Psalm 20
Pastor Mark Hudson

Ps 20 seems like such a happy Psalm.  It appears to be a royal Psalm that is said before the king goes off to battle.  You can discern breaks like

1-5     Congregation to the king/ a corporate invocation of blessing

6-8     The certainty of God’s answer from the king

9        Final prayer for the king (Derek Kidner)

Or

1-5     Intercessory prayer for the king

6        Declaration from a priest, Levite, or prophet

7-9     Praise from the congregation  (Peter C Craigie)

Scholars rarely agree on even the outline of a passage as short as 9 verses.  But the overall point or emphasis is similar in both.  Notice the first and last lines use ‘answer’ and ‘day’ and thus form almost a parenthesis.   Notice the ‘name’ of God in verses 2, 6, and 8.  Also ‘fulfill’ in v. 5-6, ‘remember’ in vs. 4, 8;  ‘sanctuary’ in vs. 3, 7; ‘save’ or ‘deliver’ in vs. 6, 7, and 10.                  This is a psalm of confidence even though this is ‘the day of trouble’ according to v. 1.  The king needs ‘protection’ in v. 1 and ‘help’ and ‘support’ from the sanctuary and Zion.  The concept of warfare, though foreign to us as something normal, was engaged in frequently for Israel.  Israel thought of warfare differently than other nations.  Israel knew that God decided the outcome of everything to the king’s decision on any matter.  As Proverbs 21:1 teaches, “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord, He turns it wherever He will.”  Battles are decided by God not chariots (v. 7) as Proverbs 21:31 reminds us,
“The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord.”   So, worship before battle was important for the king and the people.  Of course, military preparation was critical, but unlike the other nations, the God of Israel was the Maker of heaven and earth.

The people or whomever is speaking is asking God to remember the devotion, faith, and humility expressed in ‘offerings’ and ‘burnt sacrifices’ in v. 3.  When the worshipper worships in faith in obedience to God’s law, that worship and the worshipper pleases God.  The criticism of the Moses and especially the prophets is that false, rote, hypocritical worship not authentic worship and dishonors God.

As we find often in the Old Testament and certainly in the Psalms, the praise and qualities of the king demonstrates attributes that are more worthy of the Messiah than an earthly king.  Is the Psalmist suggesting we look past or through the present earthly king to the coming Messiah?  Are we not intended to see the limitations of our leaders to THE leader, THE King?

The other perspective we hold in tension is that these expressions of faith are sincere, trusting, and God-centered.  Which is not how anyone would describe the people of God.  But much of our worship, our prayers, and the creeds we repeat are aspirational.  We long to have the heart God wants us to have; to have the trust in God our worship extolls, and the deep, sincere love to Christ our prayers suggest.  So, what should we do?  Should we refuse to repeat what is not totally accurate?

The practice of the church is to keep repeating these words.  Keep longing, thirsting, and hungering for the righteousness that God declares us to be.  This is sanctification.  The ongoing work of the Holy Spirit will continue all our life.  So, while we may to 100% and at all times believe this sentence, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God,”  we do believe it.  Yes, we are tempted to trust in our version of  ‘chariots’ and ‘horses’ but God has so changed our hearts that we do trust God.

The last phrase of the Psalm is the hope of all believers, “May He answer us when we call.”  In this Psalm the king and the people are asking for protection through a military victory.  The first pray is that “the Lord (would) answer you in the day of trouble!”  We are always asking God to help us, provide for us, guide us, lead us, etc.  We especially need His help when we are in trouble.  Yet, the essence of our faith is hoping that God would answer us when we call.  What more can we ask?  There is nothing more we need.  In fact, we don’t want God to give us what we ask because He knows better what we need than we ever could.

Our dear, loving, giving, heavenly Father, we come to You in the name of Your Son being led by the Holy Spirit.  We praise Your glorious name and ask that Your kingdom would come.  Thank You for helping us time and time again in our day of trouble.  We remember the many Christians who suffer for Your name.  We ask for their protection.  We also lift our missionaries who serve You and the local or state-side ministries that we love and support.  Turn our hearts to You when we are in the middle of trouble and cause us to trust, not in ourselves or our ‘chariots’ and ‘horses’ but in the Living God who created heaven and the earth.  In the Son who gave His life for us, Amen.