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¹ The fool says in his heart,
    ‘There is no God.’
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
    there is no one who does good.

² The Lord looks down from heaven
    on all mankind
to see if there are any who understand,
    any who seek God.
³ All have turned away, all have become corrupt;
    there is no one who does good,
    not even one.

⁴ Do all these evildoers know nothing?

They devour my people as though eating bread;
    they never call on the Lord.
⁵ But there they are, overwhelmed with dread,
    for God is present in the company of the righteous.
⁶ You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor,
    but the Lord is their refuge.

⁷ Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
    When the Lord restores his people,
    let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!

We should not be surprised when atheism fails to result in good lives. (A footnote on verse 1, in the NIV, says, ” The Hebrew words rendered fool in Psalms denote one who is morally deficient”). In one way or another, sin (2,3), which has infected us all, manifests itself in a form of atheism: not necessarily always disbelief in God, but nevertheless living without reference to Him – acting as if He’s irrelevant and unimportant; failing to seek Him, to consider Him, to honour Him, to give Him His rightful place. It is, as we have noted before, a practical atheism.

But this God, who is disbelieved, is, all the same, manifested among His people (5,6). He is active on behalf of His own, and He is to be reckoned with. Alec Motyer says the occasion which gave rise to this psalm was ‘some situation where atheism came face to face with the reality of the presence of God among his people.’ He goes on to say that the answer to practical atheists ‘…is not argument but the unmistakable reality of God’s presence among his people (5b) and their experience of finding him a sufficient refuge in every need (6b). The reply to unspirituality is true spirituality.’

”…God takes the side of victims.
Do you think you can mess
    with the dreams of the poor?
You can’t, for God
    makes their dreams come true.

 Is there anyone around to save Israel?
    Yes. God is around; God turns life around.
Turned-around Jacob skips rope,
    turned-around Israel sings laughter. The Message (vv.5-7)

How long, Lord? Will you forget me for ever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?
² How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
    and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
    How long will my enemy triumph over me?

³ Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
    Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
⁴ and my enemy will say, ‘I have overcome him,’
    and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

⁵ But I trust in your unfailing love;
    my heart rejoices in your salvation.
⁶ I will sing the Lord’s praise,
    for he has been good to me. NIVUK

There is a movement in this short psalm, from perplexity (1,2), through prayer (3,4), and into a place of peace (5,6). I guess it is a movement every believer experiences along the way. As we have ‘trials and temptations’, and face ‘trouble’, we ‘take it to the Lord in prayer’, and discover there really is no need for discouragement.

‘Agitation is brought into the place of intercession and emerges in exultation.’ Alec Motyer.

The perplexity with which this psalm opens is expressed like this in ‘The Message’:

”Long enough, God—
    you’ve ignored me long enough.
I’ve looked at the back of your head
    long enough. Long enough
I’ve carried this ton of trouble,
    lived with a stomach full of pain.
Long enough my arrogant enemies
    have looked down their noses at me.”

At times we may feel like David did. We sem to encounter the silence of heaven. But if we start there, we certainly do not have to stay there. As Warren Wiersbe observes: ‘Faith does not always give answers, but it does give encouragement.’

Help, Lord, for no one is faithful any more;
    those who are loyal have vanished from the human race.
² Everyone lies to their neighbour;
    they flatter with their lips
    but harbour deception in their hearts.

³ May the Lord silence all flattering lips
    and every boastful tongue –
⁴ those who say,
    ‘By our tongues we will prevail;
    our own lips will defend us – who is lord over us?’

⁵ ‘Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan,
    I will now arise,’ says the Lord.
    ‘I will protect them from those who malign them.’
⁶ And the words of the Lord are flawless,
    like silver purified in a crucible,
    like gold refined seven times.

