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Who Do You Trust?
The psalms help us pray by showing us the Lord (Ps. 19) and by showing us ourselves. When we pray, it’s good to spend time letting the Lord search our hearts. David prays in Psalm 139, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (vv. 23-24)
One of the main ways the Lord searches us through his word is by helping us see what we’re truly trusting in. The Lord wants to be our trust, our Rock, but we often build our lives on many other “rocks.”
A good way to know what you’re building your life on, what you’re trusting in, is to notice what things you look to for emotional support, or what things make you really anxious when they’re not there. For example, relationships (spouses, kids, friends), money (retirement, investments, savings), education, career, looks, politics, ministry, or your health. None of these things are bad in themselves. But you know you’ve made someone or something your trust when you’re consumed with anxiety when that thing is threatened or taken away.
The Lord loves his children so much that he’ll sometimes strip away the things we look to for emotional support to show us how much we’re trusting in them instead of him.
What are you building your life on? What’s your “rock”? What consumes your thoughts? We’re all trusting in something. What are you trusting in?
Trust in the Name of the Lord
When we come to Psalm 20, we find a short psalm about making the Lord the foundational trust of our lives. This psalm is called a “royal psalm” because it’s explicitly about Israel’s king (v. 9). Most scholars say that there are eleven of these “royal psalms” in the psalter. Psalm 2 and 110 are perhaps the most famous ones, but Psalm 18, 20, and 21 are also in this category. These psalms were likely used by or for the king in the public worship of ancient Israel.
In Psalm 20, we see the king’s hope for victory (vv. 1-5), assurance of salvation (v. 6), confession of trust (vv. 7-8), and final plea (v. 8). In this psalm, we see people rallying around their king, but putting their trust in the Lord. At the end, we’ll see how this psalm helps us rally around the King who is the Lord.
Hope for Victory
In verses 1-5, we see the psalm’s hope for victory. This prayer would’ve been sung during worship at the tabernacle or temple as the king and his army prepared to go out to battle. A priest would’ve likely stepped forward and prayed this prayer.
The psalm begins with eight phrases in verses 1-4 that express the people’s desire that the Lord intervene for the king of Israel. This prayer is a prayer of blessing over the king and intercession for the king and his army.
The Name of the Lord is a Safe Place
Notice where the people are looking for protection in verse 1: in “the name of the God of Jacob.” This takes us back to Exodus 3, when the Lord reveals himself to Moses at the burning bush, saying, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations” (v. 15).
The “God of Jacob” revealed his “name” to Moses, “the LORD,” or “Yahweh.” Why is this important? Because giving his name to Moses means that he wants Israel to know him. It’d be like meeting you and saying, “Call me John, not pastor,” or meeting the President and he says, “Call me Joe, not Mr. President.” It’s an invitation to a relationship.
Calling on the name of God gives the psalmist a sense of security. He knows he has access to the One who upholds all things, the One who has no beginning or end, and the one who married himself to Israel, giving himself to them in a covenant relationship. This great and good God is a safe place for his people to go “in the day of trouble” (v. 1).
Prayer Requests of the People for their King
The people pray that Yahweh will send “help” and “support” to the king and his army from the sanctuary and from Zion (v. 2). Zion is the hill in Jerusalem where David brought the ark of the covenant and where Solomon later built the temple. The prayer is asking for Yahweh to come with them into the battle.
The people also want the Lord to remember that the king has fulfilled his obligations to give offerings and make sacrifices (v. 3). The king had done what was necessary to be in right relationship with God. He’d fulfilled his covenantal responsibilities.
The “desires” of the king’s heart and his “plans” in verse 4 refer to his hopes for victory in the coming battle. This isn’t a prayer for him to have everything his heart wants. It’s prayed in the context of keeping his covenant obligations and trusting in the Lord. As long as the king’s heart mirror’s God’s heart, his plans will succeed.
In verse 5, the people anticipate a victorious military campaign and say that they’ll celebrate with joy when the king returns victoriously.
Assurance of Salvation
In verse 6, we see a prayer of assurance of the Lord’s salvation. The wording here implies a kind of certain knowledge, a declaration of what will happen, not what may happen.
The person praying sees the coming victory as an accomplished fact. The Lord’s “anointed” will be saved. The phrase “his anointed” originally described the one who was anointed with oil for a special purpose but came to be a special title for the Messiah, the divinely chosen, Spirit-filled, royal leader of God’s people (cf. Ps. 2:2). It’s used here to refer to the king of Israel.
Verse 6 is simply saying that the Lord will save his king. The king and the people can be assured that they’re going to war with the “saving might of (God’s) right hand,” that God’s power will be unleashed against the enemies of his people on behalf of their king.
Confession of Trust
In verses 7-8, the people confess their trust in the Lord. These verses have two opposing parallel lines contrasting those who trust in the Lord and those who don’t. It says that those who trust in military power will “collapse and fall,” while those who trust “in the name of the Lord our God” will “rise and stand upright.”
Israel’s opponents relied on chariots and horses, or the most advanced military technology at that time. Iron-clad chariots pulled into battle by war-horses were able to break up troops on a battle field. They were a terrifying sight to see and they were a symbol of a king’s splendor.
By Solomon’s time, Israel had its own army of chariots. Psalm 20 is thus a warning for any king not to think that superior military technology is the key to victory. The kings of Judah and Israel, and every king since, were (and are) tempted to assume that the destiny of their nation was in their hands, so they must do whatever they have to do to build military might.
Israel, however, needed to remember that they’d gained their land without chariots or horses. The Lord fought for them. As Moses sang after he led Israel through the Red Sea, “The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name” (Ex. 15:3). Psalm 20 says that trusting in weapons is a contradiction to trusting in the Lord.
