#DailyDevotion What Are You Giving Thanks & Praise For?
Psalm 9 For the choir leader; about the death of the oppressor; a psalm by David. I thank You, O LORD, with all my heart; I tell of all the wonderful things You did; 2I am happy and delighted in You and sing to praise Your name, O Most High.
From the inscription, this psalm is written by David about the death of his oppressor. Since it is to the choir leader, it is probably sometime after he was king. I do not know which of his enemies it was but probably not Absalom considering his mourning after his death. But after his affair with Bathsheba is most likely.
David opens his mouth with praise and thanksgiving. Praise and thanksgiving should be in the mouth of every Christian. It is right to give thanks and praise to God our Father through our LORD Jesus Christ for everything, all the time, for the good and the bad. For God turns the bad to good for those who love him. (Rom. 8). He thanks God with all his heart. The innermost part of his being he gives thanks to God. He will tell of all the wonderful things He has done. Telling what God has done is what praise properly is. It’s not just shouting “Hallelujah!”. Now while this is David in some aspect of his life, it is also the mouth of Jesus Christ. He too thanks God his Father with all his heart and tells us of all the wonderful things God has done for him. He invites us who belong to him to join him in this praise. David, Jesus and we are happy and delighted in God our Father and sing and will sing the praise of His name, O Most High. (Elyon in Hebrew if you’re interested.)
3My enemies turned back, stumbling and perishing before You. 4You judged me and showed I am right. You sat on Your throne and judged fairly. 5You denounced nations, destroyed the wicked, and wiped out their name forever.
So here we see what David is thanking God for. His enemies are turned back, stumbling and perishing before God. I can only say I’ve seen a troop in retreat in the movies. But I can grasp that image, fear and trembling on their faces, falling over this, that and each other. A person dying here and there. David who fought in many battles understands this completely. So too our enemies at the resurrection of Jesus Christ are in retreat. Most certainly, this is made manifest to us on the Last Day when Christ Jesus returns with all his angels. It is good for us to remember our enemies, the spiritual powers of darkness are fighting a losing battle. It appears to us at times they may be winning but that is because we are at where the battle is most fierce. We are though in mop up operations. The war has already been won by Christ Jesus on the cross and in the empty tomb. While the enemy may do its worst to us, as they did our LORD Jesus Christ, like him, we too shall be raised from the dead never to die again. It’s a losing proposition on their part.
David and Jesus, and we in Jesus can say the LORD, the Father has judged us and showed that we are right. We are right in that we put our faith in Jesus. On the Last Day, Jesus shall indeed denounce the nations, destroy the wicked and wipe out their name forever. Just as we do not know the name of the rich man who did not have mercy on Lazarus, the name of those who did not put their trust in Jesus shall be forgotten. All the mighty and those who joined them against us and our LORD Jesus Christ will never come to mind again as we enter eternity with God.
Heavenly Father, open our lips that we may sing your praise and give thanks to you for all your benefits to us, especially in your Son Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.