PSALM 9:1–12 Knowing God
READ: PSALM 9:1–12 (JOHN 14:1–7) V. 10 “Those who know your name put their trust in you.”
Would you trust someone you don’t know? The fact is that the better you know someone, the more you tend to be able to trust that person. At least if that person has been dependable and helpful. Well, the same applies to God. When it comes to him, there are many good reasons to trust him!
David, anointed king over God’s people, learned to know God early. Already as a young man keeping sheep for his father, David learned to know and to trust God. When David volunteered to fight the Philistine giant, Goliath, Saul had big doubts. But David said to Saul, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine” (1 Sam. 17:37). David’s knowledge of God and the resulting trust in him were not put to shame. He knocked the giant down with a stone. David was willing and ready to fight him because he knew God’s name, his reputation.
David came to know God’s name from reading his word. That’s why he could recount all his wonderful deeds (v. 1) and confess God as the One who never forsakes those who seek him (v. 10). Meditating on Scripture made him see that God does not forget the cry of the afflicted (v. 12). And David’s knowledge of God became deeply personal and his trust grew as he experienced God at work in his life. More and more David was willing to deny himself in order to follow God’s will and way.
We can know God even better than David ever could because we know the name of the Saviour he was waiting for, Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, to know him is to know the Father (John 14:7). We know Christ through the Bible and we can come to trust him personally as we get to know him better. That means we need to read Scripture carefully, listen to the preaching with open ears, and take every opportunity to learn the name of Christ so that our trust in God will grow.
As knowledge and trust increase, then we’ll be willing to deny ourselves and follow him wholeheartedly. We will learn to say what Paul says, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord” (Phil. 3:8).
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