Psalm 7
Psalm 7
begins with David’s perspective on humanity.
Granted, David is not speaking specifically about all humanity – just
his adversaries. However, the reality is
that David’s adversaries would have thought about him just about as highly as
he thought of them. So what is David’s
perspective on humanity? “Lest like a
lion they tear my soul apart, rending it to pieces.”
David
doesn’t have a very high opinion of humanity.
We tear each other apart. We rend
each other limb from limb with our words and our actions. We tear one another down. That’s a shame, too. Human beings have such potential for joy and
excitement. But instead out of jealousy
and greed we rend each other to pieces.
This is
why the end of Psalm 7 speaks often of turning to the Lord. It is the Lord who is the only accurate judge
of what is inside of us. It is the Lord that
is the only one righteous enough to look upon us fairly and see into our
hearts. Only the Lord can take our
sinful self and turn us into something that we are not.
This is
also why David urges us to repent. We
know what lies inside of our own heart.
We might genuinely love God, but like the apostle Paul we find ourselves
doing what we know to be wrong and not what we should be doing. See Romans 7:15. Only in our genuine repentance can we find
the cure for our humanity. We need to
turn to God, confess our sin, and let God take over.
As David
says, if we do not repent, God will whet (sharpen) His sword. That’s a good enough reason for me to take
repentance seriously.
Psalm 8
Psalm 8
has many famous lines within it. Here in
this psalm we begin and end with a declaration of how majestic God’s name
happens to be. What is it that God has
done that makes Him so majestic? He put
the sun in its place. He hung the stars
in the sky. God has made a world in
which we can dwell. All of this is from
the hands of our creator! Why shouldn’t
we approach God with a sense of majesty?
However,
this is not the end of the psalm. What
is truly majestic is that God created humanity and set us atop His
creation. Although we don’t deserve it
at all, God has crowned us in glory and honor.
His grace, mercy, and ability to see potential within us really gives us
a reason to proclaim His majesty.
In this
psalm we really understand the defeat of the self-centered self-monger within
us. God set us on top of creation. He set us just below the heavenly
beings. But that should not lead us into
thinking about how great we are! No,
watching God elevate our position draws us to glorify Him, not ourselves! He is the reason we are elevated, not
us! Ultimately this psalm is about exalting
God because in His mercy He has allowed us to rise to a place that we do not
deserve to be in.
Psalm 9
Psalm 9
continues this theme of exalting God.
Yes, God watches over us. That is
reason to give praise. God will judge
righteously. That is reason to give
praise. God defends us. That is also reason to give praise.
But the
greatest reason to give praise is God Himself, not what He does for us. God sits enthroned forever. He is eternal. He is almighty. He is a stronghold in whom we can place our
trust. This is the greatest reason we
can have to give praise to God. We
praise Him for who He is.
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