READ: Psalm 9
BACKGROUND: In this Psalm David praises God for his righteousness, his protection, and his deliverance.
By verse:
1 – “I will tell…” The phrase here means to publicly proclaim. Psalms are hardly ever limited to just a personal, private conversation between God and the writer. They’re almost always public declarations – or promises to make public declarations – about what God’s goodness and his glory.
5 – God is a God of justice.
9 – God is a safe place and a refuge for us during the difficult times of life.
18 – A reminder that God does not forget the needy and the oppressed, no matter how dire their situation becomes.
19 – David is confident that the wickedness of men will not overcome the righteousness of God. God will win the day and judge the nations.
THINK: Sometimes I think it’s easy to take all of our blessings for granted. That seems ridiculous in the United States of America because we have so many of them. But having a lot of them allows us to overlook them. I was recently with a group of people and the question was posed: “What are you grateful for?” The response: crickets. It was at least 30 seconds of silence before anyone spoke and even then most people in the group didn’t have an answer. And I think the major issue isn’t that they aren’t thankful people or that it was a particularly entitled and self-absorbed group, it’s just that we all get so busy that we don’t often take time out to think about all the ways in which God has blessed us. And the problem with this it twofold: 1. We miss out on growing closer to him by seeing the amazing things he’s doing in our lives on a daily basis, & 2. We miss out on the opportunity to tell others about what God is doing and publicly proclaim his goodness and love.
My prayer is that we can echo the words of David in Psalm 9, “I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.” And I challenge you today to do something a little different.
DO: I challenge you to get a blank piece of paper and a pen and spend 5 minutes brainstorming all of the things that you’re thankful to God for. And think about spiritual and relational things (not just material blessings and possessions and stuff). Just write down everything that pops into your head – there are no wrong answers. Then, spend some time praying and thanking God for the incredible things he’s done in your life, and ask him to give you an opportunity to follow in King David’s footsteps and tell someone else what he’s done for you. You might be surprised how awesome this experience will be and how it will help you grow – and if you think it’s awesome you could even take it one step further and keep a journal of what you’re thankful for each day. Doing this is an amazing way to see God’s work in your life and grow closer to him. Try it out today!
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