Have mercy on me, O Lord: see my humiliation which I suffer from my enemies. (Psalm 9:14 DR)
The reality of our sojourning here in this vale of tears is that despite our hope of eternal life and our confidence in God our Savior, this is still a vale of tears and thus we still suffer the slings and arrows of this fallen world and bear the curse of Original Sin in our mortal bodies. Moreover, our intellects and wills are weakened by this fall and become subject to concupiscence, so that we do not do what we desire (cf. Romans 7:19). This is further compounded by the malign spirits which seek to drag us into eternal ruin.
This life is thus a constant battle and will bring its share of suffering even (or perhaps especially) for the upright in heart, for the forces of this world are in total misalignment with the values of virtue and goodness.
The Psalmist expresses this tension without apology, for having just expressed confidence in the Lord’s remembrance of the righteous and His ultimate vindication of them, he now speaks to the reality of the situation on the ground—that is, despite these divine promises he still suffers the scourge of his enemies and is brought low before them in humiliation. Such an inversion of the order of justice is an intolerable situation, which prompts him to cry for mercy.
There is in the Psalms often this splendid interplay between the Psalmist’s assertion of his own innocence and his appeal to the mercy of God, which is instructive in many ways. This creates a fundamentally eschatological orientation in the life of the righteous man, in which the temporal situations and circumstances are seen in light of the End itself, which is Christ. And since the Psalms are primarily about Christ, this eschatological orientation is completely woven throughout. Thus the plight of the righteous and their hope in the midst of it finds its culmination and resolution in our Lord, as St. Paul describes:
And therefore we also having so great a cloud of witnesses over our head, laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us: Looking on Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, who having joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and now sitteth on the right hand of the throne of God. For think diligently upon him that endured such opposition from sinners against himself; that you be not wearied, fainting in your minds. (Hebrews 12:1-3 DR)
St. Augustine reads this passage in this manner, seeing in the Psalmist’s words the voice of our Lord:
But I ask, what is that cry of the poor, which God forgets not? Is it that cry, the words whereof are these, “Pity me, O Lord, see my humiliation at the hands of my enemies?” [Psalm 9:14.] Why then did he not say, Pity “us” O Lord, see “our” humiliation at the hands of our enemies, as if many poor were crying; but as if one, Pity “me,” O Lord? Is it because One intercedes for the Saints, “who” first “for our sakes became poor, though He was rich;” [2 Corinthians 8:9] and it is He who says, “Who exaltest me from the gates of death” [Psalm 9:15], “that I may declare all Your praises in the gates of the daughter of Sion?” For man is exalted in Him, not that Man only which He bears, which is the Head of the Church; but whichsoever one of us also is among the other members, and is exalted from all depraved desires; which are the gates of death, for that through them is the road to death. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 9, 14.)
The humiliations and sufferings at the hands of one’s enemies are for Christ His merciful condescension in the Incarnation in which He humbled Himself (cf. Philippians 2:7) and took upon Himself the shame and ignominy of the cross. Yet in His perfect innocence and sinlessness he entrusted Himself to God and was vindicated through His death and resurrection:
For unto this are you called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example that you should follow his steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. Who, when he was reviled, did not revile: when he suffered, he threatened not: but delivered himself to him that judged him unjustly. Who his own self bore our sins in his body upon the tree: that we, being dead to sins, should live to justice: by whose stripes you were healed. (1 Peter 2:21-24 DR)
This is perhaps the most difficult portion of following in our Lord’s footsteps, for we find it difficult to not revile when we are reviled, to not lash out when we are suffering, especially when it is unjustly brought upon us. We should not tolerate injustice when it can be remedied and lies within our state to do so, but we must also realize the tendency within ourselves to justify our our wrath by means of righting what we think are wrongs, even if prudence or charity demands one to hold one’s peace.
Most of the time we probably want a scapegoat for our suffering, instead of bearing it as a price of our sanctification and reorienting within the eschatological hope of future blessedness and vindication from the Lord. The Psalmist’s plea for mercy in the midst of humiliation has the primary effect of reframing everything around God and His mercy, rather than around the circumstance and its delicts. The sanctification of his soul is seen in this very turning to God, in that he recognizes even in his innocence a need for mercy, as well as his helplessness in the face of his enemies. In fine, he is allowing his suffering to lead him deeper in hope and faith, for the greater it presses upon him the more he recognizes his inability to face it without the help of the Lord (cf. Psalm 120:2). This then turns into the complete subjection of the will to that of the Lord and the willingness to accept from the Lord’s hand both good and evil (cf. Job 2:10) because he has confidence that it will ultimately turn out for his own good and sanctification, as St. Paul says:
Now all chastisement for the present indeed seemeth not to bring with it joy, but sorrow: but afterwards it will yield, to them that are exercised by it, the most peaceable fruit of justice. (Hebrews 12:11 DR)
I wanted to focus on the term “mercy” for this animation, and found a nice big block font for it. I placed the text and then duplicated it and applied a stroke to the duplicate. I then added a text animator and animated it going from the center and either up or down.
Next I drew a mask on the animated text with a a large feathering on the Y axis so it would fade as it got further from the center. I used the text animator so that the mask would stay in place. I could have just drawn a matte and applied a blur to it, but I have found masks are easier to control in this regard.
I then continued duplicating text instances and offset them in time to create the radiating effect which I rather liked. I added a bunch of glows and some lighting to give it a bit of visual contrast.
Enjoy.
Have mercy on me, O Lord: see my humiliation which I suffer from my enemies.
(Psalm 9:14 DR)
View a higher quality version of this gif here: