Preparing for worship with Psalm 9

Psalm 9 (TNIV) -

1 I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart;
I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.

2 I will be glad and rejoice in you;
I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.

3 My enemies turn back;
they stumble and perish before you.

4 For you have upheld my right and my cause,
sitting enthroned as the righteous judge.

5 You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.

6 Endless ruin has overtaken my enemies,
you have uprooted their cities;
even the memory of them has perished.

7 The Lord reigns forever;
he has established his throne for judgment.

8 He rules the world in righteousness
and judges the peoples with equity.

9 The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.

10 Those who know your name trust in you,
for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

11 Sing the praises of the Lord, enthroned in Zion;
proclaim among the nations what he has done.

12 For he who avenges blood remembers;
he does not ignore the cries of the afflicted.

13 Lord, see how my enemies persecute me!
Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death,

14 that I may declare your praises
in the gates of Daughter Zion,
and there rejoice in your salvation.

15 The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug;
their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.

16 The Lord is known by his acts of justice;
the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.

17 The wicked go down to the realm of the dead,
all the nations that forget God.

18 But God will never forget the needy;
the hope of the afflicted will never perish.

19 Arise, Lord, do not let mortals triumph;
let the nations be judged in your presence.

20 Strike them with terror, Lord;
let the nations know they are only mortals.

My thoughts -

We sing an arrangement of the first two verses of this Psalm in my church. It amazes me that David wrote this Psalm roughly 3000 years ago and, 3000 years later we're still singing it.

But what I really love about this is that David isn't just singing some ambiguous praise to some kind of a vague notion of something greater than himself. There's some serious theology going on here. Within the context of David's worship he is describing God and thanking God for what God has done and is doing and begging God to more. He even mentions God's concern for the needy and for justice.

Will we, in our worship this morning, articulate what we believe about God? Will we describe the acts of God, and declare God's good deeds in our lives? Will we tell of God's wonders? Will we praise God for God's concern for the poor, for the needy, for the oppressed, and for justice?