Sound The Trumpet : Consider My Trouble…Psalm 9

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“Consider My Trouble…Psalm 9”
by Pastor Bill Randles
November 27th, 2012

Have mercy upon me, O LORD; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death: That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation.(Psalm 9:13-14)

Psalm 9 is an eschatological psalm. It describes the coming of the Lord to this earth to deliver a besieged people, Israel, surrounded by menacing enemies on the verge of destroying her.

The Psalmist reveals that Israel’s enemies will be routed by the very presence of the Lord, the perousia spoken of in the New Testament, as Old and New Testament prophets testify also, by the Holy Spirit;

For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.(Zechariah 14:2-3)

When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;( 2 Thess 1:7-9)

The Psalmist asks the Lord to consider the troubles he has, which are due to the hatred of the world.

Why has Israel been so universally hated? What is it about her that consumes so much frenetic activity in world forums such as the United Nations? Why so many censures of the only free and democratic nation in the middle east? How could there even be a suggested ‘moral equivalence ‘ in discussions of Israel and her enemies?

How is it that there can be a Red Cross, and a Red Crescent but there can never be a Red Star of David?

Israel, even in it’s current temporary state of unbelief, is an ongoing testimony to the reality of the God of the Bible. The world seeks to “will away” the existence of God, therefore it hates Israel.

Many centuries earlier a pagan prophet, Balaam, was used by the Holy God to prophesy to the King of Moab, who had paid him to curse Israel. Instead God inspired Balaam to bless and extol Israel, predicting that Israel would triumph over all of her enemies in the last days.

One of his statements was the prediction that Israel would dwell alone and not be reckoned among the nations,(Numbers 23). Israel alone can not have a seat on the U.N. security council, nor will the vast majority of the nations of the world place their embassies in Jerusalem, but rather in Tel Aviv.

The world hates Israel. Other than the majority of evangelical christians who else is Israel’s friend in the world?

The eschatology of the Muslim world, (one out of six people in the world) insists that the “last day cannot come until the Muslims wipe out the Jews”, the very existence of a nation of Israel is an affront to Islam, and a daily reminder of the impotance of Allah.

The secular democracies of Europe hate Israel, because they see it as an impediment to their ongoing attempt to appease the Arab world, for the sake of cheap crude oil. The secular aspect of America is going the same way, despising Israel, accusing her of being an “occupier” and nearly taking the side of Hamas and Fatah in the political debate?

Another prophetic Psalm describes the alienation of Israel in the last days ,

Woe to me that I dwell in Meshek,
that I live among the tents of Kedar!
Too long have I lived
among those who hate peace.
I am for peace;
but when I speak, they are for war (Psalm 120:5-7)

Such is modern Israel’s plight, that she is situated in the world’s worst, most implacably bitter neighborhood, the middle east. “Meshek” , a son of Japheth whose descendents eventually settled in the Caucasus area, is slated to lead a confederation of Moslem nations against Israel.

Kedar is a son of Ishmael, one of the forefathers of the Arab nations. Like their father Ishmael, of whom God said he would be a “Wild Ass of a man”, who would be at war with everybody, including his brothers, Kedar is currently for war, though Israel wants peace.

The ‘ everlasting hatred’ is coming to a head. The events leading up to the last intervention of God almighty to this earth are centered around this Israel hatred. This is why the Psalmist cries out to God, to consider the trouble inflicted upon Israel by it.

But Israel’s prayer to God shall be answered for she will not always be surrounded by such hateful and painful neighbors, who seek her destruction even as she seeks peace, the Lord promises her in Ezekiel that by the time He is through “sanctifying Himself before the nations”,

And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord GOD. Thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob. And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the LORD their God.(Ezekiel 28:24-26)

Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13