Psalm 9 (NIV) - The hope of the afflicted will never parish

From Psalms

Psalm 9 (New International Version, ©2011)
(For the director of music. To the tune of “The Death of the Son.” A psalm of David.)

¹I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart;
      I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
²I will be glad and rejoice in you;
      I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.

³My enemies turn back;
      they stumble and perish before you.
⁴For you have upheld my right and my cause,
      sitting enthroned as the righteous judge.
⁵You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
      you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.
⁶Endless ruin has overtaken my enemies,
      you have uprooted their cities;
      even the memory of them has perished.

⁷The LORD reigns forever;
      he has established his throne for judgment.
⁸He rules the world in righteousness
      and judges the peoples with equity.
⁹The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,
      a stronghold in times of trouble.
¹⁰Those who know your name trust in you,
      for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.

¹¹Sing the praises of the LORD, enthroned in Zion;
      proclaim among the nations what he has done.
¹²For he who avenges blood remembers;
      he does not ignore the cries of the afflicted.

¹³LORD, see how my enemies persecute me!
      Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death,
¹⁴that I may declare your praises
      in the gates of Daughter Zion,
      and there rejoice in your salvation.

¹⁵The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug;
      their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.
¹⁶The LORD is known by his acts of justice;
      the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.
¹⁷The wicked go down to the realm of the dead,
      all the nations that forget God.
¹⁸But God will never forget the needy;
      the hope of the afflicted will never perish.

¹⁹Arise, O LORD, do not let mortals triumph;
      let the nations be judged in your presence.
²⁰Strike them with terror, LORD;
      let the nations know they are only mortal.               Selah

Today I am making some changes.  First, today I realized that the version of the New International Version which wrote out in long hand - the images you see in my blog - were from an old version of the NIV.  However, Biblegateway has the new version, as of this year.  So, I will start typing from that, and you'll be able to see how the NIV has evolved over the past 20 years or so.

Now for Psalm 9 and my aching addict heart.  Give thanks to the LORD (verse 1), I rejoice (verse 2) the enemy of the whole army of evil desires has been abated (verse 3), even their memory perished (verse 6).  Before we get ahead of ourselves we are reminded that this is a one day at a time struggle that we can never take for granted.  Nevertheless, now that we have made it past another day, we can take a deep breath that we are no longer in our hole of addiction. 

Finally, I'd like to close with: "he does not ignore the cries of the afflicted," (verse 12) and "God will not forget the needy, the hope of the afflicted will never perish."  Keep this in your mind today and know that God is us even when temptation seems closer than He is.

Thanks for letting me share.