Feeling and thinking in Psalm 9: Get in your place.
PSALMS 9
For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be sung to the tune “Death of the Son.”
I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart;
I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done.
2 I will be filled with joy because of you.
I will sing praises to your name, O Most High.
3 My enemies retreated;
they staggered and died when you appeared.
4 For you have judged in my favor;
from your throne you have judged with fairness.
5 You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
you have erased their names forever.
6 The enemy is finished, in endless ruins;
the cities you uprooted are now forgotten.
7 But the Lord reigns forever,
executing judgment from his throne.
8 He will judge the world with justice
and rule the nations with fairness.
9 The Lord is a shelter for the oppressed,
a refuge in times of trouble.
10 Those who know your name trust in you,
for you, O Lord, do not abandon those who search for you.
11 Sing praises to the Lord who reigns in Jerusalem.
Tell the world about his unforgettable deeds.
12 For he who avenges murder cares for the helpless.
He does not ignore the cries of those who suffer.
13 Lord, have mercy on me.
See how my enemies torment me.
Snatch me back from the jaws of death.
14 Save me so I can praise you publicly at Jerusalem’s gates,
so I can rejoice that you have rescued me.
15 The nations have fallen into the pit they dug for others.
Their own feet have been caught in the trap they set.
16 The Lord is known for his justice.
The wicked are trapped by their own deeds.
Quiet Interlude
17 The wicked will go down to the grave.
This is the fate of all the nations who ignore God.
18 But the needy will not be ignored forever;
the hopes of the poor will not always be crushed.
19 Arise, O Lord!
Do not let mere mortals defy you!
Judge the nations!
20 Make them tremble in fear, O Lord.
Let the nations know they are merely human. Interlude
Psalm 9 begins in verses 1-2 like a love song of a lovesick, eyes-for-no-one-else lover. And that's the way it should be. Notice that a smitten sweetheart places himself under the one he adores. And so we have a place of humility and servitude, but very much willingly. (For a comedy sketch about slightly derailed smitten adoration, note Bill Cosby’s Adam and Eve sketch transcripted below.)
But love can put us in our place.
Then David extols the wonders of his love, God, in terms of His protection and justice. And David believes that God has taken David’s side in a dispute with David’s oppressive enemies. David is convinced that is because God rules fairly.
4 For you have judged in my favor;
from your throne you have judged with fairness.
So naturally David goes on to describe the reigning wisdom of the God he loves so much and who has rescued him.
David is so enamoured that he invites others to join him in his praise and worship of God in verses 11 and 12.
11 Sing praises to the Lord who reigns in Jerusalem.
Tell the world about his unforgettable deeds.
12 For he who avenges murder cares for the helpless.
He does not ignore the cries of those who suffer.
And as we often see in the Psalm, this adoration and confidence is mixed with pleas and fears. And David asks God for help in verses 13 and 14.
I used to watch a sitcom from America called My name is Earl. In nearly every episode at the beginning Earl would say the following, "You know the kind of guy who does nothing but bad things and then wonders why his life sucks? Well, that was me. Every time something good happened to me, something bad was always waiting around the corner: karma. That's when I realized that I had to change. So, I made a list of everything bad I've ever done, and one by one I'm gonna make up for all my mistakes. I'm just trying to be a better person. My name is Earl."
You might think that sounds good. Many people do and they even dress it up with the almighty “karma” being God. If you read the book of Job in the Bible, you will encounter the same errant theology that God says misrepresents Him.
7-8 After God had finished addressing Job, he turned to Eliphaz the Temanite and said, “I’ve had it with you and your two friends. I’m fed up! You haven’t been honest either with me or about me—not the way my friend Job has. So here’s what you must do. Take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my friend Job. Sacrifice a burnt offering on your own behalf. My friend Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer. He will ask me not to treat you as you deserve for talking nonsense about me, and for not being honest with me, as he has.”