⁷ You, Lord, will keep the needy safe
    and will protect us for ever from the wicked,
⁸ who freely strut about
    when what is vile is honoured by the human race. NIVUK

What a remarkable Book the Bible is! This ancient Book, and yet so relevant. Ever modern. Don’t you find that the last line of verse 8 resonates with you? When you think about much of the content of current television (and the media in general), it is a celebration of ”what is vile”. This is what entertains people. Back in the 1960’s, as a child growing up in a Christian home, I was aware of certain TV programmes which were regarded as ‘beyond the pale’ by believers. But it is a sad reflection on a decades-long decline in standards, that many of those programmes probably seem quite tame today. Who could have foreseen such a plummeting of taste over 60 or so years? Well, one person who did was a lady by the name of Mary Whitehouse. She had prescient foresight, and was generally mocked and reviled for it. But she saw, and warned of the moral avalanche to come.

At the core of this psalm there lies a contrast between the lying words of humans (especially those who seem to run the world), and the pure and perfect Word of God. His trustworthy Word.

Everyone talks in lie language;
Lies slide off their oily lips.
They doubletalk with forked tongues...

…I’m tired of hearing, “We can talk anyone into anything!
Our lips manage the world.” The Message

In spite of the power of those engaged in political deception and intrigue, God sees, and knows, and cares about those who are its victims. He says He will act, and His Word is His bond. He can be trusted.

Into the hovels of the poor,
Into the dark streets where the homeless groan, God speaks:
“I’ve had enough; I’m on my way
To heal the ache in the heart of the wretched.”

 God’s words are pure words,
Pure silver words refined seven times
In the fires of his word-kiln,
Pure on earth as well as in heaven.
God, keep us safe from their lies,
From the wicked who stalk us with lies,
From the wicked who collect honours
For their wonderful lies. The Message

‘This is the choice which always confronts the believer: to be distracted and disorientated by the word of man or to rest upon the word of God.’ Alec Motyer

‘God’s Word is pure, proved, and preserved, and you can depend on it. So much of what man says is cheap and temporary, but God’s Word is like pure silver that is valuable and lasting. Let your words be controlled by His Word and God will make your words valuable (Prov.10:20;25:11).’ Warren W. Wiersbe.

PRAYER: Thank you Lord for your wonderful Word. May it hold the place it should in my heart and life.

^1-3 I’ve already run for dear life
    straight to the arms of God.
So why would I run away now
    when you say,

“Run to the mountains; the evil
    bows are bent, the wicked arrows
Aimed to shoot under cover of darkness
    at every heart open to God.
The bottom’s dropped out of the country;
    good people don’t have a chance”?

^4-6 But God hasn’t moved to the mountains;
    his holy address hasn’t changed.
He’s in charge, as always, his eyes
    taking everything in, his eyelids
Unblinking, examining Adam’s flesh and blood
    inside and out, not missing a thing.
He tests the good and the bad alike;
    if anyone cheats, God’s outraged.
Fail the test and you’re out,
    out in a hail of firestones,
Drinking from a canteen
    filled with hot desert wind.

⁷ God’s business is putting things right;
    he loves getting the lines straight,
Setting us straight. Once we’re standing tall,
    we can look him straight in the eye. The Message

Because David knows that he is safe and secure in ”the arms of God”, he will not listen to those intimidating voices telling him to ”Run”. His ”refuge” is in the ”righteous” God who ”loves justice” (vv.1,7 NIV). He knows His Lord will ultimately set all things ”straight”.

As believers, we are called and enabled to ”stand”:

” Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then…” (Eph.6:10-14 NIV).

‘The advice to flee is well founded: because of actual danger (2); and because the sheer instability of society makes it impossible to steer a safe course. David, however, asserts the case for trust as against the case for flight.’ Alec Motyer.

As Alec goes on to say, since God is trustworthy, ‘trust is a logical way of life.’

(It is important to say, however, if we take into consideration all that Scripture teaches, that it is not always the case that persecuted Christians should stay put. Each one must be led by the Spirit as to the right thing to do in their particular set of circumstances. But whether staying, or moving, it is always right to trust in the Lord.)

Why, Lord, do you stand far off?
    Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

² In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak,
    who are caught in the schemes he devises.
³ He boasts about the cravings of his heart;
    he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord.
⁴ In his pride the wicked man does not seek him;
    in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
⁵ His ways are always prosperous;
    your laws are rejected by him;
    he sneers at all his enemies.
⁶ He says to himself, ‘Nothing will ever shake me.’
    He swears, ‘No one will ever do me harm.’

