Psalm 9--I Will Recount Your Wonderful Deeds

Psalm 9
English Standard Version

I Will Recount Your Wonderful Deeds
To the choirmaster: according to Muth-labben. A Psalm of David.
9 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.

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.

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

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We are commanded many times in Scripture to "reckon" or "remember" what the LORD has done for us and to intentionally tell that story to others, specifically the next generation.  The patriarchs did this by building altars and digging wells and building other "markers" that they would pass by and it would give them a chance to relay their history or would cause others passing by "What does that mean?  I know it must have some significance."  We should have similar things in our lives where  we remember to tell the story of what God has done for us and that causes others to wonder what the meaning of this transformation is that they've seen or this new and abundant life which is so different than what they see in everyone else in the world.

David again worships the LORD for who He is and what He has done in his own life and writes it down in song so that he can share it with everyone, especially His children.  God has given David victory over his enemies and has judged David according to His righteous judgment and declared David "not guilty" (because the guilt has been taken away and put on Christ).

God has brought an end to the evil nations (and He will finish doing this in the book of Revelation when Christ comes back as the Conquering King who is the rider on the white horse).  All of His enemies--those who join the rebellion against Him and ally themselves with the devil, the antichrist, and the false prophet--will be defeated and judged.  The things that they thought made them strong (their walled cities) could not protect them from the LORD, and the very memory of the wicked will perish as God will make all things new and there will be no more sign or indication of these evil and wicked nations--Satan and all those allied with him will be thrown into the Lake of Fire to suffer eternal judgment.

Along with this, the throne (meaning the kingdom and its power) that belong to the Lord Jesus Christ will be established forever.  His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom that shall not pass away.  His throne is a throne of justice, and He always executes righteous judgment (notice it does not say "fair" because that would exclude grace and mercy since they are by definition not "fair").

Those all seem like future things that David is talking about in present tense as if they are already done because we know Christ will fulfill those things at His Second Coming.  Now David talks about some things that are true here and now.  The name of the LORD is a place of safety for those who are helpless and defenseless.  For those who are oppressed and in times of trouble, they can run to Him for safety and protection.  "The name of the LORD is a strong tower.  The righteous man runs into it and is safe." (Proverbs 18:10).  It seems like Solomon probably learned this directly from his father, maybe even by reading and hearing this particular Psalm.  Those who know the LORD put their trust in Him and He has not forsaken them.  Wow!!! That's some gospel language if I've ever head it--only those who come to the LORD by faith are the ones who really know Him and those who know Him and belong to Him are secure in their salvation because it's not about who we are and what we have done, but about who He is and what He has done!  Yes, we are certain of the salvation that the LORD provides!

​We are to sing of His great name and tell the nations of His mighty works.  We are to warn the wicked that He is the one who is the avenger when the wicked shed innocent blood.  He is the one who will will hear the cries of the afflicted (think of those who are in slavery or are being abused and mistreated) and God promises that He hears them and sees them and does not forget about them (though He does not promise that He is going to save or deliver every one of them, He does promise that righteous judgement will come upon all those who shed innocent blood or afflict innocent people).  "Vengeance is mine.  I will repay, says the Lord." (See Hebrews 10:30, Romans 12:19, Deut. 32:35, Psalm 94:1, 1 Thess. 4:6, Isa. 65:6-7, and many other passages that we've seen already in Psalms and that we'll continue to see where the LORD is identified as the Avenger and the one who will justly judge the wicked).

​David then turns inward and cries for the LORD to have mercy on him.  Possibly because he realizes that if he were really honest, he would be one of the "wicked" people that deserves this judgment were it not for the LORD's grace and mercy that come through the cross of Jesus.  David prays for God to see his affliction, even though He just said he was certain that God sees the afflicted, it is sometimes hard for us to say to ourselves, "Well, yeah, I know that's true in general, but does that apply to me?  It certainly does look or feel that way in my life and in my situation right now."  David seems to be asking God to help him see that God is all those things that David just proclaimed Him to be in David's own life too.  David believes this and that is why even though he seems to be on death's doorstep, He prays for the LORD to give him the strength to arise and praise the LORD.  He wants to sing those praises loud and proud in the public square for all to hear about how much he rejoices in the salvation that the LORD has provided.

