I read Psalm 9 this morning, and immediately verse 1 stuck out to me, “I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of Your wonderful deeds.” It also immediately made me think of 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, where Paul wrote similarly, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
It is easy to say these things in easy times, but both David and Paul wrote their respective words in difficult times. It is likely that David was undergoing some kind of affliction, according to his words, “Be gracious to me, O LORD! See my affliction from those who hate me…” (Psalm 9:13)—possibly another military affliction, judging from his recollection of God’s past deliverance in vv. 3-6. Likewise, Paul wrote his similar encouragement to the Thessalonians who were undergoing persecution (1 Thessalonians 1:6; 2:14).
It should go without saying that giving thanks to the Lord and remembering all His wonderful deeds is of paramount importance not when life is going well but when life becomes difficult. David’s two-step instructions are the last things the devil wants us to do when life becomes almost or literally unbearable. He wants us to become true enthusiasts with our navel-gazing, becoming so emotionally sequestered that we no longer look extra nos (outside ourselves) toward God. Thankfully, we have saints who’ve lived before us who serve as faithful examples, such as David.
As already noted, David recalled God’s past deliverance in vv. 3-6. We can do likewise. In retrospect, we can look back on our lives and see where God acted when, at the time, we thought He was absent. For example, during the first period of my depression back when I was a teenager, which was also the same time as my atheism, the Lord brought me to His Word and I started to experience healing. It wasn’t a magical, one-time reading of a Scripture verse like most people expect. As traumatic as my parents’ divorce was to me, He used that to bring me to church where He repeatedly spoke His Word to me. I had to hear the Gospel over and over again, which is often how it is. Seventeen years later, my depression isn’t gone, but now I know a safe place I can go, which is the Lord Himself. In David’s words, “The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know Your name put their trust in You, for You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You” (vv. 9-10).
Furthermore, we look to the Scriptures—where God delivered His salvation to the hundreds of thousands of saints before us. Yes, hundreds of thousands: the exodus event alone, the plethora of times God delivered His people from oppression, individuals like Job, Sarah, Hannah, Ruth, the ten lepers, and so on—literally countless people. But ultimately God delivering us from our sins through Christ on the cross—where God has delivered His salvation to you and me.
We therefore give thanks, whether through prayer or song. Notice that prayer and song take up the majority of our worship in the liturgy. Whatever it was we experienced all week, we come before the cross, place it all on Christ just as He indicates us to do (Matthew 11:28-30), and we give thanks to the Lord with our whole heart and recount all His wonderful deeds.
I always like to think of the Gospel as the elixir to all our troubles, whatever they may be. It is life’s panacea. When we take medicine—whether prescribed or off the counter—simply one dosage won’t do the trick. We need to keep taking it until we recover. Likewise, with the Gospel, one Scripture reading—or one verse—won’t make all our troubles go away. We need to keep consuming God’s Word daily in our homes and weekly at our local church until we recover, and that recovery doesn’t ultimately come until Christ returns and raises us from the dead and ushers in the new heavens and the new Earth.
“That all sounds great,” you may think, “but how does that help me with my finances?” Well, “[cast] all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). Pray about it—not necessarily a magical solution to your problem—God’s not a genie in a lamp—but that God provide the opportunity and the wisdom to ameliorate your situation. I’ve had to make this prayer many times, and every time God has answered positively, even if it wasn’t within my desired timetable.
“How does this help me with my depression?” Jesus didn’t die for worthless people. He died for the whole world (John 3:16). Are you part of the world? Congratulations, that means you. Jesus died and rose for you, which means the price of your life is the life of the King of the universe. Jesus died once for all (Romans 6:10). Is the word “all” exclusionary? No. That means you are not excluded from what He did on the cross. You are worth dying for, so Jesus died for you. You are worth living for, so Jesus rose for you.
“How does this help me with my disability?” Paul writes, “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee” (2 Corinthians 5:1-5). The TLDR is this: you will be given a perfect mind and body in the new creation. Simply look to any miracle Christ performed; these were mere foreshadows of what Christ will do when He raises us from the dead.
There is no sin or trouble too great that Christ didn’t die for. This means there is no person who is not redeemable—no person who is not precious in the eyes of Christ.
The Lutheran Column 