a personal plea to God in verses 13-20.

Psalm 9:13–20 (ESV)

13 Be gracious to me, O Lord! See my affliction from those who hate me, O you who lift me up from the gates of death, 14 that I may recount all your praises, that in the gates of the daughter of Zion I may rejoice in your salvation.

15 The nations have sunk in the pit that they made; in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught. 16 The Lord has made himself known; he has executed judgment; the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion. Selah

17 The wicked shall return to Sheol, all the nations that forget God. 18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever. 19 Arise, O Lord! Let not man prevail; let the nations be judged before you!

20 Put them in fear, O Lord! Let the nations know that they are but men! Selah

Psalm 10 (ESV)

1 Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? 2 In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor; let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised.

3 For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord. 4 In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”

5 His ways prosper at all times; your judgments are on high, out of his sight; as for all his foes, he puffs at them. 6 He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved; throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity.”

7 His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.

8 He sits in ambush in the villages; in hiding places he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless; 9 he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket; he lurks that he may seize the poor; he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net.

10 The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might. 11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it.” 12 Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand; forget not the afflicted.

13 Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, “You will not call to account”? 14 But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands; to you the helpless commits himself; you have been the helper of the fatherless.

15 Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none.

16 The Lord is king forever and ever; the nations perish from his land. 17 O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear 18 to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.

Which of the four resolves seems most difficult for you to apply? How can you apply them this week? Who can help you keep your commitments?

How does Jesus’ resolve impact your perspective on the hardships and injustices you may be facing? John 14:18 - “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

Fill in the blank: Life for me this week has been _______________. How does your answer impact your 4 resolves?

There are so many “good and encouraging” verses in Psalms 9 and 10. Would you consider memorizing one or two of them?