Psalms 9:1-20

I will praise Thee, O Lord.

Praise, trust, and prayer

In the Septuagint, this Psalm refers to the death of the Divine Son, and recites His victory over death, the grave, and all our foes.

I. There is a predominant note of praise. (Verses 1-5, 11, 12, 14.) Let us not praise with a divided, but a whole heart. It is incited by recounting all God’s works. Let memory heap fuel on the altar of praise.

II. There is an assertion of trust. (Verses 7-12, 18.) The oppressed, the humble, the needy, and the poor have strong encouragement. Calamity drives them to God, and so they come to know Him, and then the more they trust Him. Doubt is born of ignorance. Leave God to vindicate you; He will not forget.

III. There is a petition for further help. (Verses 13, 19, 20.) What a contrast between the gates of death (Psalms 9:13), and the gates of the Holy City (Psalms 9:14)! See Haman as illustrating Psalms 9:15. He who lifts the righteous, hurls down the wicked. It is a sin to forget God (Psalms 9:17). (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)

The ministry of praise

“I will praise Thee.” That is the note that is too commonly silent in our religious life. We rarely gather together for the supremely exhilarating business of praise. In the Psalm is a man who sets himself to the business of praise, as though he were about to engage in a great matter. He sets about it with undivided attention--“with my whole heart.” The word “heart” is a spacious word. It includes all the interior things, all the central things; when a man comes to praise, will, intellect, and imagination must all be active. He must bring to the ministry of praise the worship of his feelings. Come will, and make my praise forceful. Come intellect, and make it enlightened. Come feeling, and make it affectionate. In the words, “I will sow forth,” is suggested that he will score it as with a mark, he will not allow it to slip by unrecorded. He will keep a journal of mercies. He will not only register the “marvellous works,” he will publish them. The word is suggestive not only of a notebook, but of a proclamation. “I will rejoice,” the word is suggestive of the exulting bubbling of the spring. The two words, “glad,” “rejoice,” together give us the image of the leaping waters with the sunshine on them. And such is always the joy of the Lord. It is fresh as the spring, and warm and cheering as the sunlight. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)

A praiseful heart

We should praise God more, and thank Him more often for His ceaseless goodness. How can we forget His countless benefits? Dean Alford said, “It seems to me that five minutes of real thanksgiving for the love of our dear Saviour is worth a year of hard reasoning on the hidden parts of our redemption.” Of the last days of the Venerable Bede, his disciple Cuthbert wrote, “He was much troubled with shortness of breath, yet without pain, before the day of our Lord’s resurrection, that is, for about a fortnight, and thus he afterwards passed his life cheerful and rejoicing, giving thanks to Almighty God every day and night, nay, every hour, till the day of our Lord’s ascension. He also passed all the night awake in joy and thanksgiving, unless a short sleep prevented it, in which case he no sooner awoke than he presently repeated his wonted exercises, and ceased not to give thanks to God with uplifted hands. I declare with truth that I have never seen with my eyes, or heard with my ears, any man so earnest in giving thanks to the living God.”