Psalm 9

Psalm 9 (NRSV)
Psalm 9
God’s Power and Justice
To the leader: according to Muth-labben. A Psalm of David.
1 I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
2 I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
3 When my enemies turned back,
they stumbled and perished before you.
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 destroyed the wicked;
you have blotted out their name forever and ever.
6 The enemies have vanished in everlasting ruins;
their cities you have rooted out;
the very memory of them has perished.

Lord,
The poet is one happy person. He has apparently won the war and he is giving you the credit. He assumes that his enemies are your enemies and that your enemies have been destroyed for their wickedness and that his cause is just. There is within him neither doubt nor uncertainty and he is ecstatic beyond description.

Lord I pray that your cause will forever be my cause and, your mission my mission, and for that reason, should opposition arise, and opposition seems to happen, I pray that my cause will be just and right and good because the mission is yours.

I know the danger of my prayer. I confess to the capacity to be blind to my own mistakes and the temptation to assume that my cause is your cause simply because it is mine. Protect me from that arrogance and forgive me when I stumble into that pride. I remember that Jesus taught us to pray for our enemies. Grant me grace to embody the teaching his instruction

I trust that in all things, in your own time and way, you will prevail. I believe that justice will win and wickedness will be destroyed. I trust that you are with me, leading and correcting as necessary, and that you are taking me with you in your journey to ultimate victory. Help me to forever be faithful and I will be thankful, today and all days.

PERSONAL PRAYERS
Ask God to align your personal purpose in life with God’s.
Ask for grace in the presence of opposition.
Name 5 things for which you are grateful and say “thank you” to God.

In Christ’s name,
Amen


7 But the Lord sits enthroned forever,
he has established his throne for judgment.
8 He judges the world with righteousness;
he judges the peoples with equity.
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 dwells in Zion.
Declare his deeds among the peoples.
12 For he who avenges blood is mindful of them;
he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.
13 Be gracious to me, O Lord .
See what I suffer from those who hate me;
you are the one who lifts me up from the gates of death,
14 so that I may recount all your praises,
and, in the gates of daughter Zion,
rejoice in your deliverance.
15 The nations have sunk in the pit that they made;
in the net that they hid has their own foot 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 depart to Sheol,
all the nations that forget God.
18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
nor the hope of the poor perish forever.
19 Rise up, O Lord ! Do not let mortals prevail;
let the nations be judged before you.
20 Put them in fear, O Lord ;
let the nations know that they are only human. Selah
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[1] The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version. 1996, c1989. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.