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Psalm 9:9
“The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.”
Scripture reveals God’s attribute of power—His divine omnipotence—both in direct statement and in metaphorical language. Jeremiah 32:17 provides one example of an explicit declaration of the Lord’s power in stating that “nothing is too hard for [the Lord].” The same prophet, in 20:11, uses a metaphor to present God’s power, explaining that God is a “dread warrior.” Another image used for the Lord’s omnipotence can be found in today’s passage, where David calls God “a stronghold” (Ps. 9:9).
By identifying the Lord as a stronghold, God’s Word stresses that our Creator executes His power to guard His people. Armies take refuge in strongholds or fortresses to find protection from their enemies, because these strongholds strive to provide near-impregnable shelter from attack. Of course, even the best man-made fortification cannot guarantee that the enemy will not break through; the same, however, is not true of God our stronghold. He is the “bulwark never failing,” as Martin Luther wrote in his famous hymn based on Psalm 46, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.”
God exercises His protective power especially with reference to His people when they are being oppressed, since He “is a stronghold for the oppressed” (Ps. 9:9). So believers understand His power to keep them safe especially when others are seeking to harm them unjustly. This does not mean, however, that the Lord’s protection always occurs immediately. Many a saint has cried out, “How long, O Lord?” when the wicked seem to be ascendant and God appears to tarry in providing help (e.g., Ps. 13:1–4). Here it is important to understand that while the Lord’s care for His people is boundless, His aid does not always come exactly when we think it should. God seeks to manifest the fullness of His character, for there is nothing better for us than to see His glory. The Lord sometimes waits, from our perspective, to act so that we cannot dispute that He alone has provided rescue. John Calvin comments: “God delays his aid, and to outward appearance forsakes his faithful ones, in order at length to succor them at a more convenient season, according to the greatness of their necessity and affliction. . . . He by no means ceases from the exercise of his office, although he suffer the good and the innocent to be reduced to extreme poverty, and although he exercise them with weeping and lamentations; for by doing this he lights up a lamp to enable them to see his judgments the more clearly.”
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
We take refuge in Christ, who is God Himself, as our stronghold because only in Him can we find eternal safety. He saves us from the wrath of our holy Creator by bearing the penalty for sin and by clothing us in His righteousness, and He saves us from sin, death, and the devil by conquering them. If we are in Christ, we need not fear what anyone can do to us, for ultimately we are safe.
For further study
- Jeremiah 16:19–21
- 1 John 5:18
The bible in a year
- Judges 12–14
- Luke 9:37–62
- Judges 15–18
- Luke 10