Yahweh Makes Himself Known By The Justice He Makes – Psalm 9

Many consider Psalm 9 and 10 to be one Psalm, or at least a two parter. Both, at least, have similar themes and verbiage, and perhaps a loose acrostic structure. However, the focus in 9 is thanking God for righteous judgement, whereas 10 is a prayer against wicked rulers.

So onto Psalm 9. It sort of picks up where 7 left off. Once again, God is the judge of the world who will vindicate his people by punishing evil. And we see here how David speaks of past judgements made to show the basis of his trust for future judgements. As opposed to many of David’s psalms, this one focuses more on Israel’s national enemies, it seems, than David’s personal ones. And any attempt to drive Israel from their land was an attack on God’s plan, and therefore an attack against God. This Psalm reminds me of the end of Moses’ song in Deuteronomy 32:40-43, or Romans 12:19 and Revelation 19:2. Revenge or repayment from a just and fair God is not evil. In fact, it reflects his holiness because he can’t leave sin unpunished.

If it’s from God, you won’t be able to put an end to them - Acts 5:1-6:7

The more I read Acts, the more compelling it is. I say this because here we see the first signs that the growth of the Church was pervasive, but it definitely wasn’t trouble free. There was persecution from without, and corruption from within.

From within we see the account of Ananias and his wife Sapphira testing and Holy Spirit by lying, and receiving swift judgment. Now, contrary to perhaps popular media opinion, this kind of swift judgment is quite rare in the Bible. Judgment is usually enacted against nations after long periods of time who have become hardened in their ways (Genesis 15:16 among others).

And from within we see the Hellenistic Greek speaking widows receiving different treatment that the native Palestinian Aramaic speaking ones. I’m reminded that the church is to be a single family. So yes, they share everything in common, and yes, they treat each other all with the same respect and love. Plus, this incident is a glaring hint to church leaders that two things are essential, giving people God’s Word and prayer.