The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 52:9,
"For what you have done I will always praise you in the presence of your faithful people. And I will hope in your name, for your name is good."
Here David says he will praise God always for what he has done. So, what is it exactly David has in view in this psalm that prompts him to commit to faithfully praising God in the presence of his people? (And, by the way, this was no "window dressing" that he used to embellish his psalm here. David literally fulfilled his vow of praising God always among his faithful people: he penned the bigger part of Israel's hymn book, the Psalms, which contains as one of its chief themes the praise of God.) What is it about God that prompts David's praise?
In this psalm David accuses an evil man, the "mighty hero." The superscript in the psalm says the evil man was Doeg the Edomite and references his betrayal of David to King Saul as we read in the account found in 1 Samuel 22:9-10. David speaks of the justice God will visit upon this evil man, verse 5, and then, conversely speaks of the blessing David himself has as a man who trusts in "God's unfailing love for ever and ever.", verse 8.
Simply put, David's praise of God was for his justice. God is a just God and expresses his justice through his divine judgments. He rewards those who embrace him in faith, and he destroys those who remain in their sins. In Jeremiah 9:24b we read, "'I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,' declares the Lord."
All sin brings God's justice. For those who have embraced him in faith, he sent his Son to die on a miserable cross to pay for their sins. All who do not embrace the Lord in faith will pay for their own sins as we read of in Revelation 20:11-15.
The exercise of God's justice and judgments bring him praise. Consider this passage from Psalm 96:11-13, "Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it. Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy. Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness."
We all were created with a sense of justice, a sense of what should be, as sense of fairness. We feel a great sense of satisfaction when what ought to be is carried out, when wrongs are righted. As long as we are "in tune" with God's sense of justice, we will all praise God and rejoice in him when his judgments are carried out.
As a side note, unfortunately, as with every aspect of life, in this sinful and fallen world of corrupt people, that sense of justice and what is fair has become corrupted itself within the heart of sinful man. You don't have to go any further than the demands of the "social justice warriors" among us today to see one aspect of how we all have been created in the image of God as been corrupted and exploited for nefarious purposes. This world has seen horrific things take place over the ages through the exploitation of a corrupted sense of justice.
A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know..
"For what you have done I will always praise you in the presence of your faithful people. And I will hope in your name, for your name is good."
Here David says he will praise God always for what he has done. So, what is it exactly David has in view in this psalm that prompts him to commit to faithfully praising God in the presence of his people? (And, by the way, this was no "window dressing" that he used to embellish his psalm here. David literally fulfilled his vow of praising God always among his faithful people: he penned the bigger part of Israel's hymn book, the Psalms, which contains as one of its chief themes the praise of God.) What is it about God that prompts David's praise?
In this psalm David accuses an evil man, the "mighty hero." The superscript in the psalm says the evil man was Doeg the Edomite and references his betrayal of David to King Saul as we read in the account found in 1 Samuel 22:9-10. David speaks of the justice God will visit upon this evil man, verse 5, and then, conversely speaks of the blessing David himself has as a man who trusts in "God's unfailing love for ever and ever.", verse 8.
Simply put, David's praise of God was for his justice. God is a just God and expresses his justice through his divine judgments. He rewards those who embrace him in faith, and he destroys those who remain in their sins. In Jeremiah 9:24b we read, "'I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,' declares the Lord."
All sin brings God's justice. For those who have embraced him in faith, he sent his Son to die on a miserable cross to pay for their sins. All who do not embrace the Lord in faith will pay for their own sins as we read of in Revelation 20:11-15.
The exercise of God's justice and judgments bring him praise. Consider this passage from Psalm 96:11-13, "Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it. Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy. Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness."
We all were created with a sense of justice, a sense of what should be, as sense of fairness. We feel a great sense of satisfaction when what ought to be is carried out, when wrongs are righted. As long as we are "in tune" with God's sense of justice, we will all praise God and rejoice in him when his judgments are carried out.
As a side note, unfortunately, as with every aspect of life, in this sinful and fallen world of corrupt people, that sense of justice and what is fair has become corrupted itself within the heart of sinful man. You don't have to go any further than the demands of the "social justice warriors" among us today to see one aspect of how we all have been created in the image of God as been corrupted and exploited for nefarious purposes. This world has seen horrific things take place over the ages through the exploitation of a corrupted sense of justice.
A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know..
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