For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Psalm 9 – Answered Prayer

1 I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart;
    I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
2 I will be glad and rejoice in you;
    I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.

3 My enemies turn back;
    they stumble and perish before you.
4 For you have upheld my right and my cause,
    sitting enthroned as the righteous judge.
5 You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
    you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.
6 Endless ruin has overtaken my enemies,
    you have uprooted their cities;
    even the memory of them has perished.

7 The Lord reigns for ever;
    he has established his throne for judgment.
8 He rules the world in righteousness
    and judges the peoples with equity.
9 The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
    a stronghold in times of trouble.
10 Those who know your name trust in you,
    for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

11 Sing the praises of the Lord, enthroned in Zion;
    proclaim among the nations what he has done.
12 For he who avenges blood remembers;
    he does not ignore the cries of the afflicted.

13 Lord, see how my enemies persecute me!
    Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death,
14 that I may declare your praises
    in the gates of Daughter Zion,
    and there rejoice in your salvation.

15 The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug;
    their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.
16 The Lord is known by his acts of justice;
    the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.
17 The wicked go down to the realm of the dead,
    all the nations that forget God.
18 But God will never forget the needy;
    the hope of the afflicted will never perish.

19 Arise, Lord, do not let mortals triumph;
    let the nations be judged in your presence.
20 Strike them with terror, Lord;
    let the nations know they are only mortal.

A. Find Out:

1. What does David first do? v.1,2
2. Why? v.3-6
3. How does he therefore see the Lord? v.7-12
4. Yet what does he pray? v.13
5. What does he declare? v.15-18
6. Yet what does he pray? v.19,20

B. Think:

1. What, here, would you call doctrine or truth?
2. What here is testimony?
3. How does truth & testimony encourage petition?

C. Comment:

   David starts out BRINGING STRONG PRAISE and his heart soars to God with gladness and joy. But then we see the cause of the praise: the Lord has obviously moved, and the problem David had been having with his enemies has been dealt with.

    As a consequence of this, faith is released and David PROCLAIMS TRUTH: the Lord reigns! The Lord has set up His throne on the earth to judge and to govern. In doing this He will be a refuge for those who are oppressed.

    But then comes the FIRST PETITION, for David obviously was still getting opposition, despite the Lord having moved, and so he cries to the Lord for help. As he does this he DECLARES TRUTH again: the reality is that the wicked get caught up in their own devices, that is the way that the Lord has ordained it to be (see Psalm 7).

   Finally, he utters his SECOND PETITION, a more general petition that the Lord would be seen to be judge and ruler of the world.

  Here we see those constituents of Spirit-led prayer: declaration of the truth releasing faith to ask for help, that in turn releases faith to declare more truth, and then ask bigger things!

D. Application?

1. As we pray, do we declare the truth as we know it from Scripture and from experience?
2. Declaring the truth releases faith to pray more, and praying more releases the truth. May it be so for us.