Introduction:

When government rallies people together around a common cause, it is amazing what can be achieved!

1. October 4,1957 the Russians launched their first satellite, Sputnik 1. It took the United States by surprise.
2. In November of the same year they launched a larger satellite, Sputnik II. It put a passenger into space...a dog.
3. We continued to trail the Russians as they launched bigger satellites, and put the first man in a full orbit around the earth in April, 1961. Yuri Gargarin circled the earth and told us that he didn't see God up there.
4. It was in May, 1961 that President Kennedy announced to Congress that NASA had set the goal of putting a man on the moon by the end of the Decade.
5. Some of us remember Niel Armstrong stepping out of the Lunar Module onto the moon's surface. The date was July 20, 1969.

This was a huge project....only the Panama Canal, in peace time, and the Manhattan Project in wartime, rivaled it in size.

It is amazing what can be achieved when nations decide to accomplish something.

This is not new....

1. The Egyptians, 5000 years ago, organized people to build tombs for their kings, we call them pyramids. Stone blocks weighing several ton each, were placed on barges and moved to the place of construction. They were put in place, perfectly level, and square with only a fraction of an inch separating them. People still marvel at the construction of them.
2. The Sumerians took advantage of the flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates River to irrigate, and provide canals for transportation. They also developed a system of laws concerning water rights and canal maintenance.

All these technological, educational, political achievements seems to give countries a misconception...that they are laws unto themselves. That they provide their own resources, write their own rules, and determine their own destinies.

It is wise that we remember what Psalm 9 desires to teach us...

It is wise that we remember that Psalm 9 was written by a King...David. A seasoned political leader, lifts up his voice in a prayer, and as he does so, gives some of the soundest political advice any nation could ever want.

A curriculum to....

let the nations know they are but men.

Grateful for God's Provision

1     I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart;

I will tell of all your wonders.

2     I will be glad and rejoice in you;

I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

let the nations know they are but men

Obedient to God's Commandments

17     The wicked return to the grave,

all the nations that forget God.

The nations which have ignored God's desire to treat people with respect, and kindness have put themselves in a very difficult situation. For God will not tolerate nations or people that oppress others, seek to gain power in order to live high while others are starving.

When nations forget God, when they act as if what he has to say is not immportant, when they form their values, this provokes God more than we can imagine. When nations with wealth oppress the poor, and fail to care for the fatherless...

When nations look out only for themselves and disregard the welfare of others, when they break treaties we need to be reminded that God will not let this go on.

18 But the needy will not always be forgotten,

nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish.

let the nations know they are but men.

Responsible to God's Judgment

David looks forward to judgment and rejoices.

7     The Lord reigns forever;

he has established his throne for judgment.

8     He will judge the world in righteousness;

he will govern the peoples with justice.

Restorative

4 For you have upheld my right and my cause;

you have sat on your throne, judging righteously.

David trusted God.

Even if it did not appear that for the moment God would make it right.

Retributive

15 The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug;

their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.

16 The Lord is known by his justice;

the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.

let the nations know they are but men.

For us not to know we are but men, does not enahance our humanity, it dimishes it. To try to be more than we are always leaves us even less than we are.

What the nations need to know is that God is God!