Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Psalm 9 | Date: August 6, 2023 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Psalm 9: A Song of Grateful Praise

But this morning, Psalm 9. Psalm of David. “I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before your presence. For you have maintained my just cause. You have sat on the throne giving righteous judgment. You have rebuked the nations. You have made the wicked perish. You have blotted out their name forever and ever. The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins. Their cities you rooted out. The very memory of them has perished. But the Lord sits enthroned forever. He has established his throne for justice, and he judges the world with righteousness. He judges the peoples with uprightness. The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you. For you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. Sing praises to the Lord who sits enthroned in Zion. Tell among the peoples his deeds. For he who avenges blood is mindful of them. He does not forget the cry of the afflicted. 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, that I may recount all your praises, that in the gates of the daughter of Zion I may rejoice in your salvation. The nations have sunk in the pit that they have made. In the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught. The Lord has made himself known. He has executed judgment. The wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higayon, Selah.”

Now both of those terms are evidently musical terms for the psalm in terms of its performance and/or its singing, but the exact meaning of those terms, both of them, is lost to us. “The wicked shall return to Sheol, all the nations that forget God. For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever. Arise, O Lord, let not man prevail. Let the nations be judged before you. Put them in fear, O Lord. Let the nations know that they are but men. Selah.”

Let’s bow for prayer. Our Father, we have been so encouraged as we have become more familiar with this wonderful book. We’re so grateful for the king and the prophet David, who has given us these poetic lines that teach us so richly of your greatness, of your justice, your righteousness, and of your purpose in world history. We pray that you would encourage us, your people, this morning with what we learned from this psalm. Help us to take from it great encouragement—what we will see and what we will eventually see in the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his name we pray. Amen.

Psalm 9 is—we’ve been looking at the various genres of psalms, and this would be a psalm of individual grateful praise, or an individual song of grateful praise. You remember the difference between a regular praise psalm and these psalms of individual grateful praise are that in a praise psalm or a hymn, there is praise to God that gives descriptive praise of who he is, his greatness, his justice in the earth and those kinds of—his being creator, his steadfast love, things like that, but it’s more broadly generalized. In these individual songs of grateful praise, we have the psalmist praising God for some individual act, some specific act on his behalf. Lying in the background sometimes is a specific lament psalm, but if not a lament psalm, at least some situation where the psalmist was in struggle of some kind and he cried out to the Lord for help. He was in need of help. The Lord then came to his deliverance and showed mercy. And now the psalmist expresses thanks to God for the mercy shown in that or those events that were in mind.

And so these are not lament psalms in particular. The lament of this psalm lies in the background. He’s not crying to the Lord for what’s going on, but he does speak of some things that have been in his background where he was endangered and in trouble, but the Lord has come and given deliverance, and now he gives praise to God for it. And you remember these songs of grateful praise were never intended to be private praise, but these are psalms of public praise where the psalmist publicly announces what God has done for him and gives him praise in the assembly.

So we have the regular form of a praise psalm, or an individual praise psalm, in verses one and two. We have the proclamation where the psalmist in these types of psalms generally begins with a statement, “I will praise the Lord.” Here we have that. Verse one: “I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. I will recount all your wonderful deeds.” Then next, in these types of psalms, we have an introductory summary statement of what God has done. Often in these psalms, the psalmist will say, “because he heard my voice, because he came into my deliverance,” something like that. Well here, verses three and four give us that summary statement, particularly verse four, where “you have maintained my just cause. You have sat on the throne giving righteous judgment.”

And then next in these Psalms, we have a reflection on a past need, and then a report of the deliverance that God has given. In these sections of the Psalms, he’ll say something like, “I cried, the Lord delivered.” We have that here, verses five to 10. We’ll look at verse five here: “You have rebuked the nations.” Here he’s reporting what God has done. “You have rebuked the nations. You’ve made the wicked perish. You have blotted out their name forever and ever.” And then he concludes with a praise, verses 11 and 12. “Sing praises”—this is where the psalmist calls the people of God then to praise with him. “Sing praises to the Lord who sits enthroned in Zion. Tell among the peoples his deeds.” So we have the proclamation, we have the introductory summary statements, then we have the reflection on the past need and the report of deliverance, and then finally the praise. So we have then, in verses 1 to 12, an individual song of grateful praise.

