Psalm 9:15-20 The Lord is still working among the nations

Please Read Psalm 9.

The Psalmist has been recounting the wonderful deeds that God has done. He now concludes this Psalm by turning his attention to the nations in verses 15-20 (you might want to read them now).

This whole Psalm has been recounting the wonderful deeds of God. So, why does verse 15 seem to talk about the actions of the nations without any regard to God?

The nations have seemingly built a trap, and then fallen into it all of their own accord. They laid out their nets to capture some prey, and then captured themselves. The focus is completely on the human action…

…Until you turn to verse 16. Here David declares that the self-humiliation of the nations was all the work of the Lord. Through them capturing themselves, the Lord has made Himself known.

What a wonderful declaration for us today! There are so many things happening around us that seem to be happening without the active hand of God. It seems like people are doing foolish things and reaping the natural consequences of their actions—there’s nothing supernatural going on. Yet, even the natural consequences of actions are orchestrated by the divine hand of Providence.

God has created this world to function in such a way that His Will will always be done.

The wicked will be punished. This fact is always true in regards to eternal punishment in sheol or hell, but it is also sometimes true on this earth. When we see the wicked punished on this earth, when we see the evil nations being put to shame, when we see our enemies self-destruct, we must always remember to give God the glory.

These seemingly natural things are also the work of our supernatural Creator. God didn’t just create the world and then step away from His creation to watch the goings-on from a distance. He is actively involved in all of its aspects.

The needy will not be forgotten; the poor will not perish; evil men will not prevail. God will be vindicated in the end. God will be ultimately glorified for all that He does. But, even now we can see the ways that He is already working, and give Him glory for what He has done.

Let us glorify the Lord for His marvelous deeds! Whether we think back on what He has done, or look forward to what He will do; whether we think about what God does for us, or focus on what He is doing for the nations. In all of our thoughts we can think about the marvelous deeds of our Lord and give thanks to Him for what He has done. We can sing praise to His name, and remember that we are but men and women; the Lord alone is God.