Psalm 9:1-10
Today is the first day that we are breaking up a longer Psalm into two reading days. I’ve been using a breakpoint of 18 to 20 verses; for the most part any Psalm at that length or longer I’ve split into shorter sections and more reading days. Naturally you can read the entire Psalm through if you wish, but for posting my suggestion is that we focus on those verses assigned for that day. When I’ve split a Psalm, I’ve tried to find a break where there was a clear change in the tone of the Psalm. I see that today in Psalm 9 between verses 10 and 11.
Speaking of splitting, my Study Bible noted that Psalms 9 and 10 may have originally been one Psalm, but that they were split into two and we have them as they are today. They provide a number of arguments for that position; for me the most interesting is that Psalm 9 tends to refer to nations against Israel as the “bad guys” (see “nations” in Ps 9:5, 15, 17, 19, 20) while Psalm 10 seems to have individuals within the Lord’s chosen people as “the wicked (and evildoer)” (see Ps 10:2, 3, 4, 13, 15). Although “wicked” appears three times in Psalm 9 (vv. 5, 16, 17), in two of those occasions there is clear reference back to “nations”.
My thought for the day is verse 10: And those who know Your name put their trust in You, for You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You. We regularly pray for ourselves and others, especially when sickness or adversity comes our way, but we also consistently pray, “Your will be done.” And when prayers are not answered in the way we have prayed, even when the polar opposite for what we have prayed occurs, (ideally) we still say “Thank You” and move on. Faithful people in the USA in the last two presidential elections have been on both sides of their prayers for help for their candidate or deliverance from the other. But in the end we all say “Your will be done.” We have to put our trust in the Lord; He has not forsaken us!