#DailyDevotion The LORD Is Our Refuge In Times Of Trouble
Psalm 9 6The enemy is finished, destroyed forever. You uprooted their towns, and they are forgotten. 7The LORD is sitting on His throne forever; He has set up His throne to judge. 8 He judges the world with justice and gives the people a fair trial.
Here David probably refers to the “cherem” in which all idolatrous things the pagan inhabitants of the land he conquered were removed, including the people themselves. The LORD had sent Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to preach to this land hundreds of years before, but the inhabitants did not repent and trust in the LORD. Instead they continued in their sins until such a time the LORD could no longer stand the sight of them. He used Israel to wipe them out. In similar fashion, on the Last Day, after the Church had been preaching repentance and forgiveness in the name of Jesus Christ for the last 2000 years or more by the Christ returns, His holy angels will root up all that is evil, wicked and sinful in the world they will be remembered no more.
The LORD sits on his throne forever. He judges mankind according to their hearts and what they have done. He judges the world with justice and gives people a fair trial. To those who have the Torah, he judges them according to that. To those who have the Gospel, he judges them according to that. To those who have neither, he judges them according to their conscience. He is most certainly fair. Thanks be to God, he has also given us Jesus Christ who has taken our judgment of guilt away from us, i.e. everyone who has put their faith in him. While we do face a judgment, it will be according to what we have done in the faith.
9The LORD is a Mountain Refuge for the oppressed, a Refuge in times of trouble. 10Those who know You trust You because You don’t forsake those who come to You for help. 11Sing to the LORD Who lives in Zion; tell among the people the great things He does.
So we look to Jesus Christ who is our Rock. He is a Mountain Refuge for the oppressed, those who put their faith in Jesus. That is a misgab in Hebrew. It is a sheer cliff. Nothing and no one can touch us in Christ Jesus. He is our high ground. We have come to know Jesus Christ as our strong place of solace when times are rough and all other times. We know he can and will strengthen us in our hearts. When we turn to the LORD Jesus Christ for help, we have no need of worrying he has forsaken us. He will come to help. True, it isn’t as we always want or think we need. He delivers us in the manner and way that is best for us. This is why we walk by faith and not by sight. It doesn’t always look like God is helping us. But Jesus is our Immanuel. He is always with us. He does leave or forsake us. He is always working every good in our lives out of the bad.
For this we should sing now and sing later of the great things of the LORD. We can sing now of the past things he has done for us. We can sing later as we see how he worked all things for good for us when it is made manifest. We tell people what God has done for us in preserving us in the faith through thick and thin, in good times and in bad.
Heavenly Father, we give you thanks and praise for your just judgments and for delivering us from your righteous wrath in the cross of your Son Jesus Christ. Continually give us faith and strengthen our faith so that when we do not see how you are delivering us from all our troubles, we may walk in faith and confidence for all your goodness. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.