“For you have upheld my right and my cause; you have sat on your throne, judging righteously.”
– Psalm 9:4
Hi James and Ellen,
What do you say to God when you are talking with Him about a guy, gal or kid who you know who is chasing after a foolish, self-centered lifestyle? What do you say to God when you are talking with Him about a leader who you know who is pursuing a self-adulating, self-seeking life track? What do you say to God when you are talking with Him about a guy, gal or kid who you know who has bought into an insidious, imprudent way of thinking about life? When you are talking to God about a guy, gal or kid who you know who has adopted an arrogant, egotistical lifestyle, do you ask God to pour out an extra measure of His love on the guy, gal or kid so that . . . or do you ask God to do whatever it will take to get the guy, gal or kid to completely change to centering his or her life entirely in Him? When you are talking with God about a leader who you know who has embraced a life track for achieving personal notoriety or fame in order to be venerated, do you ask God to demonstrate an extra measure of His kindness towards him or her so that . . . or do you ask God to do whatever it will take to get the guy or gal to totally change to centering his or her life in every respect in Him? When you are talking with God about a guy, gal or kid who you know who has internalized a depraved, God-dishonoring mindset, do you ask God to show an extra measure of His patience towards him or her so that . . . or do you ask God to do whatever it will take to get the guy, gal or kid to fully change to centering his or her life wholly in Him? During a visit that your grandmaa and grandpaa were having with a cousin of your grandmaa, your grandmaa’s cousin Susana told your grandmaa and grandpaa that a guy who had been very divisive in her church had recently died of a heart attack. Susana told your grandmaa and grandpaa that shortly before the guy died that she and several other gals in the church had gotten together to specifically ask God to do whatever to get the guy to change from being so contentious or to take the guy out of the church picture altogether. When hurricane Mitch capriciously ravaged Central America in 1998, your grandmaa and grandpaa were living in Guatemala City where they were missionaries on the OC International – Equipo SEPAL, field missionary team. Before Mitch turned south towards Honduras, Mitch spent several days churning not far from Guatemala’s Caribbean coastline. As Mitch roiled off Guatemala’s east coast, a symposium began in El Shaddai Church that is in Guatemala City. A new belief paradigm had recently emerged that was being touted by C. Peter Wagner – who is an internationally known missiologist, which supports and promotes a charismatic church leader becoming an apostle in a post Biblical ‘Apostolic Reformation’. (Your grandpaa does not buy into this teaching.) The meetings that were being held at El Shaddai Church had guys in attendance who had already been acknowledged as being apostles in the church. Your grandpaa is convinced that these guys – as they talked with God about Mitch, asked God to stop Mitch from heading west over Guatemala and . . . so God sent Mitch over Honduras and Nicaragua resulting in around 18,000 guys, gals and kids being killed from all the rain that Mitch generated. About three months before Haiti was seriously rocked last month with a massive, deadly earthquake, Several Haitian evangelical church leaders assembled to ask God to shake their land, tear down their government strongholds and destroy the corrupt forces in their judicial system. God responded to these evangelical church leaders’ requests by literally shaking their country resulting in purportedly over 250,000 guys, gals and kids being killed, government buildings being flattened and guys, gals and kids replacing their voodooism beliefs by turning to God as their source of faith. (It is 15 years later. Your grandpaa was asked to go to Haiti four times after the earthquake – the first time was for about two weeks to eyeball and complete tasks for Adventures in Missions with the other three times leading Adventures in Missions short term ministry teams. Haiti today is overrun with gangs causing havoc everywhere. It is no longer safe to go to Haiti for any reason.)
David knew that God was quite willing to respond in a vengeful way if . . . David scribed a psalm song that is Psalm 9 in the Book of Psalms, which praises God for having redressed the wrongs that had been made against him by his enemies. David uses this psalm song to thank God for causing his enemies to stumble and perish, for forever blotting out the names of his enemies, for uprooting and bringing ruin to his enemies, for avenging the blood that his enemies had shed among the afflicted, for having his enemies fall into the pits that they had dug for their victims, for having his enemies caught in the snares that they had hidden for their human prey and for returning his enemies to their graves. David did not hesitate when he talked with God to ask God to strike terror in his enemies’ hearts.
Why do you think that David did not hesitate to ask God – as he was talking with Him, to come down hard on his enemies – who were also God’s enemies? Verse 4 says, “For you have upheld my right and my cause; you have sat on your throne, judging righteously.” It is very important to know what David knew which is that God wants to respond proactively to the wishes of His adopted kids – who He chose for Himself before He created planet Earth, especially when He hears the wishes being made in a corporate way. What have you been asking God to do for you?
Psalm 9 (1062)