Pastor Fredo Ramos: For whatever reason, I have always struggled to pray. And so as this new year begins and as many of you think about new routines that you wanna give yourself to, especially for those of you who follow Jesus, I wanna invite you to learn to pray the Psalms with us. It's a practice I picked up years ago that really saved, my ability to learn to pray, to speak to God honestly about how I was feeling and what I was thinking. And so every single day on sandalschurch.tv on YouTube, we're gonna be releasing, praying the Psalms, a psalm a day. We started in January 1st and every day you're gonna get a new psalm, but the opportunity to read the psalm with us, to reflect on a phrase, and then to respond to God in prayer, how to pray through the psalms.
This has been a gift to me in my own journey with Jesus. I pray that it's a gift to you, and so would you join us. Grace and peace. As we continue in praying the Psalms, we come to Psalm 9, another Psalm of David starting there in verse 1. I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart.
I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and rejoice in you. I will sing the praises of your name, oh, most high. For my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before you. For you have upheld my right and my cause, sitting enthroned as the righteous judge.
You've rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked. Endless ruin has overtaken the enemies. Verse 7, the lord reigns forever. He has established his throne for judgement. He rules the world, we're told in verse 8.
Verse 10 is wonderful. Those who know your name trust in you. For you, lord, have never forsaken those who seek you. Sing praises of the Lord enthroned in Zion and proclaim to the nations all that he has done. For the nations have fallen, the Lord is known by his acts of justice.
Verse 17, the wicked go down to the realm of the dead and all the nations that forget God, but God will never forget the needy. Notice the contrast there. The hope of the afflicted will never perish. So arise, Lord. Do not let mortals triumph.
Let the nations be judged in your presence. Strike them with terror, Lord. Let the nations know that they are only mortal. By way of reflection, I think it's important for David or for us for David. David's dead.
By way of reflection, I think it's important for us to consider the way that David again returns to God his right to judge. There's a confident tone that he takes as he faces his his day knowing that those who have come against him will have to be dealt with. There's a freedom that David has in prayer knowing that God will act on his behalf, which is why he reminds us that he he reigns forever. His enemies have turned back. He opens with a kind of thanksgiving and a declaration that he will tell others about the wonderful things that he has done.
And I wanna draw your attention to 2 things that he says about God specifically. They're in verse 10. For you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you. For those of you who maybe feel like God has forgotten you or that God has not noticed the ways that you have pursued him, please hear me say to you, as we're reminded of this psalm that God has not forgotten those who have sought after him. Also, there in verse 18, God will also not forget the needy and the hope of the afflicted.
In other words, God's fully sees those who seek after him, and he will never forget or neglect those who are in need and those who have placed their hope in him. And so what confidence we can take there in verse 9 that as we face trouble today, notice the invitation of verse 9. The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed and a stronghold in times of trouble. And so, Jesus, we hear you telling us today, reminding us today that the troubles that await us in our relationships, the troubles that maybe await us at the workplace, in the things, the circumstances we're facing, that you today are a stronghold. You today are a refuge, and you have not forsaken us as we pursue and seek after you.
And so let not our circumstances determine how we view you, but, God, would you be the one that determines how we view our circumstances? In Jesus name, amen. Grace and peace. Stay tuned for Psalm 10.