Worship X Day 2 Proclaiming Praise: Digging Deeper

Digging Deeper Days
Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!
The Questions
1) What aspects of God’s character are revealed in Psalm 9?
2) Who are “the wicked,” and what is God’s response to “the wicked”? (verses 5, 16-17)
3) What can we praise God for when He is acting as judge? (verses 16-20)
Psalm 9
I will thank the Lord with all my heart;
I will declare all your wondrous works.
2 I will rejoice and boast about you;
I will sing about your name, Most High.
3 When my enemies retreat,
they stumble and perish before you.
4 For you have upheld my just cause;
you are seated on your throne as a righteous judge.
5 You have rebuked the nations:
You have destroyed the wicked;
you have erased their name forever and ever.
6 The enemy has come to eternal ruin;
you have uprooted the cities,
and the very memory of them has perished.
7 But the Lord sits enthroned forever;
he has established his throne for judgment.
8 And he judges the world with righteousness;
he executes judgment on the nations with fairness.
9 The Lord is a refuge for the persecuted,
a refuge in times of trouble.
10 Those who know your name trust in you
because you have not abandoned
those who seek you, Lord.
11 Sing to the Lord, who dwells in Zion;
proclaim his deeds among the nations.
12 For the one who seeks an accounting
for bloodshed remembers them;
he does not forget the cry of the oppressed.
13 Be gracious to me, Lord;
consider my affliction at the hands of those who hate me.
Lift me up from the gates of death,
14 so that I may declare all your praises.
I will rejoice in your salvation
within the gates of Daughter Zion.
15 The nations have fallen into the pit they made;
their foot is caught in the net they have concealed.
16 The Lord has made himself known;
he has executed justice,
snaring the wicked
by the work of their hands. Higgaion.
Selah
17 The wicked will return to Sheol—
all the nations that forget God.
18 For the needy will not always be forgotten;
the hope of the oppressed will not perish forever.
19 Rise up, Lord! Do not let mere humans prevail;
let the nations be judged in your presence.
20 Put terror in them, Lord;
let the nations know they are only humans.
Selah
Original Intent
1) What aspects of God’s character are revealed in Psalm 9?
Psalm 9 refers to God by several of His names. The first being “LORD” in verse 1, which is actually the Hebrew name for Yahweh or Jehovah. (Got Questions) This name means the one true, self-existent, eternal God and it’s the personal name God used of Himself when He revealed Himself as the “I AM” to Moses at the scene of the burning bush. In verse 2, the psalmist also names God as “Most High”, or Elyon, which literally translates as Highest of Highest or Elyon Elyon. This name emphasizes that nothing is higher than God for only He holds all authority and rule. The psalmist specifically includes these two names to emphasize God’s interaction with His creation as a God of justice. (verse 4) One of the most common names for God in the Old Testament is Elohim, derived from an ancient word for “judge.” Woven into the character of Elohim, which means supreme God of all gods, is His unchanging character of justice. Though Psalm 9 doesn’t specifically refer to God by this name, this element of God’s character is on display in this particular writing. Try reading through the psalm and taking a few notes of how God’s justice is displayed and what the implications are for His just character.
2) Who are “the wicked,” and what is God’s response to “the wicked”? (verses 5, 16-17)
The wicked described in this psalm, and in most places in Scripture, are those who have actively rejected God and His ways. They are guilty and deserving of punishment for their rebellion. While we all share this verdict of guilty because of our sin (Romans 6:23), Scripture names the wicked as those who have no desire to repent and turn from their sin. The wicked are actively hostile toward God, perpetually living as morally wrong, allowing their sin to rule over them. (Romans 6:12) Like all of us apart from the mercy of God, the wicked are condemned to an eternity of death and God’s wrath upon them (John 3:36) due to the condition of their hearts and the actions flowing from corruption. We see a progression revealed in this psalm as to how the merciful and just God responds to the wicked. First, He rebukes them (verse 5), drawing attention to their sin. Whenever God convicts the sinner of their wickedness, it is meant to spur them to repentance; this is His kindness to us! (Romans 2:4) When a person, or nation, refuses to heed God’s rebuke and turn from their sin, God allows them to be ensnared by the work of their own hands (verse 16), their foot is caught in the net they concealed (verse 15), and they fall into the pit they have made (verse 15). Finally, He destroys the wicked who are unrepentant, erasing their name forever and ever (verse 5); this is eternal condemnation.
3) What can we praise God for when He is acting as judge? (verses 16-20)
As God judges the wicked, Psalm 9 provides some outcomes of His justice and the benefits provided to those who do repent and trust Him.
- Our enemies retreat, stumble and perish before Him. (verse 3)
- The oppressed will NOT perish forever (verse 18); He remembers the cry of the oppressed (verse 12); He lifts the oppressed up as we turn to Him in dependent trust and repentance (verse 13).
