JANUARY Attributes: Psalms 9-12

“Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the Lord; ‘I will place him in the safety for which he longs.’ The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.” -Psalm 12:5-6

CHAPTER OF THE WEEK: Psalm 12 You can read it every day or just once, pray it, meditate on it, talk about it, or find other resources about it.

VERSES OF THE WEEK: Psalm 12:5-6 You can memorize them, read them every day or just once, pray, meditate, talk about, or find other resources about them.

ON THE LOOKOUT: This month’s theme is attributes of God. Need a reminder about what an attribute is? Check out this post. Be on the lookout for attributes of God in your Bible reading this week. You can highlight them, keep track in a separate journal, make some kind of art with them, pray them to God, or text them to your friends.

RESOURCE OF THE WEEK: YouTube link to Overview of Psalm 12 by Spoken Gospel

SONG OF THE WEEK: “Psalm 12” by The Corner Room on YouTube or Spotify.

CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK: This week, try praying at least a little bit of the Scripture that you’re reading. Whether it be the Psalm of the day in reading plan, or the Psalm of this week, or a passage from a different plan, just try praying Scriptures! Not sure how to pray Scripture? Check out the links at the bottom of this other blog post.

PLAYLIST FOR THE WEEK: Here is a playlist with songs from Psalms 9-12 Youtube link, Spotify link. 

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “We come in prayer not to plead our case, but to plead His character.” – from Delight: A Walk Through the Psalms by The Daily Grace Co.

THOUTHTS ON Psalms 9-12

Although these weekly Psalm groupings aren’t necessarily linked together, I continue to be amazed at the common themes each week! Each Psalm is it’s own complete package of goodness, but open it along with a few others and you have a scrumptious meal with a variety of flavors that all complement and build on each other. Psalms 9-12 are likely all written by David (there are different theories surrounding chapter 10) and all written at different times and for different purposes. But in all 4 chapters, David cries out against the wicked and depends on God for deliverance.

The Hard Questions. In each chapter there is suffering and affliction going on. Chapter 9 is probably the most positive of this group, but even in 9:13 David is being afflicted by those who hate him and he pleads for God to be gracious, see his affliction, arise, and to not let men prevail but be brought in judgment before God (9:13, 19-20). Chapter 10 asks some hard questions like 10:1, “Why, O LORD, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” and in 10:13, “Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, ‘You will not call to account’?”. In Psalm 11, David is being told to flee and give up because, “what can the righteous do?” (11:3). And in 12:1 David feels that “… the godly one is gone; for the faithful have vanished from among the children of men.” In summary, the Psalmist is afflicted, the wicked are triumphing, the righteous are non-existent or helpless, and God seems far away and hidden.

The Wicked. The extent of wickedness described in these chapters is vast. Just look at all the things the wicked are accused of in only these 4 short chapters:

In addition to being the things above, they do the following actions:

But the saddest thing is what they say of God. They say:
“There is no God” (10:4)
“God has forgotten… He will never see it” (10:11)
“You [God] will not call to account” (10:13)
“Who is master over us?” (12:4)
In one breath they deny the existence of God and in the next they exalt themselves as greater than God and master’s of their own lives. They claim they can do whatever they want with no consequences, but the Psalmist knows better.

The LORD. In the midst of all the suffering, the Psalmist flees to God for his refuge. He reminds himself of who God is and what He has done. The Psalmist recounts the attributes of God. Oh what amazing application we see in these verses! Yes, go to God with your troubles. Cry to Him in honesty and then remember His character and take solace in the LORD Almighty! This is who God is:

God is all those wonderful attributes and these are some of the things he does:

We all will encounter seemingly impossible questions throughout our lives. Mostly, we question why things are happening the way in which they are happening. It is easy to doubt God’s goodness when we see the abounding wickedness inside us and surrounding us. This is why we must pray the Psalms. It is in this wonderful book that we see the proper and rewarding way to live in a sin fallen world. We remember who God is and what He has done. God’s past faithfulness reminds us of His future works of justice and that in turn keeps us dwelling in His refuge in the present. Through prayer, Psalms, and God’s attributes, we are given the answers to the hardest life questions. Praise the Lord!

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