Psalm 20

(Guest Post from Austin Wynn)

Psalm 20

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you! May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion! May he remember all your offerings and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah May he grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans! May we shout for joy over your salvation, and in the name of our God set up our banners! May the LORD fulfill all your petitions! Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright. O LORD, save the king! May he answer us when we call.
(Psa 20:1-9)

In this psalm, David is giving his best wishes to those who would be seeking the Lord in prayer and desiring to see Him work in some particular way for His glory. David acknowledges that he is not the only servant of the Lord who is pouring his heart out like water before the Lord. He speaks as though he knows many others know the joy of seeking help from the God of Jacob and wants to encourage them in their petitions. In a way, David spurring them on to trust in God for the answer to their prayers and is thus giving them incentive to pray more often. David, the great man of prayer, is giving his readers the benefits of seeking the Lord’s face in prayer in all situations and circumstances. The first seven statements and the last statement David gives are all expressing the desire of David’s heart for the Lord to come to the aide of the reader’s prayers. David has had the Lord come to his aide in each of these eight ways so many times that he finds it important to encourage the reader with God’s possible working with their prayer. The last few statements he makes to the reader are truths and assertions about the Lord when His people pray to Him. These are: He saves His anointed, He will answer His anointed from heaven with his mighty saving hand, and we will rise and stand upright though our enemies will fall. Here David shows the reader that God’s children are His anointed and therefore are those who are set apart in His heart. The Lord loves the prayers of His people for they are special to His heart and therefore He comes to their aide when they call on Him for help. There is not a prayer lifted by a troubled saint that the Lord does not delight to answer with saving help, but not all prayers will be answered in the same way. The Lord will surely help His children when they pray, but it may not be the way His children think He will. He may help a suffering saint by taking their life or by giving them a certain illness so that they may serve the Lord in it. All we know is, the Lord loves His people and will surely help them when they call upon Him. David then looks to others who do not know the Lord but who seek help from man. While believers put their trust in the sovereign, omnipotent God, others put their trust in weak, frail, shifting man. One thing is sure here; those who put their trust in man will be disappointed. When hope is built on shifting sand, it will soon be destroyed. David paints a picture of the godly man who seeks the Lord for help next to the ungodly man who trusts in flesh side by side. The godly man is rising and standing upright like a firmly rooted tree, while the ungodly man is collapsing and falling like a termite-infected house. Though it may not always appear visible on the outside that the godly man’s hope in God is more secure than the ungodly, the last day will prove that the Lord alone is the faithful God. As believers, this should challenge us to seek only the Lord and to seek always the Lord. As Paul says, we must pray without ceasing and pray in everything. Prayer here is the way in which the Lord can show His mighty power to save His anointed. If His people do not pray, how can He be expected to show His mighty power on their behalf? If we long to seek His glory, what better way them by seeking Him in prayer so that He may show Himself glorious? If the practice of prayer is ceased in a believer’s life, then that person is not seeking the Lord to be glorified in their life.