- God is gracious (verse 13) and fair (verse 8); He does not abandon those who seek Him (verse 10); He is a refuge (verse 9); He works wonders (verse 1); He upholds our cause (verse 4); He judges with righteousness (verse 8); He provides salvation (verse 14); He makes Himself known (verse 16).
We see the repeated phrases in Psalm 9 that speak to the utter destruction of those who are enemies of God, and, when we align ourselves with Him, who are our enemies as well. He destroys, ruins, and uproots the wicked; even the memory of them perishes.
Everyday Application
1) What aspects of God’s character are revealed in Psalm 9?
While we all want justice, we rarely want justice meted out to ourselves. We don’t like facing the reality that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23, emphasis mine). Jesus said, “This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19, emphasis mine) When confronted with our sin, we resort to hiding and blaming as Adam and Eve did in Eden. We each sin by loving our selfish desires, idolizing our lusts, and worshipping everything except God. The God of Justice rightly deems us worthy of the consequence of eternal death for our sins against His holiness. (Romans 6:23) This would be tragic if it were the end of the story. If the final declaration is that we are sinners relentlessly rebelling against the righteous judge, and that our response would always be a knee-jerk reaction to hide from his Light and blame Him and others for our sin, we would be right to despair of all hope. But God is merciful and righteous. The Hebrew word for mercy depicts humble stooping to show gracious favor to those undeserving of kindness. Even as we were God’s enemies, He chose to die in our place, taking our punishment for sin upon Himself. (Romans 5:8, 1 Peter 2:24) Justice was served at the cross where God’s wrath was poured out on His Son instead of humanity. (Romans 5:9) This is the God of mercy, and the God of righteous judgment. This is a God of humble stooping (Philippians 2:6-8), a God who seeks and saves the lost (Luke 19:10), and a God who desires none to perish (2 Peter 3:9). This God of supreme justice and immeasurable mercy is worthy of our worship!
2) Who are “the wicked,” and what is God’s response to “the wicked”? (verses 5, 16-17)
It is tempting to look outward whenever we hear the word wicked. Surely, this is not a descriptor of ourselves! Even in psalm 9, the psalmist speaks of his enemies. “Oh, God,” we say, “Smite the wicked!” Yet, we don’t want to be smitten by Him; we want to be welcomed and justified. What about us? We are the wicked. All have sinned. All fall short of God’s holiness. This is me. This is you. The wicked aren’t limited to that person who is upsetting me or not living as I wish they would. We need to be so cautious of the sin of the Pharisees in Jesus’ day who quickly pointed to others’ sin while ignoring their own. Jesus called them “whitewashed tombs” (Matthew 23:27) who were dead within and completely unaware of their own need for God. They refused to acknowledge their sinfulness, which meant they couldn’t accept a God who would show them unmerited mercy and grant them salvation at His cost. They simply did not perceive themselves as needing a Savior; they were good enough on their own. Let’s respond to the word wicked by saying, “This is me. I need Him.” Thank Him that we are counted as righteous because of His work, not our own because we could never earn righteousness. Apart from His mercy, the inclination of our hearts is rebellion against God, and our destiny is the condemnation of the wicked. May we have compassion on the wicked as God has compassion on us, for at the cross, the ground is level. We all come to Him as rebellious sinners in need of a Savior.
3) What can we praise God for when He is acting as judge? (verses 16-20)
I remember a time when I began to understand that those who had deeply harmed me in the past were recipients of God’s just wrath, and I could trust Him to act justly on my behalf. For the first time, I felt a comfort deeper than I’d previously known. I saw God’s judgment as being on my behalf, not against me. He was judging the wicked, my enemies, so to speak, for harming His beloved daughter, as any good, protective father would. God’s judgment is ultimately a very good thing; it’s one we can trust without needing to take justice into our own hands. (Romans 12:17-21) Imagine a world where justice didn’t matter, and no one enforced the laws established for safety, harmony, and preservation of freedom. God is a God who cares enough to judge rightly. We can praise Him that He judges the unrighteous, and that He offers mercy in that process, but ultimately those sins committed against Him and those He loves do not go without retribution. (Romans 12:19-20) God cares deeply for the oppressed. And though the oppressed suffer for a time, He is aware of their suffering, and He is near to them. (Psalm 34:18) He always has the oppressed on His heart. He sees, hears, and cares when we are pressed down and persecuted and when we face trials of all kinds. (1 Peter 4:19) He also cares about those around us who suffer and He calls us to represent Him in their lives with love, compassion, and just action. When God judges, He does it with righteousness, fairness, grace, and mercy. He is never unkind or mean, unfair or temperamental in His judgments. We can trust Him as Elohim, the just God of all gods.
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Digging Deeper is for Everyone!
1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
several times
3) Write down your questions
as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers. Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes (click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you
other related verses!). (www.esvbible.org)
5) Check your applications with other trusted Christians that you are in community with and embrace the fullness of God
in your everyday!
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Why Dig Deeper?
Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.
In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!
Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.
Study Tools
We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.
Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!
Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))
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