October 5 - Psalm 21

October 5 - Psalm 21

David rejoices in the strength of the Lord, the victories bring him joy.  The Lord has granted him the desire of his heart, welcomed him with blessings, placed a crown on his head.  He has given him long life and because of those victories, David has received splendor and majesty.

The first thing I notice when reading this Psalm is that it could look as if David is pleased with the fact that he has received all of these wonderful things.  In my life, I might have a tendency to forget the power of the Lord’s hand on me and figure that I either deserved everything or that I was the one who had done all those things.

But, David’s focus is on the Lord.  It is only because of the Lord that David is able to do anything well or be the king of Israel.  These words are about God’s goodness, not the fact that David did anything to deserve or earn it.

When we get to verse eight, David begins talking about those enemies he faces in battle.  He expects the Lord to deal with them.  They are the enemies of the Lord! Since that is the case, God will seize them, consume them in fire, destroy their descendants.  Though they plot evil, those schemes will fail because the Lord is in control.

We take our enemies (whether internal or external) before the Lord and ask Him to deal with them.  We want Him to heal our bodies and take care of our friends.  We ask Him over and over to seize our foes, those things which might bring us down.

The temptation is to take all of these foes before the Lord and drop them at His feet, counting on the fact that He loves us enough to handle them.  And He does.  He’d much prefer for us to do that than to try to handle them all on our own.

But, David got it.  He saw the balance.  He acknowledged that God was responsible for all (not just some) of the good in his life.  In the same way, He knew that God would also take responsibility for the foes in His life.