Psalm 13 shows that David took counsel with God that he might overcome his enemy. In today's New Testament age, could we go to God and ask Him to put down our enemies, the ones that hate us? We cannot do this because the New Testament tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matt. 5:44; Rom. 12:14, 20). In Psalm 13:3, David said, "Consider and answer me, O Jehovah my God;/ Brighten my eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death." David was afraid that he would die while he was sleeping. He was afraid of sleeping a sleep of death.
In Psalm 14 we see David's concept concerning God's dealing with the corrupt fool and His salvation to His people. Verse 3 says, "Everyone has turned aside;/They are together perverse. / There is none who does good;/There is not even one." This word is quoted by Paul in Romans 3:12. The last verse of Psalm 14 is a good prophecy concerning the return of Israel from captivity—"O that the salvation of Israel might come forth from Zion!/When Jehovah turns the captivity of His people,/Jacob will exult, Israel will rejoice."
Psalms 9—14 show us a man who was supposedly very godly, yet his thought, his concept, was altogether wrapped up with the law and with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. These psalms are David's thought regarding his welfare. In principle, these six psalms are the same as Psalms 3—7. Nothing in them is related to God's economy, to God's interest, to God's kingdom, or to God's plan. But everything is concerning David's personal benefit, personal interest, personal safety, and personal peace. Do you think this should be a model to us? Surely it should not. We have to stay in the line of the tree of life, the line covered in Psalms 2 and 8.
I believe that such a study of the Word, according to the principles of the divine revelation, will help all of us to understand the Holy Bible. The Holy Bible is the writing of God. When we read it, we should not understand it according to our way or our concept. A person may be very scholarly and learned and yet receive nothing of the divine revelation from the Bible. This is because he understands the Bible, interprets it, appreciates it, and teaches it according to his natural understanding.
In the Lord's recovery among us in the past seventy years, since Brother Watchman Nee's time, the proper interpretation of the Bible has always been preserved in the principles of the Bible. People may criticize us, but no one can accuse us of saying anything against the principles of the Word. This is why I am happy to have this life-study to show us the difference between Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 and the difference between Psalms 3—7 and Psalm 8. Now we have considered Psalms 9—14. Based upon what we have seen according to the principles of the Bible, there is not any point in these six psalms that is up to the standard of the divine revelation.
Today in the New Testament principle, God does have a throne, and He is really sitting on the throne. But the throne today is called the throne of grace (Heb. 4:16). Furthermore, from eternity past to eternity future, God's intention is to love the world. John 3:16 says, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that every one who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life." The world in John 3:16 denotes the fallen human race. God loved the fallen human race, so He gave His only begotten Son to come to die for us that we should not perish but have eternal life through our believing into Him. The basic principle of the New Testament is that God loves fallen mankind. If this were not so, none of us could have been saved. We all have been saved based upon the principle that God loves the human race. Even though we, the human race, are fallen and have become the world, God loves us.
Therefore, God's throne today is not a throne of the King of authority. His throne today is the throne of a loving Savior. This throne of authority has become today the throne of grace. Every day and even every moment, we can come to approach this throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help (Heb. 4:16). This is today's dispensation of grace established by God. The Old Testament is the dispensation of the law, but even the Old Testament speaks of God's mercy. In Hosea 6:6 God said, "For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice." The Lord Jesus quoted this word in Matthew 9:13. God loves mercy because He is a God of mercy, a God of compassions. God desires to see people favored with His mercy, not judged by His being righteous. This is a principle in the Bible. When we interpret or teach the Bible, we need to take care of the governing principles.