And yet, in verses 13 to 20, what we have is a petition. Look at verse 13: “Be gracious to me, O Lord. See my affliction from those who hate me.” Petition is the mark of a lament psalm. The heart of the lament psalms is a petition to God. Here, verses 1 to 12, the lament only lies in the background. “Be gracious to me, O Lord,” verse 13, “see my affliction, those who hate me.” So here we begin a petition or a petition lament psalm. In fact, the lament continues through the rest of Psalm 9 and through all of Psalm 10 as well, and we have the standard components here of a lament Psalm. Verses 1 to 11 of Psalm 10, we have the lament and the complaint that he gives. Verses 12 to 15 of Psalm 10, we have the petition to punish the wicked. And then verses 16 to 18, he concludes as lament Psalms typically do; he concludes with praise.

In fact, then, it seems that Psalms 9 and 10 constitute a single psalm. At least they’re brought together. We have this in other places; Psalm 42 and 43, we’ve seen before in this series, were originally one psalm. This, it seems, is another example of that. In fact, in the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew, it is one psalm. In the Latin Vulgate, these two are one psalm. And in a few Hebrew manuscripts, these two are one psalm. And in fact, there’s some internal evidence for that. We’ll just see this quickly before we get into it. If you’re interested, psalms 9 and 10 are an acrostic psalm. Not every verse, but typically each stanza of the psalm begins with the next successive Hebrew letter. There’s a bit of an interruption in that, and one of the letters is skipped. But it’s an acrostic psalm, and that is resumed in Psalm 10. It begins in Psalm 9, it is resumed in Psalm 10. There it is; they look like they’re one.

And you’ll also notice that Psalm 9 has no postscript to the choir master. It’s not there. Psalm 10 has no superscript, “Psalm of David.” And that’s the only exception here in book one of the Psalter, except for Psalms one and two. Of the 55 Psalms with the postscript to the choir master, only Psalm 10 does not have a superscript. And it seems that the reason is the superscript of Psalm 9 pertains to Psalm 9 and 10. They were originally together. Then the postscript comes to the choir master indicating that these two were one. Some have suggested because the tone of Psalm 10 is so different—it’s more individually focused yet, and it reflects more of a lament—some have suggested that perhaps it was David himself who separated these two into different psalms, and that’s why we don’t have the consistent witness of the manuscripts.

But in any case, Psalm 9, David combines two psalm forms, and we have here the Psalm of Grateful Praise in verses 1 to 12. And then we have the petition in verses 13 to 20, and we’ll borrow from that a little bit later as we go through as well. But verses 1 to 12 of Psalm 9 are a psalm of individual grateful praise, and then verses 13 to 20 is the petition that he makes. Now these two psalms then, with their two different forms, do focus and unite in a common theme. As I said, verses 1 to 12, we have praise to God, but it’s praise to God for his justice that has been displayed in history. Verses 4 and 5: “you maintained my cause, you’ve rebuked the nations.” So he’s praising God specifically for the display of his justice in history. And then we have verses 13 to 20 where we have petition to God to display further his justice in history. He praises God for his past acts of justice, and then he petitions God for a further display of his justice. Verse 19, for example: “arise, O Lord, let not man prevail, let the nations be judged before you.”

So we have praise to God in the first half, praise to God for his justice, and then petition to God for a further display of his justice. In the last half, verses seven and eight seem to summarize the psalm: “The Lord sits enthroned forever. He has established his throne for justice, and he judges the world with righteousness. He judges the peoples with uprightness.” All right, so much for introductory matters. Let’s work our way through it.

The Resolve to Praise

In verses one to 12, then, we have David’s grateful praise to the Lord. Verses one and two, we have the resolve to praise. “I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.” All right, verse one, “I will give thanks to the Lord.” Remember, I’ve mentioned this is way back early on when we dealt with these individual songs of grateful praise, that there is no, in the Hebrew Old Testament, there is no one saying “thank you” to God. And the word here translated “thank” actually means to confess or to acknowledge or to declare. Now the idea of gratitude is certainly in the atmosphere, it’s there, but the idea is it’s not just saying thank you; he’s recounting in gratitude, recounting, declaring, acknowledging what God has done for him that is deserving of praise. So we have declarative praise. This is what God has done for me. And it certainly has the idea of gratitude, but the point is, “I’m gonna itemize what God has done for me and acknowledge what he has done on my behalf.”