As Dane Ortlund says, “It’s one thing to use chariots and horses in battle. It is another to trust in them.”[1] In our own lives, do we use “chariots” or trust in them? In our finances, it’s one thing to use money, another thing to trust in it, to see it as our security, to build our identity in it or place our hope in it. In our relationships, it’s one thing to enjoy our spouse or kids or friends, it’s another thing to use them to make us feel better, to allow our well-being to be dependent on how they’re treating us.
Only God is able to bear the weight of our deepest trust. And he’ll never let us down when we put the full weight of our trust on him.
A Final Plea
The last verse is a final plea for the Lord to “save the king!” (v. 9) This final plea echoes how the psalm began, “May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble!” (v. 1). Because the Lord answers the king (v. 1), he’ll answer them (v. 9), because they’re the king’s people.
When the king is saved, the king’s people will be saved. The victory of the king is the foundation of the people’s security.
What’s Here for Us?
What does this psalm teach us? First, it teaches us to pray for those who lead us. Paul says, “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior” (1 Tim. 2:1-3). Our political system isn’t like ancient Israel’s. God’s people are now a transnational group of people, not one ethnic group. Our “king” isn’t God’s representative whose primary job is to lead his people in the ways of the Lord. But we can take from this psalm that it’s good and right to pray for God’s blessing and protection over those who lead us, indeed, over all those “in high positions.”
Second, this psalm is an example of the Bible’s theology of salvation. It makes clear that the Lord is the One who saves his people. As Psalm 3 says, “Salvation belongs to the Lord” (v. 8). In this psalm, as one commentator says, “The king is not the savior but the saved.”[2] This psalm is an antidote for the heart that puts trust in a person to give them their security.
Third, this psalm teaches us to not make politicians or military might our trust. Those who do will “collapse and fall” (v. 8). We can be tempted to think that our country is invincible. We have much to be thankful for, but every “kingdom” in history has fallen. Only one kingdom will never fall. As Mark Dever says, America will be a footnote in the history of the world. So let’s make sure that our trust and hope is in the right King and kingdom, especially as politics consume our national conversation. Which king is most intriguing to you?
Fourth, this psalm, and the royal psalms in general, teach us several things about the way King David is used in the psalms. He’s an example of a faithful follower of God. He’s also a critique of the abuses of power that would become so prevalent in Israel’s history. His life shows us the limits of human kingship and the perfect rule of King Yahweh. The royal psalms basically say, “Bless the king, but don’t put your trust in him because he’s a man. Rally around the king but put your trust in the Lord” (cf. Ps. 146:3-5).
Finally, in these royal psalms David gives us a messianic hope for the future. The human kings of Israel, including David, all failed. The promises of the Davidic covenant for a perfect king and kingdom seemed to come to an end during Israel’s exile. But in the royal psalms David is portrayed as empowered by God to establish Yahweh’s rule in the world. This David points away from himself and to another King who’d come after him.
The King Who Was Saved
Did this king ever come? Yes, David’s greatest son, Jesus, is the “son of David,” (Matt. 1:1), the Son of God “descended from David according to the flesh” (Rom. 1:3). He’s the Christ, or “Anointed One,” the Messiah who defeats God’s enemies and rules over God’s people.
How did Jesus the Messiah become victorious? Let’s use Psalm 20 as our guide. In his “day of trouble,” the Lord answered him, the “name of the God of Jacob” protected him when he called on the name of the Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Lord sent him help from his sanctuary, filling him with the Helper, the Holy Spirit, at the Jordan River. The Lord remembered his offering and sacrifice when he died on the cross for the sins of the world. The Lord granted him his “heart’s desire” and “fulfilled all his plans” by keeping him faithful to the end. The Lord saved his Anointed by the might of his right hand. His enemies trusted in their schemes and strength and they collapsed and fell, but Jesus trusted in the name of the Lord and he rose and stood upright!
Therefore, we can shout for joy over the salvation of the Lord! In the name of our God, we set up our banners, we wave our flags for him! David prayed, “O Lord, save the king!” Because of Jesus, we pray, “O Lord, the King was saved!”
In Psalm 20, the people are rallying around their king, but putting their trust in the Lord. In Jesus, we rally around the King who is the Lord. He’s Yahweh in the flesh. Yahweh didn’t just send help from his sanctuary, he left his sanctuary and came to us in person. He didn’t just answer us from his holy heaven, he left his holy heaven to save us.
And his salvation is available to everyone who calls on the name of the Lord, everyone who trusts in the name of the Lord. The Lord will answer you when you call to him in Jesus’ name because Jesus is the King who was saved.
Look to the Lord Who is the King
How easy is it for us to hope in things like family or money or doctors or programs or governments. But the people of God put their hope in their anointed king, Jesus, because God always answers him and honors his sacrifice. Only he can bear the full weight of our trust.
When you face a great challenge or conflict or battle or any undertaking that’s difficult or dangerous, the temptation is to look to your own resources or strength to see you through. But this psalm teaches us to look to the Lord and the King he’s given us. Because God answers him (v. 1), he’ll answer you (v. 9).
Everyong who makes Jesus their trust, who builds their life on him, who makes him their Rock, who sees him as the foundational emotional support of their life so that if they lose everything else but still have him they know they’ll be okay, will be brought into his victory and salvation.
Whatever you’re facing, the Lord will answer you when you call to him in Jesus’ name because Jesus is the King who was saved.
[1]Dane Ortlund, In the Lord I Take Refuge: 150 Daily Devotions through the Psalms (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021), 57.
[2]James L. Mays, Psalms, Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994), 101.