Context No. 2483 of 4322 · Psalms

Psalms 9:1-20: in context

1I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart. I will tell of all your marvelous works. 2I will be glad and rejoice in you. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. 3When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish in your presence. 4For you have maintained my just cause. You sit on the throne judging righteously. 5You have rebuked the nations. You have destroyed the wicked. You have blotted out their name forever and ever. 6The enemy is overtaken by endless ruin. The very memory of the cities which you have overthrown has perished. 7But the LORD reigns forever. He has prepared his throne for judgment. 8He will judge the world in righteousness. He will administer judgment to the peoples in uprightness. 9The LORD will also be a high tower for the oppressed; a high tower in times of trouble. 10Those who know your name will put their trust in you, for you, LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you. 11Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion, and declare among the people what he has done. 12For he who avenges blood remembers them. He doesn’t forget the cry of the afflicted. 13Have mercy on me, LORD. See my affliction by those who hate me, and lift me up from the gates of death, 14that I may show all of your praise. I will rejoice in your salvation in the gates of the daughter of Zion. 15The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made. In the net which they hid, their own foot is taken. 16The LORD has made himself known. He has executed judgment. The wicked is snared by the work of his own hands. Meditation. Selah. 17The wicked shall be turned back to Sheol, even all the nations that forget God. 18For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever. 19Arise, LORD! Don’t let man prevail. Let the nations be judged in your sight. 20Put them in fear, LORD. Let the nations know that they are only men. Selah.

David's song of thanks moves between celebrating God's righteous judgment and pleading from his own affliction. God sits enthroned judging rightly, he says, and here is what that means for the small and crushed: the LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. He who avenges blood remembers them; he does not forget the cry of the afflicted. The needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever.

The comfort is aimed precisely at the fear of being forgotten. When you are afflicted and no one seems to notice, the temptation is to conclude that God has lost track of you too. The psalm says the opposite: he remembers the cry of the afflicted, and the hope of the poor is not going to perish. A righteous Judge who sees clearly is not good news for the oppressor, but for the crushed it is deep good news, that their cry is heard and kept, and their case will not be dropped.

When I feel afflicted and overlooked, do I believe God has forgotten me, or that he does not forget the cry of the afflicted?

Sources

Psalm 9:9: The LORD will also be a high tower for the oppressed; a high tower in times of trouble.
Psalm 9:12: For he who avenges blood remembers them. He doesn't forget the cry of the afflicted.
Psalm 9:18: For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever.