1I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
2I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
3When my enemies turned back,
they stumbled and perished before you.
4For you have maintained my just cause;
you have sat on the throne giving righteous judgment.
5You have rebuked the nations, you have destroyed the wicked;
you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.
6The enemies have vanished in everlasting ruins;
their cities you have rooted out;
the very memory of them has perished.
7But the Lord sits enthroned for ever,
he has established his throne for judgement.
8He judges the world with righteousness;
he judges the peoples with equity.
9The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
10And those who know your name put their trust in you,
for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
Some Psalms are longer than others. That is a given. Some Psalms fit into certain genres together. For instance the Psalms of Ascents (120-134) speak to a general theme of approaching the splendor of God. They were most likely originally used by pilgrims journeying to Jerusalem from other lands. Psalms 9 and 10 work together to share this common theme:
We are not self-sufficient.
In the earlier Psalms, the psalmist would pray for those enemies, that destruction would come upon them. That they would get what they deserve; their "come-up-ins." Here, the Psalmist gets what he wants, what he prayed for. Who knows how much time went by between the actual events? Who knows exactly what the enemies got as their punishment? Scholars have ideas, but we have no way of knowing for sure. The thing to notice is this: God is the one who exacts judgment. Justice is never something that we put into our own hands. Ironically, I have jury duty tomorrow. The point of these few verses is not to confuse. In fact, it is to make known the reality that in God's hands and God's time, we all will receive what we deserve. For we are not self-sufficient.
Prayer:
Psalm 9 (verses 1-10)