Being a better person and thinking that “what goes around comes around” leaves God out of the equation and makes the person himself the saviour. We see a much different picture when we look at Psalm 9. David loves God and throughout the Psalm compares the position of the meer mortal to God’s exalted position.
You’ll hear a lot about self esteem, and in many ways, the show My name is Earl is about raising your self esteem by trusting that good things happen to good people. But again that leaves the lover out of the picture and makes the person a self lover. It all breaks down because humans cannot look to humans for justice or joy. We are made by our creator to need a trusting, loving relationship with the Most High. We need a master and Lord.
So all other mindsets about solving our problems are going to fall short and disappoint. Even trying to placate our enemies and make peace with them is doomed to fail because they are bound to fail. “When push comes to shove, you have to look out for number 1” is a common thought. Or “blood is thicker than water” claims that we will make choices based on certain allegiances and that is all you can trust. So if you know that people are going to choose themselves instead of you if they are pushed (Earl isn’t trying to make me a better person), then you will have to do the same. We are back to the “me first, everyone for himself” situation. Love, they say, is blind, and maybe in human relationships we will trust someone to be self-sacrificing in the relationship. But in the end, the world will tell that person to first serve themselves. “I’m only human” is a common excuse for unfaithfulness in relationships. We need to fall in love with the only one who is above all this petty selfishness. We need a higher authority. We need a perspective of justice that can be trusted. David has found it in God and he invites us to find it in God, too. God then becomes our object of adoration and our protector and avenger.
This place of humility, love and adoration then becomes a safe place.
I have a problem trusting humans. I have a problem with paranoia and distrust. It can be crippling, sleep stealing and relationship wrecking. I find myself in a vicious circle between trusting my thoughts, observations and other people and my fears. But I know God is trustworthy. I hate my fears but I know they make me dependent on God. For the last year I have hung on to the phrase, “He knows.” What He knows means to me is God can see what's true, what is just, what the other person is up to. And He loves me, so I can trust Him to protect me. The very simple idea of God for me makes this possible. He is perfect. He is eternal. He is all knowing. He is just. He is all powerful. Any reasonable conception of God knows God must be at the very least the all-knowing, all-powerful, present everywhere, good, merciful, kind, gentle, patient, creator of all things--or He isn’t much of a God at all. I can adore Him. He is no mere mortal. He is a just ruler above everything.
Being put in your place feels good.
The Sultan Being Brought Food and Drink, 1742 - 1743 Giovanni Antonio Guardi (1699–1760)
Bill Cosby Adam and Eve comedy sketch
Read your Bible!
Bible states first - there was Adam and Eve. Two lovely people running around the garden together - (sings) dee dee dee dee dee dee.
And they're really grooving, yknow? Now, Adam is the man! The man remains constant! He is always : (sounds of panting and tongue wagging). That's the man! Now the woman remains constant but she is always "come here! come here! come here! come here! OH, get away! get away! get away! get away! come here! come here! come here! come here! OH, get away! get away! get away! get away!"
And the man is always "(sounds of panting and tongue wagging) I'll do anything! anything you say!"
"Eat these mud pies!"
"(sounds of panting and tongue wagging) Yes! I love em! I love em!"
"Here, eat this tree!"
"Yes! (sounds of panting and tongue wagging)"
And meanwhile she's "OH come here! come here! come here! come here! Oh, get away! get away! get away! get away!" So she was fooling with Adam! I know what was going on! I know women, I married a woman, and I know what was going on here.
I know she was saying, "oh you come here!" And then she ran out of things for him to go around eating, see. Couldn't find anything for him to eat. So she pulled the apple off, knowing she was out of line!
Bit it - CRUNCH!
Then she's really uptight, and he's there (Panting and wagging). So she says, "Here bite this apple!" And he says, "Yeah! *CRUNCH* (Panting and wagging)"
Next thing you know, there's the Lord.
"ALRIGHT *whistle* EVERYBODY, OUT OF THE POOL! OUT! OUT! GET OUT! EVERYBODY!"
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