Psalm 20 - Faithful Blessings & Victories In Battle!!!
A Psalm of David...
Blessings…
Blessings, real blessings in life they are often hard to come by. Sometimes we get blessings in our lives from our own hard work, effort, skill and knowledge - but these things seem to pass quickly by.
Imagine being blessed all the time…
Imagine being blessed in a way that reveals victory in your life…
Imagine if all the people…
King David knew what it was like to have to fight…fight for himself, fight for his family, fight for his kingdom…and most importantly to fight for his God (Yahweh).
(artwork by Schism)
Psalm 20 says….
“To the Chief Musician…A Psalm of David”
What is interesting here is that this psalm isn’t just a psalm of King David calling out to the Lord, rather it seems as if it was purposefully written for the worship leaders of the Temple.
This shows us that Psalm 20 may be different in its content, structure and purpose.
Verse 1-5: “May the Lord answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion. May he remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings. May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. May we shout for joy over your victory and lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the Lord grant all your requests.”
The first thing we see and hear when we read these early verses is David issuing a blessing to whomever hears the psalm being sung.
This blessing has multiple parts to it, these include:
A) May Yahweh answer you when you are in distress: ‘distress’ is a common theme in David’s psalms, especially his own. However, this is aimed at other people. The concept of God (Yahweh) answering your prayers is constant throughout the entire Bible. It is a fact of a righteous, god-fearing life. And the fact that David mentions it twice in the space of five verses means that it is a very important point to him.
B) May Yahweh send you heavenly help: the only one who lives in the sanctuary, and dwells on Mount Zion is God, and HIS son Yeshua. It is not talking about angelic assistance, it is talking about help right from the throne room of heaven. God will come to our aid - but sometimes what we expect God to do to help us and what he actually does are to different things. Isaiah 55:8 says “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.”
C) May Yahweh remember your piety and your worship: when we worship we are recognising that God is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and is the lord of our lives. When we do that it is pleasing to God. Worship not only unlocks our access to heaven - but it is a form of spiritual battle - much like the Israelites marching and worshipping around Jericho with the Priests and the worship team leading the way (Joshua 6).
D) May Yahweh bless you with your hearts desires and that your life goes well: David’s desire is to see God bless people’s live by fulfilling their heart’s desires, and to have meaningful and peaceful lives that are prosperous. This is repeated again by David in Psalm 37. The thing is that the desires of our hearts is not us getting whatever we want, whenever we want it…rather it is about aligning our hearts to God, and we seek what is in HIS will for our lives.
David offers up a declaration of victory, he even says that we lift up our banners. The banners in ancient times represented a unit of a fighting force. They were often tied to particular leaders (kings, chiefs, generals etc), or to a particular place. But all those who fought under that banner held allegiance to the ruler/place. We are same within God’s army. We are under the banner of Jesus Christ who is the Lord of hosts, and the Commander of God Army (Joshua 5-6, Revelation 19) - and in HIM we will have the final victory.
Verse 6-8: “Now this I know: The Lord gives victory to his anointed. He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary with the victorious power of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.
Trust…or faith in God (Yahweh) is essential to us participating in the final victory, and in the victories that we can experience in our lives. Without it we will fall and we will not rise again. We will be defeated physically, emotionally and spiritually.
If we trust in the things of this world - like chariots and cavalry (which were the height of military technology in those times) - then we can be defeated. These are also things that humanity has made, by their own intellect and their own strength - not God’s strength.
But if we place all our trust…and I do mean all our trust…then we will always be victorious, even when we don’t think so.
Verse 9: “Lord, give victory to the king! Answer us when we call!”
Then in the final verse King David includes himself in this psalm, this song of blessing.
He calls out to God (Yahweh) to give him victory in the physical realm as he leads and protects the nation of Israel from outside attack.
He also asks God to hear his prayers when he calls out to HIM.
May this psalm be a source of encouragement to you. May God hear your prayers, may he see your worship, may he grant you the desires of your heart even as you align your heart with HIS will. may HE grant you victory in the battles that you are fighting in your life.
God Bless…and be strong and courageous for HIM!!!