And in fact, he says, “I’ll do so joyfully.” Notice again, verse one, “I’ll give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart.” And then verse two, “I will be glad and exult in you.” That is, I will not take for granted what God has done for me. He’s acted on our behalf, and I will give joyful, heartfelt, grateful praise to God for what he has done. And notice in these two verses the note of resolve. And he’s intentional about it. “I will give thanks. I will be glad. I will exalt. I will sing. I will recount your deeds.” David recognizes God’s goodness to him and what he has done for him in the past. And he’s resolved that he will not take that lightly. That he will be joyful and wholehearted in his praise. Put simply, when I stand behind the hymnal to sing, it will not be a mere formality. With my whole heart, I will sing to you for what you have done. Half-hearted praise is unworthy of God.

David Reports and Reflects

And then verses three to six, he gives his report. He explains why he’s so eager to praise the Lord. Verse three, because God has routed the enemy. “When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before your presence.” That is when my enemies came up against us, and we started to prevail, they turned and ran, and when they ran, you tripped them up, made them stumble, and we utterly routed them. Verses four and following then take a broader theological perspective of it. Notice the explanation, it starts with four. He’s reflecting here now on God’s works of judgment. “For you have maintained my just cause. You have sat on the throne giving righteous judgment.” That is to say, God’s intervention on my behalf was an act of righteousness. David is the king over God’s kingdom on earth. This is not just a personal agenda on David’s part. This is God’s kingdom. And God has made promises to David regarding David, his kingship, and regarding the kingdom. And God is righteous. He maintains his integrity in keeping his promise and acting on behalf of his covenant partners. And God has acted on my behalf in righteousness to rout the enemies.

Verses five and six: “you’ve rebuked the nations. You’ve made the wicked perish. You have blotted out their name forever and ever. The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins. Their cities you rooted out. The very memory of them has perished.” That’s what it’s like as in the Exodus, and it’s like in the conquests of Joshua. And so also now in the experience of David, that God in moral indignation has routed out these wicked nations and utterly destroyed them, even entire peoples. And for David, this is a cause for grateful praise. God has acted on our behalf as he has said he would.

All right, he has given his report and now verses seven to 10, he gives some reflections now on the trustworthiness of God. This God who has acted on our behalf is a God who then can be trusted. Here he shifts from individual grateful praise to more of a descriptive praise, speaking in the big picture of God as judge. Look at verse 7 again. “The Lord sits enthroned forever.” He’s taking the big picture view. It’s not just here and now in my experience, but the Lord sits enthroned forever. “He has established his throne for justice, and he judges the world in righteousness, and he judges peoples with uprightness.”

Now there are three ideas that stand out in these two verses. Number one, the Lord’s unrivaled majesty. Notice verse seven again. “The Lord sits enthroned.” Pictures of God as reigning supreme, in sovereign rule, unthreatened majesty, ruling over everything. He’s the Lord over all. So one, the Lord’s unrivaled majesty. Number two, he’s the world’s judge. He judges the peoples, he judges the nations. This God rules over all things. This is not just an individual thing for me because I happen to acknowledge it. The Lord reigns over all and he judges the peoples. Whether they acknowledge it yet or not is irrelevant. He rules over all in judgment. And then number three, third thing emphasized here, is the characteristics of his rule. And notice the terms that are used. Verse seven, “he has established his throne for justice.” Verse eight, “he judges the world with righteousness. He judges the people with uprightness.” The idea of this righteousness of God in the Psalms, as I’ve already mentioned, typically has to do with God’s integrity in keeping his promise and acting on behalf of his covenant partners. Here the idea is enhanced a bit, and it’s given reference also to vindicating his people with regard to the nations and the enemies, and he is judged over them as well.

