January 9, 2017: Day 9 – Psalm 9

The introduction to this Psalm is once again hazy in its meaning.  The term Muth labben could mean “death of a son”, which in David’s life would not be unusual considering the history of Absalom and his death which we saw earlier in the Psalms.  But if you look at Psalm 9 and notice its tone, that would seem to make much less sense.  This Psalm is very much of a celebratory Psalm of praise and not in any way does it reflect a death of a child, but rather a conquest of a battle.

But what I want you to see which you could easily overlook is the hint of something that we have not seen so far and which Jesus seems to emphasize in a very deliberate way in the New Testament.  Look at vs.18 and you see the writer, who if it is King David is wealthy and travels in the circles of the rich and famous, remind the readers that the needy shall have a voice and the poor will never lose hope.  Jesus undoubtedly has a penchant for the poor.  Jesus has  preference for the downcast and the marginalized.  Look at Luke 6 and you hear Jesus say: Blessed are the poor.  Blessed are the hungry.  He then follows that up with woe to you rich and woe to you who are full.  

To say that Jesus emphasized his love for the poor and the weak is an understatement.  He is consistently describing how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of heaven if you are rich and then turns around and states quite forcefully that the widow has given more because she gave all that she had.  There should be no doubt that Jesus not only loved the rich but even favored the rich.  I know, that is a statement that many find controversial, but I’m okay with that.  

The main reason that I am okay with that is that if only a certain population group within our society is with hope or that a large swath of our population is forgotten, again back to vs.18, then I have a problem with that.  Jesus came so that the entire world would be saved and would have an equal opportunity to live out their lives in fulness in a direct relationship with him.  If anyone within our community has a limited opportunity, or less opportunity than I have, to achieve that, then I have a problem with it.  It isn’t that the poor or the marginalized want something special.  They just want to take for granted what someone like me takes for granted.  David can rejoice because he is in a position to rejoice.  My goal is that all people can find themselves in that same position where they can sing praises to the Lord whatever their lot in life.