1/10/2012 9:47:19 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Praise for Victory
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 21
Message of the verses: “1 ¶ «For the choir director. A Psalm of David.» 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.”
In yesterday’s SD it was stated that the prayer of Psalm 20 was answered in Psalm 21, and the prayer was that victory would be given by the power of the Lord as He gave David and his army strength to defeat their enemies.
Dr. Wiersbe in his introduction to this psalm writes, “The Jewish Targum states that this psalm is about ‘King Messiah.’ Of course, David is a type of Jesus Christ.”
Looking Back: Celebration for Past Victories (vv.1-7): “1 ¶ «For the choir director. A Psalm of David.» 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.”
The people and their king are addressing the Lord to give thanks to Him for what He did for them in answer to their prayers, and it is believed that the prayers of Psalm 20 are what they are thanking the Lord for in Psalm 21. We see the word “salvation” in verses one and five and this means deliverance, victory.
In verse three we see the phrase “for You meet him with blessings” and this means that the Lord went before the king in order to give him victory over his enemies. In Joshua 5:13-15 we see that the Lord meet Joshua before the battle of Jericho and Melchizedek who also is a type of Jesus Christ, met Abraham after battle with the kings and now we see that God went before David and welcomed him to the battlefield and victory. The word welcomed is found in the NIV in verse three instead of “meet” as found in the NASB and “preventest” that is found in the KJV. Dr. Wiersbe writes: “That God goes before His obedient people is a great encouragement.” I would have to say “Amen” to that.
The gold crown that is seen in verse three is probably a symbol of God’s special blessing or His goodness to David (see verse five). We see “length of days forever (v-4) and blessings forever (v-6) and this may refer to the covenant that God had given to David and was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. Dr. Wiersbe writes “While he reigned, David would not be ‘shaken’ by his enemies, because his faith was in the Lord (v.7; 10:6; 16:8; 55:22: 121:3). This declaration of faith is the central verse of the psalm.”
Looking Ahead: Anticipation of Future Victories (vv. 8-12): “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.”
In these verse we see that the king and the people trusted in the Lord for future victories because their faith had grown from the last victory that they had over their enemies. “God’s right hand is more than a symbol of power; it actively works for His people and brings defeat to their enemies.” We see in verse eight the words “find out” and this actually means to dispose of in a similar way that fire destroys or disposes of what it comes in contact with so the Lord will do to devour the enemies of David. Israel will have a future but the enemies of Israel will not have a future and we can see that down through history. Someone wrote that Israel stands at the graves of all that have persecuted her and this is true. Israel is not in their land and have been since May of 1948 and just as in David’s time they are surrounded with enemies, but God will take care of Israel today just as He did in David’s time.
Looking Up: Exaltation of the Lord of the Victories (v. 13): “13 Be exalted, O LORD, in Your strength; We will sing and praise Your power.”
In Psalm 20 we see it closed with the people and the king asking God to hear their prayer, and now Psalm 21 closes with the prayer that God would be “lifted up on high” to be exalted. God will honor those who honor Him and we must not forget to thank and exalt the Lord for answers to prayers that we pray to Him.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: “Be exalted O Lord above the heavens’ let Thy glory be over all the earth.” This begins one of my favorites hymns and this is my prayer that whatever I do will bring glory to the Lord and when my prayers are answered from the gracious hand of the Lord then I will exalt Him as David did in this psalm.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Praise the Lord for answers to my prayers.
2. Continue to seek to learn contentment.
1/10/2012 10:45:45 AM
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