So he’s saying here in these verses, God who reigns over all, who judges over all, and judges in uprightness and righteousness in all cases—at last the world will be righted. Because he is the judge. The unrighteous will not win. God is righteous. Because he is righteous, he demands righteousness. And because he is righteous, he must punish all unrighteousness. And so because God is the God who sits enthroned on high, ruling over all, because he is the judge who judges in righteousness, David takes encouragement that this wicked world will one day be righted. Things will be set right. And that then becomes the ground of David’s trust. God’s transcendent majesty, his justice, and in verses 9 and 10, it is an expression then of David’s trust in God that he has just described. Verse 9: “the Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed. A stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you. For you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.” That is simply, “we trust you because we know your name.” Isn’t that great? We trust you because we know who you are. You are the God who reigns in unthreatened majesty, sits on the throne of justice over all. He judges in righteousness, and because we know this about you, we trust you. You’ve been our stronghold. You are the one we’ve always trusted. Your people have always been vindicated in trusting you. You’ve never forsaken your people. And in fact, when we have been oppressed, you’ve been our stronghold. And so we rest assured that in the end, because God is righteous, righteousness will prevail.

So to regroup, then, we have in verses 1 and 2, David expresses his resolve to give praise to the Lord. Verses 3 to 10, then, he reports and reflects on why he can praise the Lord so. And now, verses 11 and 12, he commands the people to sing God’s praises also. “Sing praise, bring praises to the Lord, who sits enthroned in Zion. Tell among the peoples his deeds, for he who avenges blood is mindful of them. He does not forget the cry of the afflicted.” That is simply, this God is deserving of our praise. Now notice in these verses the context of the praise. Verse 12, the second part of the verse in particular, his people are afflicted. They’re crying for help. At this moment in the atmosphere of the psalm, the people are not basking in a moment of great deliverance. He pictures the people afflicted and crying, and he says, “sing.” Isn’t that interesting? Afflicted and crying, and he says, “sing.” God is still deserving of your praises. He is still enthroned in Zion. His rule is still unthreatened. He judges in righteousness. He’s mindful of his people. He’s never forsaken his people. Sing. Israel, sing. Call to mind what God has done and sing his praise. God is always deserving of our praise.

The Petition

Well, then we come to verses 13 to 20. In the second half of the psalm, we have a petition. First half of the psalm, verses 1 to 12, we have praise. And now, verses 13 to 20, we have the petition. We’ve seen in the Lament Psalms that one of the marks of the lament is a direct address and the introductory petition. That’s what we have now in verse 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, that I may recount all your praises, that in the gates of the daughter of Zion I may rejoice in your salvation.” First off, he grounds his petition in God’s grace. He says, “be gracious to me, O Lord.” That’s a common note in the Psalms. “God, favor me.” And then he reflects on past deliverance. “You,” verse 13, “You, oh you who lift me up from the gates of death.” He pictures death as a gated city that he was once in, almost dead, seemed like he was done for, and yet God has delivered him from it. Verse 14, he offers the motive in praise, or the motive in the petition. “Do this for me, that I might recount your praises, that in the gates of the daughter of Zion I may rejoice in your salvation. You’ve rescued me from the gates of death before. Do it again, so that, once again, I can stand in the congregation and sing your praise of what you have done.”

And then we have verses 15 to 18, this section of confidence, a confession of trust in God’s justice. “The nations have sunk in the pit they have made, in the net that they hid their own foot has been caught. The Lord has made himself known. He has executed judgment. The wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. The wicked shall return to Sheol. All the nations that forget God, for the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.” Verse 16, let’s look at that. Verse 16: “the Lord has made himself known. He has executed judgment.” The Lord has made himself known. He has executed judgment. That is to say, in God’s past interventions, when God has acted on our behalf, these were acts of divine revelation. God was revealing himself, telling us who he is and what he is like. And so these past judgments have a prospective element to them. They declare that God is a just God, that he judges in righteousness. And so it looks prospectively to the future, saying what he has done in the past, he will certainly do in the future. And so this is the ground of trust. Verses 17 and 18, notice the catch word here, “forget,” that’s repeated in each of these verses. “The wicked shall return to all the nations that forget God. The needy shall not always be forgotten. And the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.” The nations that forget God are bound for destruction, but he will not forget the needy, his people. And this too is a revelation of divine righteousness.

