Day 91: Psalms 20 & 21

READING: Psalm 20 and Psalm 21

BACKGROUND

It’s fitting that these two psalms by David are one after the other in the collection and also fitting that we read them together for today! Psalm 20 is a request for God’s blessing, a prayer for victory. Even within the prayer for help is the assurance of it – that God takes care of His anointed. Psalm 21 is a praise for God’s answer. We see how God helped and delivered!

Psalm 20

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
1 May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble!
May the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high!
2 May He send you help from the sanctuary
And support you from Zion!
3 May He remember all your meal offerings
And find your burnt offering acceptable! Selah.
4 May He grant you your heart's desire
And fulfill all your counsel!
5 We will sing for joy over your victory,
And in the name of our God we will set up our banners
May the LORD fulfill all your petitions.
6 Now I know that the LORD saves His anointed;
He will answer him from His holy heaven
With the saving strength of His right hand.
7 Some boast in chariots and some in horses,
But we will boast in the name of the LORD, our God.
8 They have bowed down and fallen,
But we have risen and stood upright.
9 Save, O LORD;
May the King answer us in the day we call.

A couple of things hit me as I read and thought about these psalms. First, I imagined Psalm 20 done antiphonally, as a chorus. The first verses (1-5) would have been sung by a group (the Israelite people’s prayer for David, their king). Then would come verse 6, a solo representing David’s reply, that God cares for and saves His own. The people respond in verses 7 – 8, replying that their trust is in God and that is how they stand firm. Finally the whole choir, David and his singers, sing to the One King. This psalm WAS put to music, WAS sung. I don’t know that it was performed the way I imagine it, but I would love the hear it done that way and somehow it came alive to me when I thought of it performed like that.

And how timely is it that just now, as we’ve read this past week in Leviticus about the meal offering and the burnt offering, they are mentioned here! Refer back to Day 88 (Leviticus 1-2) for a review.

Psalm 21

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
1 O LORD, in Your strength the king will be glad,
And in Your salvation how greatly he will rejoice!
2 You have given him his heart's desire,
And You have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah.
3 For You meet him with the blessings of good things;
You set a crown of fine gold on his head.
4 He asked life of You,
You gave it to him,
Length of days forever and ever.
5 His glory is great through Your salvation,
Splendor and majesty You place upon him.
6 For You make him most blessed forever;
You make him joyful with gladness in Your presence.
7 For the king trusts in the LORD,
And through the lovingkindness of the Most High he will not be shaken.
8 Your hand will find out all your enemies;
Your right hand will find out those who hate you.
9 You will make them as a fiery oven in the time of your anger;
The LORD will swallow them up in His wrath,
And fire will devour them.
10 Their offspring You will destroy from the earth,
And their descendants from among the sons of men.
11 Though they intended evil against You
And devised a plot,
They will not succeed.
12 For You will make them turn their back;
You will aim with Your bowstrings at their faces.
13 Be exalted, O LORD, in Your strength;
We will sing and praise Your power.

Though these psalms were written by David, a king, they are more about another KING than about himself. Everything in these psalms points to the LORD God, the Ruler of all. David could have been all about himself…many powerful people are (actually many of us are) but he wasn’t. He was focused on God – God was the one who would save and God was the one given the glory for the victory.

REFLECTION

I am seeing more and more as I read Psalms this time, how there are several layers of meaning. The first layer is the actual historical meaning. David was a real man, a person of flesh and blood who actually lived in a certain time and place. He was an imperfect, frail human just like we are. He was a king, and most of all “a man after God’s heart.” These psalms all come from that context. The second layer of meaning is about us. If we trust in Jesus’ death and resurrection rather than our own goodness, then we are His anointed, too. We are kings and priests, as it says in Hebrews. So the words of the Psalms apply to us. But even more wonderfully, we can see how the words here are fulfilled in Jesus. I am amazed that what David wrote, under the inspiration of God’s Spirit, points to Christ. All the way through, we catch glimpses of God’s final answer, Jesus.

In Psalm 20 one request is, “May He grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your counsel!” And Psalms 21: 2 tells us that that specific request was answered! “You have given him his heart's desire, and You have not withheld the request of his lips.” What do you think David’s heart desire was? What were the requests of his lips? What did he talk to God about? See Psalm 27:4; 40:8, 73:25; 119:40.

I’ve thought about that. What are my heart’s desires? Too often I accept substitutes for my heart’s deepest longings. This world offers many fakes, many items that are advertised as fulfilling our hearts’ longings. They, each one, are a perversion of something only God can offer. I don’t want to settle for anything but the real thing – Him!

Both psalms also speak of the object of our trust. Psalm 20:7-8 says, “Some boast in chariots and some in horses, but we will boast in the name of the LORD, our God. They have bowed down and fallen, but we have risen and stood upright.” Other translations of the phrase “boast in” are to “remember” or “recall,” or to “trust in”. The Israelites were going to battle and like all people at war at that time, they used horses and chariots. But David didn’t confuse what they used (the means) with the One who won the battle, who gave the victory. Psalm 21: 7 echoes chapter 20, “For the king trusts in the LORD, and through the lovingkindness of the Most High he will not be shaken.” Our confidence should be in the LORD, not in the means He has given us to use (such as goals, doctors, savings, investments, work, food, health, family, ________ - you fill in the blank!). The LORD is the only one worth trusting in; He alone is a sure foundation for standing – in the storms of life and against the enemy.

APPLICATION

When you pray do you pray with praise? Praise focuses our hearts on God rather than on ourselves. Notice with me how David prays in his psalms. Let’s put it into practice!

“It’s not that praise is a sort of magical incantation that makes us strong in faith and maneuvers God into doing what we want. Rather, through praise we focus on God. We fix our inner eyes on Him with a basic trust in Him. Our praise springs from this simple response of faith, this simple choice to believe God; and praise in turn increases our confidence in Him.” (Ruth Myers, 31 Days of Praise, 116)

PRAYER

You alone are worth my confidence, Lord. I trust You. You know all there is to know about me and You love me with an everlasting love. You hear me and you satisfy my longings. You give me life – abundant life now and life that goes on forever. You are my strength – you defeat those enemies within me that war against You. Even in the midst of struggle I can stand firm because I know your lovingkindness! I praise You that You are strong and loving.