Hearing

DEVOTION

PSALM

HEARING

Ps 20

May the LORD answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. 2 May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion. 3 May he remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings. 4 May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. 5 We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the LORD grant all your requests. 6 Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he answers him from his holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand. 7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. 8 They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.

9 O LORD, save the king! Answer us when we call!

NIV

Surely Yahweh pays attention to us when we are in distress, or trouble. ‘Elohiym defends or protects us. He does send us help from his sanctuary and grants us support. He sent his Son to help us, to help us find the way to back to God. He helped us find eternal life, and then he sent his Spirit to convict us of our need to repent and accept and know the truth about salvation as well as all the ways of God. Although we do not offer burnt offerings anymore, God remembers our offering our bodies as living sacrifices because they are pleasing to him as they are an acceptable form of spiritual worship. Here is where it gets a little dicey. Here is where we might agree more with the way the King James translates this verse.

Ps 20:4

4 Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel.

KJV

This is more like the original although every other translation is more like the NIV. We have always thought of it as God will grant the desires of our heart and make our plans succeed. But perhaps it is more like grant us, Lord according to your heart, and your counsel or plans and purpose for us be fulfilled. This puts us where we are supposed to be, in the heart of God and being his purpose for our lives. The other way seems more like he is the genie in the bottle and if we rub him the right way he will grant us so many wishes. Then again we could see that as he gives us the desires of our heart, which is he puts the desires in our heart, the desire to follow after him and his advice. We will shout for joy when he is victorious and lift up our banners. The question is victorious over what? Again this idea of the Lord fulfilling all our requests may be seen a little differently if we just use the original text. Fulfill Lord all request. The translators add thy or our, to the requests, but it may also mean God fulfill in us all your requests of our life. This again puts us in the right relationship with God, rather than him being at our every beck and call, we should be at his every beck and call. But still the main idea remains the same. The Lord saves us, he sustains us, and he directs us. We are his glory, his anointed people, a holy nations, and a royal priesthood, holy and blameless in his sight. Some might trust in the way of the world, or chariots. This is their own devices, their own form of power and might, their own abilities, talents, education and wealth. But they will all come to nothing, they will fall on their knees. They will stumble, they will crash and burn. We on the other hand trust in God. Because we trust in the Lord we will be lifted up and stand firm. We could see this as the final judgement. It might appear in this life those who trust in chariots seem to be getting ahead. But in thinking about the last day, they will crash and burn in the lake of sulfur while we will be lifted into the presence of our God and stand firmly before him, because of our position in Christ. Yet this also applies in this life as well. They have no help other than themselves, while we live in the presence of God in the here and now. They suffer from their own passions, their inabilities to find real joy. Their greed drives them, never to be satisfied with what they have. We have the joy of the Lord, We have his peace and we have learned to be satisfied, fulfilled and completely content in our Lord. We are saved and have his ear.