Psalm 9

ARTIST STATEMENT:


Kelly Joyner





David begins this psalm with a grateful heart, declaring the
Lord’s wonderful deeds,


all while rejoicing and giving praise in one of his darkest
hours. As he considers his enemies,


his focus on the Lord is unwavering. Verse 10 declares, “Those
who know Your name trust


in You, for You, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.”
In this verse, David is


reminding himself of God’s character, but also, as all scripture
is breathed out by the Lord,


this verse has God generously revealing his character through
David to all future


generations. He continues in verses 17-18, “The wicked go down to
the realm of the dead,


all the nations that forget God. But God will never forget the
needy; the hope of the afflicted


will never perish.”





The goal of this sculpture was to capture an image of what “the
hope of the afflicted


never perishing” might look like. For me, hopelessness can feel
like a crushed spirit,


crumbled like a piece of paper. But the Lord tells us “God will
not forget the needy,” (verse


18) and “for You, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek You.”
(verse 10) And Psalm


34:18 tells us “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves
the crushed in spirit.” He


takes our brokenness and makes us beautiful by the light of the
Holy Spirit.





The light in this sculpture represents the Holy Spirit refining
us from wasted crumpled


paper to something new- something pure that radiates His beauty
and love. Let us not be


like those who forget God, but let us seek the Lord and put all
hope in Him and He will not


forget or forsake His children, he will not let our light be
snuffed.





The sculpture is made from plexiglass, paint, and light. Many
individually lit pieces


come together as one mass piece to represent the unity of many
individual believers unified


through the Holy Spirit as the body of Christ. “That they all may
be as one; as thou, Father,


art in me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us.” May
the light of the world shine


brightest in your darkest moments, the hope of the afflicted will
never perish.





ARTIST STATEMENT:


Caroline Taylor