Good morning! Today’s seven psalms (9-16) are a wealth of human emotion. I’m inclined to read them slowly, lovingly, in the manner that people have been reading the psalms for countless years. I’ll keep my reflection brief today so that you can enjoy a little more time with each psalm, savoring it like a piece of dark chocolate passed from tongue to cheek and back again.

The one thing that strikes me about all the psalms today is their confidence in the enduring power of God. Enemies and nations may come and go (Psalm 9), and even good kings pass away, but God’s confident, merciful power remains forever on the throne of heaven. No matter how unjust or sorrowful life can be, the writer(s) of these psalms have no real doubt that God will make all things right. God will rescue “the faithful” from “the wicked” (described in depth with Psalm 10), and it doesn’t even sound like a close call. All things are (or will shortly be) right with the universe—God is in the temple, and the wicked will get their comeuppance very soon. When human ambitions and powers inevitably fail, the faithful can fall back with gracious trust, knowing that the God of the universe “will protect us” and “guard us” (12:7). We see an example “job description” of the righteous, spelled out in Psalm 15. Though some of the Psalms reveal a more nuanced balance of trust and doubt in the human disposition toward God, enjoy these confident and uplifting chapters. Happy reading!

Read Psalms 9-16.

Please join discussion of this passage at the Daily Bible Facebook group, or comment below. The passage for tomorrow is Psalms 17-20. Thanks for reading!