Prayer of Faith

While it may not seem like it at first, Psalm 9 is a psalm of incredible faith. As such, it appropriately begins with praise of God

Two truths of God

Righteous Judge

There are two particular truths of God which David highlighted for us in Psalm 9. The first truth is seen clearly in verses 3-8 and is a truth common to these first 9 Psalms: God is a righteous Judge.

He sits on His throne in heaven and gives righteous judgement to the people of the earth. The enemies of God will perish before the awesome presence of God while the righteous will remain firm.

As the righteous Judge over all the people and nations of the earth, He and He alone has the power and authority to rebuke the nations because of their sin and remove them from the face of the earth. God has done this with the flood during the time of Noah, and He did it when Israel invaded the Promised Land; God used Israel to bring judgement on the people of Canaan for their horrible sins. We also know that one day God will do this again, but it will be a permanent and final erasing so that the godless nations and people of the earth will be utterly forgotten for the rest of eternity.

This God, the righteous Judge of the earth, sits enthroned forever. No one has ever removed God from His throne, and no one ever will. Even more so though, no injustice has ever gone unpunished in the entire history of the world, and no injustice ever will go unpunished. Because the righteous Judge sits on His throne of justice forever, we can be assured that God will always bring perfect and unbiased judgement to all people.

Stronghold

The second truth of God, found in verses 9-12 is that this righteous Judge who sits forever on His throne of justice is a stronghold for oppressed and afflicted people who seek Him. By calling God a stronghold the Psalmist described God as a safe and secure place to go in times of trouble. We will not have any trouble believing this if we remember how God was described in Psalm 8, as the Lord and creator of all the heavens and the earth. With His fingertips, God created and placed all 100 quadrillion stars in each 2+ trillion galaxies, and even the largest star ever observed which makes planet Earth the size of an atom in comparison is nothing compared to the enormity of God’s infinite power. If the God of the universe makes Himself a safe place for those who seek Him then we may be absolutely certain that nothing will ever overcome God and therefore nothing will ever overcome those who trust Him. The devil did his best to overcome God when he killed Jesus, but as it turned out, death was overcome and not God. As the Apostle Paul put it, “neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)

From Praise to Prayer

Based on these two truths of God, that He is the righteous Judge and a stronghold for the oppressed and afflicted, David then pleaded with God in verse 13 to save him from his affliction. And at this point in the psalm, we realize that David was actually building up to the main purpose of his prayer which was to ask God to intercede on his behalf.

In a way, David’s request in verse 13 puts the whole first 12 verses of the psalm into perspective. Instead of being a psalm of thanksgiving and praise, the psalm actually ends up being a prayer for help, a prayer that began with praising God and remembering certain truths of God that were relevant to his situation.

We don’t know what was going on, but we do know that he felt afflicted by his enemies and he was coming to God for help and refuge. In fact, he must have been quite desperate because he described God as the one who lifts him up from the gates of death. It’s possible then that David thought his life was on the line. Because of this, he cried out to God for mercy. But I find it so interesting and challenging that he began his prayer with praise.

When I consider the times I am desperate for God’s help, 10 times out of 10 I jump right into the thick of my troubles and maybe, just maybe, I close the prayer by remembering to praise God. Now, many Psalms take this same pattern, take Psalm 13 for example, so it’s certainly not wrong to jump right into our troubles, but it makes me wonder why he begins with praise in Psalm 9.

After a bit of research, I came across this quote: “Beginning prayer with praise sets the tone for the entire prayer – instead of hopeless repetition of our needs, it becomes a hopeful expectation of what God can do for us.” I think this is exactly what happens here in Psalm 9; the psalmist frames his request with praise to create a mood of hopeful expectation.

From Praise to Prayer

After voicing his request in verse 13, he promised in verse 14 to praise God in the public square if the prayer is answered. This demonstrates that he was expecting God to answer his prayer! But even more than that, verses 15-18 form an anticipatory hymn of praise for the expected victory over his enemies and relief given to God’s people because of the victory. In verses 15-17, he described God making Himself known to the wicked and executing judgement on them causing them to be cast into hell, and then in verse 18 he expected the judgement on his enemies to result in the salvation of the poor and needy, which in this case are the oppressed people of God.

He then concluded his prayer with a plea for God to arise and judge the nations by making them fear the LORD.