And then verses 19 and 20, he concludes accordingly with a petition to judge the nations. “Arise, O Lord, let not man prevail. Let the nations be judged before you. Put them in fear, O Lord, and let the nations know that they are but men.” Perhaps the most hated and the most refused, the most politically incorrect teaching in all the Bible, this idea of divine judgment—that God actually sits over the world and judges. It just seems so wrong in our culture, doesn’t it? It’s just exactly what we’re not supposed to do. And yet God is Judge, and David—have you ever prayed like this? Verse 16, “the Lord has made himself known.” Then verse 19, “arise, O Lord, let not man prevail. Let the nations be judged before you.” Have you ever prayed like that? “Let the nations be judged.” Well, David writes here out of the conviction that God is just, and he’s calling for God to make his justice known in judgment. And so David writes then to praise God for his justice and his righteous judgment. That’s verses 1 to 12. And now verses 13 to 20, he has written to petition God: let that justice be put on display in world history. And again, verses 7 and 8 summarize: “the Lord sits enthroned forever. He has established his throne for justice, and he judges the world with righteousness. He judges the peoples with uprightness.”

Three Takeaways

Well, there’s the psalm. Now, what do we learn, then, from this psalm? What is the takeaway that we have from this? There are three. At least three that I’ll mention.

Number one, God is just, and thus, justice will be served in world history. That lies just on the face of the psalm. God is just. And thus, justice will be served in world history. This is God’s world. It doesn’t belong to anybody else. It belongs to him. And we may not be willing anymore to say “under God” when we say the Pledge of Allegiance, but it doesn’t change the reality that the United States of America, like any other nation, is under God. He’s written his law on the heart of every man and woman. Because he’s righteous, he demands that we comply. And because he is righteous, he will punish all unrighteousness. It is an aspect of God’s righteousness, not only that he demand righteousness, but that he punish all unrighteousness. And history is replete with examples of verse five: “You have rebuked the nations. You’ve made the wicked perish. You’ve blotted out their name forever and ever.” They’re the nations of David’s day and Joshua’s day. After that, there’s Babylon, and there’s Medo-Persia, and there’s Greece, and there’s Rome. After that, there’s the Third Reich. They’ve all come and they’ve gone, and Americans naively think that somehow we will be the exception. Somehow we can pursue our evil in every shape and form, and we’re not accountable. This is still God’s world, and he sits over the nations in judgment, and we are not autonomous. We are answerable to God, and this Psalm reminds us that as we persist in all things evil, a day of justice is coming. Psalm 9 reminds us that although God may be great in patience—it’s amazing how patient he is; that’s a good thing for all of us—God may be great in patience, but he is just, and one day justice will be served.

And in fact, that is the very idea that explains the gospel. That God is a just God and he demands righteousness from all of his creatures. And the question then comes up is, how then can we be saved? Because all of us have violated God’s law. There is none of us who is righteous. Paul takes up that very argument in the book of Romans, and he starts off those first three chapters and argues that we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. We all know better than what we have done. Even those who have not heard the gospel, they know better than what they have done. And they’ve all sinned, they’ve all gone aside. And so the question comes up, how then can they be saved? The answer he gives at the end of chapter three of Romans, and on through four, five, six, seven, and eight—he expounds it at length—that in the cross of Jesus Christ, we have mercy and justice meeting. God in mercy sends his son to stand in the place of sinners and to take the wrath of God in place of sinners. And now standing in union with Jesus through faith, we may be saved from his just wrath, because his just wrath has been fulfilled in our substitute. And so the gospel call goes out: “you may be safe for anyone who takes refuge in Jesus.” You may be safe. But there’s that double edge to the sword. If you refuse him, you’re on your own to face divine justice.