⁷ His mouth is full of lies and threats;
    trouble and evil are under his tongue.
⁸ He lies in wait near the villages;
    from ambush he murders the innocent.
His eyes watch in secret for his victims;
⁹     like a lion in cover he lies in wait.
He lies in wait to catch the helpless;
    he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.
¹⁰ His victims are crushed, they collapse;
    they fall under his strength.
¹¹ He says to himself, ‘God will never notice;
    he covers his face and never sees.’

¹² Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God.
    Do not forget the helpless.
¹³ Why does the wicked man revile God?
    Why does he say to himself,
    ‘He won’t call me to account’?
¹⁴ But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;
    you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you;
    you are the helper of the fatherless.
¹⁵ Break the arm of the wicked man;
    call the evildoer to account for his wickedness
    that would not otherwise be found out.

¹⁶ The Lord is King for ever and ever;
    the nations will perish from his land.
¹⁷ You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted;
    you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
¹⁸ defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
    so that mere earthly mortals
    will never again strike terror. NIVUK

Did you ever encounter the school bully, with his (or her) arrogant question, ‘Well, what are you going to do about it?’ They don’t believe you will take action, because if you do you’ll get beaten to pulp, stuck to the pavement like a postage stamp.

But the ‘bullies’ described in this psalm are mistaken to think that God won’t intervene.

”They live (they think) a charmed life:
    “We can’t go wrong. This is our lucky year!” ” The Message.

Psalms 9,10 may have originally been a single acrostic psalm, and in fact they appear as one in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament. Certainly, we are breathing in the same air exuded in the ninth psalm in this sense: that behind everything there is a living God whose ultimate triumph is certain. Although, at times, we may feel that He is absent, we can always resort to Him in prayer. He will, ultimately, set all things straight.

”God’s grace and order wins;
    godlessness loses.” The Message.

Bad belief leads to bad behaviour. When people live without reference to God (practical atheism) it tends to affect their conduct towards others. At one end of the spectrum this may amount to little more than a casual and careless indifference; but at the other end it shows up in cruel, callous, ‘dog eat dog’ attitudes and actions.

But this world’s big bullies, who may say there is no God (or think it makes no difference anyway, because they are untouchable) are in for a rude awakening:

”Time to get up, God—get moving.
    The luckless think they’re Godforsaken.
They wonder why the wicked scorn God
    and get away with it,
Why the wicked are so cocksure
    they’ll never come up for audit.

¹⁴ But you know all about it—
    the contempt, the abuse.
I dare to believe that the luckless
    will get lucky someday in you.
You won’t let them down:
    orphans won’t be orphans forever.

^15-16 Break the wicked right arms,
    break all the evil left arms.
Search and destroy
    every sign of crime.
God’s grace and order wins;
    godlessness loses.

^17-18 The victim’s faint pulse picks up;
    the hearts of the hopeless pump red blood
    as you put your ear to their lips.
Orphans get parents,
    the homeless get homes.
The reign of terror is over,
    the rule of the gang lords is ended.” The Message

‘…prayer is heard (17), deliverance is total (18)…Equally striking is that nothing is done except through prayer. Deadly though the threat is (9:13;10:8), mighty though the opponent (10:9), prayer is enough, because the Lord is king (9:4,7), he knows our needs (10:14), and he is pledged to shelter (9:9,10), uplift (9:13) and help (10:14)’ Alec Motyer.

^1-2 I’m thanking you, God, from a full heart,
    I’m writing the book on your wonders.
I’m whistling, laughing, and jumping for joy;
    I’m singing your song, High God.

^3-4 The day my enemies turned tail and ran,
    they stumbled on you and fell on their faces.
You took over and set everything right;
    when I needed you, you were there, taking charge.

^5-6 You blow the whistle on godless nations;
    you throw dirty players out of the game,
    wipe their names right off the roster.
Enemies disappear from the sidelines,
    their reputation trashed,
    their names erased from the halls of fame.

^7-8 God holds the high centre,
    he sees and sets the world’s mess right.
He decides what is right for us earthlings,
    gives people their just deserts.

