Slices
Prepare
‘Make me glad with the joy of your presence today, Lord. Lift my heart up as I come before you now. Amen.’
Bible passage
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 The king rejoices in your strength, Lord.
How great is his joy in the victories you give!
2 You have granted him his heart’s desire
and have not withheld the request of his lips.
3 You came to greet him with rich blessings
and placed a crown of pure gold on his head.
4 He asked you for life, and you gave it to him –
length of days, for ever and ever.
5 Through the victories you gave, his glory is great;
you have bestowed on him splendour and majesty.
6 Surely you have granted him unending blessings
and made him glad with the joy of your presence.
7 For the king trusts in the Lord;
through the unfailing love of the Most High
he will not be shaken.
8 Your hand will lay hold on all your enemies;
your right hand will seize your foes.
9 When you appear for battle,
you will burn them up as in a blazing furnace.
The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath,
and his fire will consume them.
10 You will destroy their descendants from the earth,
their posterity from mankind.
11 Though they plot evil against you
and devise wicked schemes, they cannot succeed.
12 You will make them turn their backs
when you aim at them with drawn bow.
13 Be exalted in your strength, Lord;
we will sing and praise your might.
Explore
A thousand years before King David, another king of ancient times, Shulgi of Ur, reigned for about 48 years around 2100 bc.* Like David, he was renowned. Like David, he was a songwriter – among the records of his life is a long hymn of praise that he wrote to himself: ‘That I be eulogized in all the land.’ Later on in his reign, unlike David, he declared himself to be divine.
By contrast, Psalm 21 is the song of a very different kind of victorious king, who gives all the credit to God. Read the psalm again slowly, taking time to notice all the ways in which David does this. As he addresses the Lord, he speaks of ‘your strength’ (v 1), ‘the victories you gave’ (v 5), ‘your hand’ laying hold of the enemy (v 8). He is clear-sighted and secure enough to let all the credit go where it belongs.
We live in times when self-reliance, self-promotion and self-esteem are paramount. But it is God who gives us our very breath. We are God-reliant. Our purpose is Christ-promotion. And our worth is whispered into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
When things are going well in your life, who gets the glory?
Respond
Consider what accomplishments or achievements you have had in your life. In what ways have you (or could you have) turned those into opportunities to publicly glorify God?
Deeper Bible study
‘And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.’1
This psalm forms a pair with Psalm 20 around the themes of God’s strength and the need to trust him.2 Since the king is mentioned in the third person, the psalm may be prayed by the people or the king himself. Either way, it acknowledges the blessings the king receives: the crown, a long life, glory, majesty and splendour (vs 1–6). Although the verbs are a mixture of imperfect (usually future tense) and perfect (normally indicating past tense), the likelihood is that the blessings described have not yet been bestowed. This is a common feature of poetry – that the perfect tense is used to indicate the certainty of events still in the future.
The second part of the psalm (vs 8–13) focuses on the king’s vindication and the punishment of his enemies. It is unclear whether this is accomplished directly by God or by the king as his agent. Ultimately though, the praise belongs to God for his power (v 13). The hinge on which the prayer turns is verse 7, where the king expresses trust in the Lord, based on God’s ‘unfailing love’ (the Hebrew word used here, hesed, means covenant loyalty/love). In other words, he knows he can rely on God because of the Lord’s covenant commitment to him.
As we near the end of 1 Samuel, God will indeed resolve the tension of the story: Saul will be killed and the way opened for David to become king. Whether we wait for some resolution in our present-day experiences or look towards that final day when God will put all things right, the point is that we live in trust. Such faith is not based on some vague hope but on the sure foundation that our God committed himself to us and that he will be faithful.
Lord, help us to trust your promises with confidence as if they had already happened. May we live in hope and in ‘the joy of your presence’ (v 6)!
1 Heb 11:6 2 Gerald H Wilson, Psalms I, Zondervan, 2002, p397
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Ezekiel 28,29; 1 Peter 5
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