Daily Psalm Reading – Psalm 16-20
(Sunday’s are hard. It’s very tiring on those of us who preach regularly. Saturday nights offer little sleep as God shapes our sermons in our heads. We awake early Sunday and arrive early to pray and seek the voice and wisdom of God. We pour ourselves out and then come home and crash, only to do it all over again. All this to say the tank is pretty empty on Sundays, so don’t expect this to be an overly deep, or lengthy reflection today.)
Today we meditate on Psalm 20 and the promised Messiah. Psalm 20 – 23 focus on David’s seed (the Messiah, Jesus) and his deliverance and rule over the nations. Here we encounter psalms of prophecy that tell us about Jesus.
Verse 6 states: “Now this I know: The LORD gives victory to his anointed.” The Hebrew word for anointed is “messiah.” No matter how upside down this world seems, no matter how chaotic and out of control, victory will be given to our Messiah Jesus!
After the first 5 verses of prayer and blessing over the coming (returning) Messiah, verses 6-9 point us to what the Messiah will do and where we should put our trust. The admonition to not trust in earthly power, but in the name of Yahweh our God is one we need to hear today. In a time where most pray “Our god which art in Washington…” we need to remember our help comes from Yahweh!
I’ll confess it is a struggle not to trust in our own strength. As the psalmist says we want to “trust in chariots and…horses.” The idea of picking ourselves up by our bootstraps isn’t a Biblical one. Rather we are encouraged time and time again to rely on our God, not our own abilities. Trusting in anything other than our God results in failure (v.8).
Today I pray we all learn to trust our God, to believe that our Messiah has been given victory over evil, and will return soon to eliminate it completely. Come Lord Jesus!
To echo the final words of the psalm, “Yahweh, give victory to King Jesus! Answer our prayers!” Shalom.
Living in the Word 