^9-10 God’s a safe-house for the battered,
    a sanctuary during bad times.
The moment you arrive, you relax;
    you’re never sorry you knocked.

^11-12 Sing your songs to Zion-dwelling God,
    tell his stories to everyone you meet:
How he tracks down killers
    yet keeps his eye on us,
    registers every whimper and moan.

^13-14 Be kind to me, God;
    I’ve been kicked around long enough.
Once you’ve pulled me back
    from the gates of death,
I’ll write the book on Hallelujahs;
    on the corner of Main and First
    I’ll hold a street meeting;
I’ll be the song leader; we’ll fill the air
    with salvation songs.

^15-16 They’re trapped, those godless countries,
    in the very snares they set,
Their feet all tangled
    in the net they spread.
They have no excuse;
    the way God works is well-known.
The shrewd machinery made by the wicked
    has maimed their own hands.

^17-20 The wicked bought a one-way
    ticket to hell.
No longer will the poor be nameless—
    no more humiliation for the humble.
Up, God! Aren’t you fed up with their empty strutting?
    Expose these grand pretensions!
Shake them up, God!
    Show them how silly they look. The Message

As in many other places in the Bible, Psalm 9 speaks boldly about things that one day will happen as though they have already happened. We may look, for example, at verses 5,6, and think, ‘Well I’m not currently seeing this.’ Well, maybe not. But this psalm calls us to ‘see’ it through the eyes of faith.

We pass our own judgments on the nations (and leaders of nations), or we are tempted to. But we are unable to do this correctly for several reasons, including these:

a.) We are sinners ourselves – and blinded by our own sin;

b.) Our knowledge is partial, and even distorted (not everything we read in the papers or on the news is accurate);

c.) We are not God! This is the biggest reason of all. It’s not our calling; it’s not our job!

‘Even though life is troubled and the final settlement of all things has not yet come, there is still matter for praise in what the Lord is and what he has done…what will be supremely true on the day of Judgment (because God is on the throne) is in due measure true now (because he is always on the throne)’ Alec Motyer.

Whatever the news media (and social media!) may tell us today, let us hold on to this truth that ”God holds the high centre…”

¹ I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart;
    I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
² I will be glad and rejoice in you;
    I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.

³ My enemies turn back;
    they stumble and perish before you.
⁴ For you have upheld my right and my cause,
    sitting enthroned as the righteous judge.
⁵ You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
    you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.
⁶ Endless ruin has overtaken my enemies,
    you have uprooted their cities;
    even the memory of them has perished.

⁷ The Lord reigns for ever;
    he has established his throne for judgment.
⁸ He rules the world in righteousness
    and judges the peoples with equity.
⁹ The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
    a stronghold in times of trouble.
¹⁰ Those who know your name trust in you,
    for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you. NIVUK

What words are these in verses 9,10! What precious promises!! The idea is that God never has forsaken those who seek Him and never will. They show who God is and what we may do because of who He is. Alec Motyer points out that ”refuge” and ”stronghold” are the same word, stressing (inaccessible) height, ‘top-security’.

This is how they are translated by Eugene Peterson in ‘The Message’:

”God’s a safe-house for the battered,
    a sanctuary during bad times.
The moment you arrive, you relax;
    you’re never sorry you knocked.”

All who know about the heart of prayer – not just saying prayers – will recognise the truth of this. Life can beat you up, but there is a Sanctuary.

‘There is a place of quiet rest,
near to the heart of God;
a place where sin cannot molest,
near to the heart of God.

O Jesus, blest Redeemer,
sent from the heart of God,
hold us, who wait before Thee,
near to the heart of God.

There is a place of comfort sweet,
near to the heart of God;
a place where we our Saviour meet,
near to the heart of God.

There is a place of full release,
near to the heart of God;
a place where all is joy and peace,
near to the heart of God’ (Cleland Boyd MacAfee).

Of course, it is wonderful to know that we can run to the Lord in the day of trouble. But how much better it is to understood that we live in Him. God is not a temporary Sanctuary, but our true home.