And still, though, for all of the danger and threats to God’s people, it’s evident that in Psalm 9, it’s marked by an expectant tone. You notice as we go through, all this call for judgment has a—not a negative, but a prospective, expectant tone to it. Verse 7 even: “the Lord sits enthroned. He has established his throne for justice.” Psalm 9 is intended to instill confidence with regard to the future. And it leaves us with a happy prospect. We ought, like David—and this is one of the takeaways from Psalm 9—we ought, like David, to encourage ourselves in the prospect of God’s judgment of the wicked. The hell-bound decline of our culture and our society will not go unchecked forever, and that’s a good thing. And the wicked who lead it will not ultimately succeed. And the wicked who oppress and oppose the people of God, they won’t win. And the wicked who today mock God and mock his law one day will bow before him. And this is David’s happy prospect. God is a just God and one day all the world will see it. I’ll say it again, I can’t wait. He’s so sick of it all the time. You see it in the news, and you see it all over in society. Not only wickedness prevailing, but people strutting in it, and our leaders strutting in it, and flouting God’s law as though there’s no tomorrow. And verse 20 becomes all the more appropriate: “Put them in fear, O Lord. Let the nations know that they’re just men.” This is important to know as we see our culture going to hell in a handbasket. We see the downward drift of our culture proceeding at such a pace toward all things evil, toward totalitarian rule. It’s not hard to see it coming. And we often wonder, what’s coming? What will our children see? Or if you’re old like me, what will our grandchildren see? What lies ahead for the church? I don’t know the answer to those, but we know this, that all who take refuge in Jesus are safe forever. And one day, we will all rejoice to see God’s justice on full display.

The second takeaway from this psalm—and this has to do with the, I said we’d come back to the form of the psalm, the structure of it—we have both praise and petition. Because this psalm has both praise for God’s past deliverances in justice, and because it has petition for God’s deliverance, we’re reminded that no deliverance in this life is final. You see that? Because we have praise for past deliverance, and we have petition for present deliverance, we’re reminded that no deliverance in this life is final. David praises God for past deliverances, yet we find him suffering again. No deliverance in this life is final. We must, through tribulation, enter the kingdom. We may, and in fact, we must, like David, give wholehearted praise for past deliverances, past mercies that have been shown. But we always find and face new threats, and they’re always there. And last of all, we’ll face that great enemy of death. And until then, there’s sufferings of all kinds. And yet all of those past mercies that have been shown and all of those past deliverances point us forward to the big one yet to come. Our Lord Jesus, the forerunner, has gone ahead of us. He’s gone through the clutches of death, and he’s emerged triumphant over it. He has defeated sin, and one day he will defeat death itself, and he’ll raise all of his people with him in his return. And then, well, as Paul tells us, this corruptible will put on incorruption, and this mortal will put on immortality, and death will be swallowed up in victory. And we’ll look back and we’ll say, “oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting? Thanks be to God who gives us the victory in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

And until then—this is the third takeaway—and until then, we will learn like David to sing with our whole heart in expectant praise. There’s a hymn I’ve sung all my life since I was a kid. I’ve sung it all my life until RBC. It’s not in our hymnal; I wish it were. The chorus of the song is just so passionate on this note. I’m sure many of you have heard it. “Oh Lord Jesus, how long, how long, ere we shout that glad song, Christ returneth, hallelujah.” That’s the heartbeat of the church. And that’s what this psalm reminds us of. Till that day we sing in expectant praise. In 1553, in Europe, the Reformation was well underway. In France, it was underway. People of France, the believers in France, paid a dear price for it. Eventually hundreds, thousands of them were slaughtered. But in 1553, at the beginning of the reign of terror under Pope Paul IV, five Reformed scholars, theologians, were burned at the stake. As they were being carried to the stake to be burned, they together sang loudly, we are told, Psalm 9. “I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. I will recount all of your wondrous deeds.” Verse seven: “the Lord sits enthroned forever. He has established his throne for justice.” Verse 11: “sing praises to the Lord who sits enthroned in Zion. Tell among the peoples his deeds, for he who avenges blood is mindful of them. He does not forget the cry of the afflicted.” Amen.

Let’s pray. Our Father, we are reminded again in this psalm of your greatness, your majesty, and in particular, your justice. How grateful we are for the Lord Jesus Christ in whom justice was satisfied for us, and how we long for that day when he will come, when divine justice will be put on full display as he brings your kingdom to its grand consummation and all the world is brought before him. Lord, hasten that day, we pray. Until then, keep us faithful. In his name we ask, amen.