Every person has an innate moral capacity that compels him to think in terms of right and wrong. If educated thoroughly by God’s Word, one will abhor that which is evil and cling to that which is good. If educated incorrectly, one will call evil “good” and good “evil”. As described in David’s psalm of praise (Psalm 9), right thinking people ought to ever praise the Lord with their whole heart because of God’s pristine holiness.
Consider the contents of David’s meditation on this matter: “The nations have sunk down in the pit which they made; in the net which they hid, their own foot is caught. The Lord is known by the judgment He executes; the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Selah. The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. For the needy shall not always be forgotten; the expectation of the poor shall not perish forever” (Psalm 9:15-18).
God is to be praised for His holy law of reaping what is sown (vv. 15-16). Since the second day of creation—four days prior to humanity’s arrival—the law of sowing and reaping has governed this planet with an iron fist (Genesis 1:11-12). Because of this immutable physical and spiritual law, nations fall because of their own devices and the wicked are snared by the consequences of their own actions. The harvest of eternal corruption or everlasting life is the unchangeable result of what each person has sown (Galatians 6:8).
God is to be praised for His holy punishment of the wicked (v. 17). Be not deceived. God is not mocked. Every nation, all people are amenable to God’s holy expectations. Every person—great or small—who choses wickedness over righteousness shall be turned into hell. The holiness of Jehovah means that He is no respecter of persons.
God is to be praised for His holy concern and care for the needy (v. 18). Unlike the false god Allah, Jehovah’s holiness is tempered by a heart bursting with love, compassion, and tenderness, especially for those exploited and abused by the wicked. The ultimate proof of this came with the One prophesied of in Isaiah 61:1-2: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18-19).
How fitting is David’s concluding petition: “Arise, O Lord, do not let man prevail; let the nations be judged in Your sight. Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men” (vv.19-20).
Amen.
