We are going through Psalms and today we are on Psalm 9 . One of the most poignant lines of the psalm for me is the last one. In verse 20, David says, “let the nations know they are only mortal.” This is one of the prevalent themes throughout the psalm. David is praising God for is authority and power and simultaneously highlighting the fact that the power of man is finite.

We are only mortal. I sometimes forget this. I plan my life as though it will never end. I envision the things I can accomplish as though I were bound by nothing. While it’s not wrong to be idealistic and to have dreams and plans, there is a healthy recognition of our mortality that should accompany our planning.

The gravitational pull that most of us face is to take ourselves very seriously and to take God kind of lightly. God is out there doing his God thing and we have our lives to live. David lived in a different reality. David sees himself as a small part in a big kingdom that is ruled by a good and powerful King. The nature of his prayer reflects this understanding and it challenges me.

Even though I know better, I struggle with thinking that God is rather disinterested in human affairs. Even though he is capable of powerfully intervening, I tend to ascribe motives to him that are not consistent with what I know to be true. My default is to think that God is really powerful, but somehow chooses to sit back and do nothing most of the time. David proclaims a different truth. For David, God is a great King and he powerfully rules the universe he created. David recognizes that apart from God’s blessing and protection, he would simply fade away. David knows that he is only mortal. He sees that his part in the bigger picture is significant, but he’s aware of his limitations and of the limitations of humanity at large. The question is, are we?