David then turns back to his enemies and says that the enemies of the LORD who thought they were laying a trap for other have ended up getting caught in their own traps--that's the way the judgment of the LORD works.  They fell into their own pits that they dug, they were caught up in their own nets, and they were trapped by their own snares and traps.  The LORD has made it known that He is the one executing this judgment on them even though it looks like they are being caught up in their own devices.  There are then two commands musically.  The first one, Higgaion, probably means for the instruments to stop playing.  We're more familiar with the instruction Selah, which is an instruction to the listener to pause and reflect.  However David wants this to be a very dramatic or pregnant pause.  Not even the music is supposed to disturb the meditation (another possible meaning of Higgaion is to "meditate" on what is being said).  Other times this word is used in the Psalms, we see it translated (Psalm 92:3, Psalm 19:14 and in Lamentations 3:62--Lamentations is very much a song of lament and sorrow), but this is only place we'll see it as an instruction to the instruments and choir.

After this dramatic pause, David returns to the final judgment of the wicked.  Their place will be in Sheol (the closest word that Hebrew has for the Greek word "Hell."  "Sheol" is the Grave or the place of the dead.  It says they will "return" there, so it seems like David is talking about a "second death" like that of The Lake of Fire.  Everyone who has "forgotten" or rebelled against God will have their end there.

David says that he sees injustice right now in that there are those who are in need who are not taken care of and people who are poor who are not being provided for.  David says that this will not always be the case.  One day, when Jesus is King there will be no one needy or poor.  Everyone will have everything they need and all those who are citizens of His everlasting kingdom will have all the riches and fullness of Christ at their disposal.  However, Jesus tells us that for now, we will always have the poor and needy among us.  We should be obedient in taking care of them poor and the widows and the orphans among us, but we should not imagine that somehow we are going to fix the issues caused by sin by throwing money at the problem.  There is not enough money in all the world to make everyone rich--that will only happen when all those in Christ will have access to the infinite riches that belong to Him one day, and at that point, no one will need any of it because everything is going to be provided for us.  Gold will be in such abundance and so "worthless" that the streets will be made of gold.  It will just be something for us to walk on.

There is then a cry to the LORD for His justice to come and come swiftly.  For God to make things right and to judge the wicked people and teach them a lesson that He is God and they are not.  In God's perfect timing, the LORD did not answer this prayer of David immediately as He gave time for the cross to happen first and He has given much time for everyone that is part of the LORD's Elect to come to salvation (those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life and have been written there since before the beginning of time).  God desires for all to come to repentance, but we should not take His patience as slackness in carrying out His promises or His judgments.  There will be a day coming very soon when the door to the Ark of salvation will be closed shut and those who are in the Ark of Christ will be safe from the coming judgment and all those outside of Christ will be judged and will have no more opportunity to enter the Ark.  There are few things that still need to happen before the end will come, but the main thing that is see comes from Matthew 24:14,


Matthew 24:14
English Standard Version
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
God is going to be patient in executing judgment until there is a remnant from every tribe, tongue, nation, and people group.  There are several places in the book of Revelation that say this, but I'll just cite Revelation 5:9 as one example,


Revelation 5:9
English Standard Version
9 And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
    and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
    from every tribe and language and people and nation,
Revelation 7:9 and Revelation 11:9 contain similar language.  Let us be about the business of fulfilling The Great Commission and taking the gospel to the whole world if we truly want to see the LORD's justice and righteous judgment and "[His] kingdom" come and "[His] will be done on earth as it is in heaven."