Psalm 9 – Promises for the Wholehearted People of God
By Bunni Pounds
*This blog is part of our weekly, virtual Bible Study through the book of Psalms. For information on how to participate, please visit this page.
I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart;
I will tell of all Your marvelous works.
I will be glad and rejoice in You;
I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High. (verse 1-2)
The overall vision of Psalm 9 is that God has a special plan for His people – those who seek Him, are dependent on Him and that pursue wholeheartedness, that they “shall not always be forgotten” (vs. 18) and that the “nations” and the wicked “shall be turned into hell.” (vs. 17)
It is a contract between the people of God – in David’s time, the people of Israel (the Israelites) - and the “nations” – in Hebrew, the word throughout this Psalm is “Goy” which means Gentiles, the other people groups.
Therefore, the beginning of this Psalm is significant for all of us – because God sets the vision for the people of God that they would be wholehearted toward Him.
David says, “I will praise You, O Lord, with my WHOLE heart.”
Reality Community, the former church that I pastored with my husband - had on its mission statement a commitment to pursue wholeheartedness toward Jesus in worship, mission, and community. This is an important vision for all of us as the people of God – because often we settle for only giving God half of our hearts.
Halfheartedness is a horrible place to live in – because we are only living with half of the peace, joy, mission, and destiny that we are promised through Christ. In the first commandment, Jesus laid out a vision for all of us to live in wholeheartedness, and we shouldn’t settle for anything less.
Jesus said, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment.” (Matthew 22:37-38)
To settle for anything less than giving God everything distorts the purpose of why we were created and the purpose of the new birth. That purpose is that we would be His people and He would be our God. The beauty of the calling of God on our lives is that God’s grace is sufficient, and He wants us to live completely in love with Jesus. He doesn’t want us to settle – God wants to give us a completely new heart.
Ezekiel 11:19-20 – “Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.”
This transformation by the Spirit of God is what the new birth is all about, and our promise IS for completeness in the Son of God. He will make us His people, and He will be our God.
I am spending so much time on this topic because it is the only way that we can live our destinies as the PEOPLE OF GOD in the midst of wickedness described in the latter half of Psalm 9.
“I will be glad and rejoice in You.”
The rest of Psalm 9 is a contrast piece between the people of God and the wicked nations. Again, in David’s time, those lines were drawn between Israel and the other nations.
For us, in the New Covenant – it can be found between anyone who knows His name and puts their trust in Him (vs. 10) and those who seek Him (vs. 11).
For the people of God – He promises that He will:
Maintain our rights and our cause (vs. 4)
Administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness (vs. 8)
Be a refuge for the oppressed in the time of trouble (vs. 9)
Will not forsake those of us who seek Him (vs. 10)
Remember the cry of the humble and that we will be heard (vs. 12)
Lift us up from the gates of death (vs. 13)
Not forget the needy (vs. 17)
While for the wicked nations – those people will:
Fall and perish at His presence (vs. 3)
Be judged, rebuked, destroyed, and their names blotted out forever (vs. 4-5)
Have their cities destroyed and their memory perished (vs. 6)
Be judged in righteousness by God (vs. 7)
Have judgment executed against them and be snared by the works of their own hands (vs. 16)
Be cast into hell and will forget God (vs. 17)
Judged in the sight of God and put in fear (vs. 19-20)
The most telling statement on what God is trying to do with the nations is found in verse 20 – that they “may know themselves to be but men.”
He is establishing Himself as the all-consuming God – the God that empowers His people, takes care of their needs, but the God who wants dependence from HIS people. This relationship with God doesn’t work for His people unless they are completely dependent – unless they are wholehearted. The same is true for us – we must NEED Him.
“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:28-29
If we are just considering God every now and then and we are not trusting in Him completely and being dependent on Him – He does not have our whole heart, and we are losing out.
When I was running for Congress in early 2018 – I felt alive and so fulfilled.
Why? Because I was completely dependent on Jesus.
I became addicted to watching God do the impossible. I was fully aware of my own humanity and need for God to work beyond my talents, abilities, and even my experience to that point. I needed a supernatural move of God to raise $10,000 a day while driving around 7 counties – and I couldn’t do it on my own.
It is in this dependence on God that we find out that we are “but men” and that a walk of humility where we need God is where true life is found. In the places of greatest dependence in my life – is where I found the overwhelming sweetness of the presence of God.
For me – I want to join in with David and say “I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell of all of Your marvelous works.”
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Watch the video or listen to the audio of our Psalm 9 study HERE