In the introduction to Psalm 9, David wrote that this song was for the death of a son. That's pretty sad. We don’t know which son he was referencing. Maybe it was about the loss of his infant son with Bathsheba. Maybe it was Absalom’s murder. It could have even been for Jonathan after he was killed in battle. We don't know exactly what David was thinking of when he titled this song; but when we read it, we can clearly see that God had done something miraculous in his life.
Even though David said this song was about the death of a son, the first two lines read, “I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High” (Psalm 9:1-2, ESV). A few lines later, he adds, “But the Lord sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice, and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness” (Psalm 9:7-8).
When I was reading that, it didn't make any sense to me. How many people lose a child and are able to say, “God has seen me through the battle that I've been in. He's helped me process my grief. He's helped me understand how I can survive when my child has died. Praise the Lord. I offer thanks with my whole heart.”
How do we learn to sing that kind of song? The songs some of us are singing right now are more lament than anything else. If you need to sing a song of grief and sorrow right now, sing! Know that God hears you, and scripture promises, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).
I know that in the Lord’s timing and in his presence, I will walk through his healing process. Then I will be able to take my grief and sing it in a new way. Because we’ve all been hurt and lost loved ones, that gracious promise should give us great hope.