March 19, 2021 -- Psalm 9:1-4 -- Your Praise will ever be on my lips

I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart;
    I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
2 I will be glad and exult in you;
    I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

3 When my enemies turn back,
    they stumble and perish before your presence.
4 For you have maintained my just cause;
    you have sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment.

Psalm 9:1-4 English Standard Version

When you read verses one and two pause and then read verses three and four together something may occur to you. The writer of this Psalm is praising God His LORD in the face of very troubling and trying times. It is a common theme in the Psalms—praising the LORD, rather than rehearsing all that people are doing which we perceive (correctly or incorrectly) as wrong. How many times have you repeated the faults, failings and flaws of others? Especially when you are angry with that person!

When the LORD called His people to battle, a choir would be gathered (II Chronicles 20:21) praising the LORD their Warrior God. This praise choir would lead the people into battle and it would be obvious the victory is the LORD’s and His alone.

Think of Jesus Christ, at the final night of His ministry, hours before His betrayal, a betrayal He had already foretold, He and His disciples sang a hymn (Mark 14:26). How powerful the memory must have been for the disciples to recall the fact they were praising the Living God when Jesus is facing trials, beating, and suffering greater than any man ever has or ever would endure. He led His disciples in praise.

Remember this, Jesus’ suffering did not end. He still had to walk the road marked with suffering and pain, but the hymn of praise and hope showed the disciples, and us today as readers, His confidence rested securely in God His Father. What a testimony that is. For all who are in Christ, our hope and strength is found in God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Sometimes the trial will end and we find peace. Sometimes the suffering and pain continues, but we know peace because God our Father is nearer than a sigh. Sometimes the suffering ends in death, to which we can reply: for us to live is Christ and to die is gain.

O LORD, God Most High, I will remember and count Your various, wonderful deeds—what You have done in my life. When my heart is overwhelmed and there are so many things too great to endure I will remember what You have done in Christ. Spirit of God, bring to mind what You are doing in Your people, how Jesus’ salvation is unstoppable. You, Spirit of God, are working out Jesus’ salvation into every part of my heart and mind and life in real time against real heart-break and sorrow. Let Your praise, O LORD, ever be on my lips. Amen.

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