Who is God in Psalm 9

Today is a beautiful fall day full of sunshine with the cool, crisp air we have here in California. I love reading God’s Word as I feel the warm sunshine coming through the window. Time spent with God in His Word fills the needy cracks and crevices of my soul. Today I am reading in Psalm 9. The first time through it might seem there would be little I could identify with. I don’t have enemies chasing me, or at least not physical enemies. We all know by reading Ephesians 6 that we will have spiritual enemies that God is fighting as we live our lives. I am not being oppressed and I am not being persecuted. When I read through this Psalm to see what it tells me about God it is as if a window is thrown open and fresh air streams through that refreshes and renews. What I see is this:

• Verse 1 – He shows us His wonders
• Verse 4 – He upholds our right and cause and He judges righteously
• Verse 5 – He rebukes nations and destroys the wicked and blots out their name forever and ever
• Verse 6 – He brings endless ruin to the enemy, uproots their cities and removes even memory of them
• Verse 7 – The Lord reigns forever; He has established His throne for judgement
• Verse 8 – He will judge the world in righteousness; He will govern the people with justice
• Verse 9 – The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble
• Verse 10 – He is trustworthy for those who know Him because He has never forsaken those who seek Him
• Verse 11 – He is enthroned and we should proclaim the things He has done
• Verse 12 – He avenges blood and remembers; He does not ignore the afflicted
• Verse 13 – He sees and has mercy and lifts up
• Verse 14 – He saves
• Verse 16 – He is known by His justice
• Verse 18 – He will not forget the needy and gives hope to the afflicted
• Verse 20 – He can strike terror and men will know they are not God

I love God’s Word and how He makes Himself so clear. What do you see that I missed? When you open the Word of God are you reading to see what you can learn about what God will do for you or are you reading it to see what He tells you about who He is? The scripture is good for both. Let your study be balanced and be sure you are growing in knowing God. Blessings my dear friends! Enjoy these beautiful fall days and I will be back to study with you soon!

Psalm 7

Good morning! Spring has been really interesting this year. We have had wonderful cool nights and perfect 70’s days. I have been able to spend lots of time out in my garden planting and relocating my fountain to work on a solar pump my kids gave me for Mother’s day. I love this time of year. I did say it had been interesting. Yesterday and today it has been rainy. Just sprinkles but enough you really don’t want to spend time outside in it. It is gray and overcast and I am a gal who loves the sunshine. I didn’t say the heat but the sunshine. I am thanking God for this almost fall like weather and time to come inside and spend time with you on my little blog. Today we will take a look at Psalm 7.

Psalm 7

This psalm is a psalm of David and is chock full of attributes and actions of God. In our pursuit to read God’s Word to grow in knowing Him we will look at these things it says about Him.

Verse 1 tells us that God is a place of refuge. We can run to Him and take refuge there. We also see He is a God of protection and deliverance from any who pursue us. We may not have people pursuing us physically but we do have a real enemy who pursues us spiritually and wants to destroy our faith in God.

Verse 2 talks about those pursuing who would tear him like a lion and rip him to pieces with no one to rescue him. This is much like I Peter 5:8 that describes the devil as our enemy prowling like a lion looking for someone to devour. So, we can easily relate to this passage and see God as our only savior and deliverer.

Verses 3-5 is really about confessing and asking God to search his life for any wrong doing. The following verses tell me why he can do that with confidence. It is because:

• Verse 6 – God is a God who gets angry when we are messed with. He will rise up and take action against those who come against us and He decrees justice.
• Verses 7 & 8 tells us He judges according to our righteousness and integrity. He is God Most High. The final judge. I am so grateful that through the blood of Jesus my Lord and Savior He sees me as righteous.
• Verse 9 tells us He can judge our righteousness because He is righteous. He doesn’t just judge actions but searches our minds and hearts to bring about change and to make us secure in Him.
• Verses 10 & 11 let us know that God the Most High is a shield of protection. He saves the upright heart and is a righteous judge.
• Verses 11b- 13 says He expresses His wrath every day and He sharpens His sword, bends the string on His bow and is prepared to use deadly weapons. He makes ready his flaming arrows.

I don’t know about you but I fall on my knees and ask God to search my heart and mind and let me know of anything He wants removed from my life. I live in God’s Grace and Mercy each and every day but I never want to lose sight of how seriously He takes sin in my life. Verses 14-16 lets me know He will not tolerate evil.

After taking a sobering look at this Psalm, I with David say, “I will give thanks to the Lord because of His righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.” I am glad that I have a righteous God who holds me to a higher standard. A God who expects me to behave in ways He gives me clearly in His Word. I am grateful that my righteous God provided a way for me to share in His righteousness. I am glad He is my refuge and my strength to do what I can’t on my own. I am grateful I have a God who searches the heart and mind and won’t let us dig too deep and pit that we fall into it and get lost forever. Let us ask Him each day to search our hearts and minds to let us know what needs forgiving and changing.

What about you? What do you see about who God is when you read Psalm 7? Please leave a comment and let us know. I want to learn from you too. Blessings my sweet friends! Have a wonderful day and keep reading God’s Word to grow in knowing Him!