If we take a moment to look at the psalm in its parts, we see something like this: it begins with praise of God the righteous Judge who is a stronghold for the afflicted who seek him, transitions into a prayer for deliverance from trouble, and then moves into praise again in anticipation of God’s answer to his prayer. What becomes clear then is that while asking God for deliverance, David was already praising God for the deliverance than hadn’t yet come. What we see then is the working out of an active faith in God.

Genuine Faith

According to Hebrews 11:1, “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” The term faith is often used to broadly refer to the sum total of what a person believes about God (Example: the Christian faith, the Jewish faith, the Muslim faith, etc), but that’s not really how the Bible uses the term. Faith in the Bible is something active that changes a person and dictates how we live. After giving a definition of faith, the author of Hebrews continued on to give examples of great faith. By faith…

…Able offered God a more acceptable sacrifice

…Noah built an ark

…Abraham obeyed when he was called to go to a strange place

…Moses’ parents hid him when he was born

…People of Israel walked around Jericho for seven days

All these people and so many more throughout the Bible and history demonstrated their genuineness of faith in God through action, and it’s this active faith we see demonstrated in Psalm 9: David praised God for an answer to prayer that had not yet come.

David believed that God was in fact the righteous Judge of all the world. He believed that God was good and perfect in every way, and that in His perfection, God would not let sin and injustice go unpunished. David also believed that God was a safe place for everyone who would seek Him. All those who were hurting and oppressed and troubled would be saved by God through their faith in God. By consequence then, David believed that God could not be overpowered by any earthly or spiritual force. And because David trusted that God would act according to His perfect and unchangeable character, he preemptively praised God for answering his requests.

The Challenge to Live Genuine Faith

What an incredible example of faith for us 21st century Christians to aspire to and emulate!

Through the influence of our culture, we in America are inclined to demand evidence and irrefutable assurance before we do something. For example, before I buy something on Amazon, I spend quite a bit of time reading reviews and comparing similar items. I do this because I want the assurance that I am getting the best product for my money and I do not want the disappointment of discovering the product was a dud. Now, I’m pretty sure no one would argue the wisdom of making an informed decision in this example, but we take this principle and apply it so liberally that we balk at the idea of walking by faith. We’d much rather plan out every detail of our spiritual journey with God than to trust Him without knowing what was going to happen or where we would be going.

Lack of faith is an epidemic among those who profess the Christian faith; it’s a virus that destroys churches and denominations and limits the effectiveness of our witness for Christ. Lack of faith or an absence of faith makes a fool not only out of all those who claim to believe that the Almighty Creator of the Universe saved them from their sin, but it makes God appear weak and powerless too, as if God couldn’t stand on His own when confronting the powers of this world.

Consider this for a moment: What kind of God are you proclaiming to this world by the way you actively live your faith? Does your faith proclaim a God who is all powerful, undefeatable, fearless, yet gracious, loving, and tenderhearted? Or does your faith proclaim a God who is weak, powerless, timid, and fearful of opposition? To answer these questions, take a quick inventory of the radicle steps of obedience you’ve taken lately, steps you would not have taken if it were not for your convictions regarding the Triune God. Did you respond with grace when your spouse yelled at you? Did you venture over to your neighbors to carry out the Great Commission? Did you give the last of your paycheck to someone who needed help? Did you confess your hidden sin to the one you sinned against? Did you attend church on Sunday even though every muscle and bone in your body didn’t want to come? Did you praise God for answering the prayer He didn’t answer yet?

Our faith is a direct reflection of what we truly believe about God. We know David believed God to be the righteous Judge and a stronghold because He praised God for being such and for answering his prayer before the actual answer came. If we believe God is Jehovah Jireh, our Provider, then we will be generous will our money, even if it as times puts un in a tight financial position. If we believe God to be our stronghold, then we will not be afraid to face opposition because God will take care of us. If we believe that Jesus sacrificed His life on the cross for us, then we will freely make incredible sacrifices for the benefit of others.

Sometimes, oftentimes, we struggle in our belief and act in ways that contradict the faith we profess. In these moments, we should pray the prayer of the father in Mark 9:24 who cried out to Jesus, “Help my unbelief!” This is a true prayer of faith God is so happy to answer if only we would pray it, and it is truly the only way for the Christian to grow in their faith, by confessing our need for help.

Through submission to God, our faith will become like the faith of David in Psalm 9. God will grant us the faith to move mountains, or, if we want to be more practical, the faith to obey. By faithful obedience, God will move those mountains in your life and He will demonstrate to you time and time again that He alone is God and worthy to be praised.