¹ Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory
    in the heavens.
² Through the praise of children and infants
    you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
    to silence the foe and the avenger.
³ When I consider your heavens,
    the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
    which you have set in place,
⁴ what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them?

⁵ You have made them a little lower than the angels
    and crowned them with glory and honour.
⁶ You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
    you put everything under their feet:
⁷ all flocks and herds,
    and the animals of the wild,
⁸ the birds in the sky,
    and the fish in the sea,
    all that swim the paths of the seas.

⁹ Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth! NIVUK

I have to confess that I got out of bed and went outside somewhat reluctantly. It was the early hours of a January morning, and we were staying on the island of La Palma – a protected ‘dark sky’ region. What Jilly had seen, and insisted that I should also see, was the clear, star be-jewelled, night sky, as I had never seen it before. As we stood together, shivering and marvelling, we were overwhelmed with a sense of wonder. It felt like the stars were so low you could reach out and touch them. How small we were that night…and always have been. There is no doubt that God can use the night sky to get you into perspective.

On another day, as we walked up the lane close to our home in Coverdale, we saw the cattle and sheep chewing nonchalantly. They gave us a passing glance, and just carried on. Nature will humble you, if you let it into your soul. Those beasts don’t care who we are, or what we’ve been. They don’t want to know our names or have our autographs. How small and insignificant we actually are. We live for a few years, then die, and life carries on without us. What a stupid and vacuous and deceptive thing celebrity culture is! Lying at the extreme edge of the world’s madness and folly, fame is an illusory bubble. As Jilly commented to me the other day, ‘Even Geoff Bezos, with his billions, will have to die and face the judgment of God.’

Yes, we are so small. For sanity’s sake – true mental health – we need an appropriate sense of our true size.

So small…

…and yet, paradoxically…so significant. In verses 5-8, the psalmist answers his own question: the one he raises in verses 3,4. Ironically, however, we can only live out our significance on this planet from out of an awareness of our own smallness. Humility and authority go together. It is those who learn to kneel who ‘rule’ the best (6).

Thought: Praise (1,9) is a God-given way to ”silence” the enemy’s ‘noise’ in our heads (2).

God, brilliant Lord,
    yours is a household name.

² Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you;
    toddlers shout the songs
That drown out enemy talk,
    and silence atheist babble.

^3-4 I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous,
    your handmade sky-jewelry,
Moon and stars mounted in their settings.
    Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,
Why do you bother with us?
    Why take a second look our way?

^5-8 Yet we’ve so narrowly missed being gods,
    bright with Eden’s dawn light.
You put us in charge of your handcrafted world,
    repeated to us your Genesis-charge,
Made us stewards of sheep and cattle,
    even animals out in the wild,
Birds flying and fish swimming,
    whales singing in the ocean deeps.

⁹ God, brilliant Lord,
    your name echoes around the world. The Message

Whoever is pregnant with evil
    conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment.
¹⁵ Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out
    falls into the pit they have made.
¹⁶ The trouble they cause recoils on them;
    their violence comes down on their own heads.

¹⁷ I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness;
    I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High. NIVUK

v21f. reads, in the Jerusalem Bible: ”The enemy may sharpen his sword…but the weapons he prepares will kill himself” (see Mt.26:32).

This principle is repeated in various parts of the Bible. It is that we will reap as we sow. It can, of course, have positive as well as negative connotations (see, e.g. 2 Cor.9:6/Gal.6:7-10). But as we find it in the Old Testament, it is usually reinforcing the message of verses 14-16 (see e.g. Nu.32:23, Ps.9:15; Prov.26:27).

‘This is the way sin works…it has a boomerang quality as if it were a living agent in its own right. But if sin appears to return on the head of the perpetrator it is because there is a just (6-8a), wrathful (10-13) God before whom all will one day stand, but who is the same every day with resources at the ready for the punishment of the unrepentant.’ Alec Motyer.

The principle of ‘evil coming home to roost…operates unevenly in the material realm, but inescapably in that of the spirit…’ Derek Kidner.

PRAYER: Lord please help me today, in the choices I face, to be sowing to the Spirit and not to the flesh.