Psalm 9: The Shadow Proves The Sunshine

In Psalm 9, the tone has changed but the circumstances really have not.  David opens with the lines:  I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.  I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.  But even though, David expresses a heart that is eager to praise the Lord, it is clear from the rest of the psalm that all in his life is not well:

Be gracious to me, O LORD. See what I suffer from those who hate me…

There is no shortage of danger in Psalm 9 but the lens through which David looks at everything is a lens of gratitude, hope, and faith.  He does not simply will himself to this place of expectant fidelity but recounts the past when God had rescued him.  David in the midst of anxious present can look to both the past and the future with clear eyes.  He sees that God has indeed rescued him in times of trouble and he is thus confident that he will do it again.

He declares in the assembly:  The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. 10 And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.

This is the confidence that comes from a long obedience in the same direction.  David can speak as one who has put their trust in the Lord, sought him, and he has found himself not forsaken.  We see this cycle in Scripture, often its when the most dire, hopeless of circumstances strike that the people turn again to the Lord.  The pendulum swings from a sleepy complacency which usually results in idolatry and judgment to a desperate plea for God’s intervention.  But Psalm 9 shows us a different rhythm.

What would it look like to seek God so fervently that your circumstances would almost become ancillary?  Or another way we could ask the question, what would it look like to be so alive to God in our daily lives that even in the face of certain death, we would still find faith and hope in his life?  I want to be alive to God in the daily moments of the ordinary days because I know that the trouble finds us all.  David, here in the bleakest of circumstances, can express such unwavering trust in the Lord because he has expressed that same trust on the bright, sunny days.  I don’t know where you find yourself today but perhaps God is inviting you to just acknowledge that he exists, to have your day interrupted and shaped by the beauty of his presence.  When we seek him in the sunlight, we can stand confidently against the black of night, knowing the dawn is coming.  He is faithful.