Psalm 9 Thanks to the Lord for all His Wonders

Psalm 9: King David is Thankful for Victory Over the Nations that Forget God

1. I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders.
2. I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.
3. When my enemies turn back, They stumble and perish before You.
4. For You have maintained my just cause; You have sat on the throne judging righteously. 
5. You have rebuked the nations, You have destroyed the wicked; You have blotted out their name forever and ever.;
6. The enemy has come to an end in perpetual ruins, And You have uprooted the cities; 
7. The very memory of them has perished. 
8. But the LORD abides forever; He has established His throne for judgment, 
9. And He will judge the world in righteousness; He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity. 
10. The LORD also will be a stronghold for the oppressed, A stronghold in times of trouble; 
11. And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, For You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.
12. Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion; Declare among the peoples His deeds.
13. For He who requires blood remembers them; He does not forget the cry of the afflicted.
14. Be gracious to me, O LORD; See my affliction from those who hate me, You who lift me up from the gates of death,
15. That I may tell of all Your praises, That in the gates of the daughter of Zion I may rejoice in Your salvation.
16. The nations have sunk down in the pit which they have made; In the net which they hid, their own foot has been caught.
17. The LORD has made Himself known; He has executed judgment. In the work of his own hands the wicked is snared. Higgaion Selah.
18. The wicked will return to Sheol, {Even} all the nations who forget God.
19. For the needy will not always be forgotten, Nor the hope of the afflicted perish forever.
20. Arise, O LORD, do not let man prevail; Let the nations be judged before You.
21. Put them in fear, O LORD; Let the nations know that they are but men. Selah.

This seems like a psalm that David composed after he had been ruling Israel for quite a few years and most of the enemy nations around had been conquered. God had given him victory over enemies within and without and now he had opportunity to compose songs of praise to God. He did this because God did deserve the glory and because he wanted all his citizens, especially the younger people that had not been in the battle to know how God had kept His promises of victory.

Note all the wonders that David is thankful for, that he exults in and wants to sing about and tell others of. For his enemies did turn back and they stumbled and fell, and God kept David from the jealous Saul, and He rebuked whole nations even blotting them out altogether so that even their name and cities were forgotten. Also he remembers that God is a refuge for all who run to Him the King who dwells in Zion and sits on the throne of judgement there remembering all the rights and the wrongs.

 And in the last verses we see that David knowing well that God has full control of the nations and will judge them fairly that there are still evil people working against David and it seems that God is not doing anything about it. So David prays imploring God to not let evil men mock God or David any longer. He even asks God to come near and not stand by out of sight because right now is when he  needs help.

And yet this desperate cry of the needy King David comes only after the song of praise to God for the great wonders that He has done. May I be like David knowing that I will always need God's help even though He has done so many wonders in days past.