Psalm 21 Devotional
By Pastor Lawrence

Psalms 20 and 21 are meant to be read together, representing a prayer on behalf of the king before and after an important battle. In Psalm 20, the people pray that God would answer the prayers of their king and help him in the day of trouble. In Psalm 21, they give praise to God for saving their king and giving him strength in battle. In Psalm 20:4, they ask the Lord to grant their king his heart’s desire and fulfill his plans. In Psalm 21:2, they give thanks that the Lord has given him his heart’s desire and has not withheld the request of his lips. In Psalm 20:3, they pray that the Lord would remember the king’s offerings and regard with favor his sacrifices. In Psalm 21:3, they give thanks that God granted him rich blessings from the battle and set a crown of fine gold upon his head as one of the spoils of war. In praying that the Lord would preserve the life of the king, they now give thanks with great joy that God has granted him length of days and magnifying his glory on earth. All of this has come about because the king did not trust in horses or chariots but he has trusted in the name of the Lord.

This great victory in battle has greatly encouraged God’s people to know that the Lord will help them in the future as well and will protect them from all their enemies. In verses 8-12, there is an extended note of praise to God for exacting vengeance upon the enemies of Israel, acknowledging that God’s hand will always find out the position of their enemies no matter where they hide. He will burn them in the blazing fire of his anger and swallow them in his wrath. Because of their evil scheming, he will put them to flight, aiming his arrows at them continually. In the end, He will destroy them and their descendants from the face of the earth. It is with this confident certainty of God’s judgment on earth that the psalmist leading God’s people in prayer concludes with a resounding note of praise, saying, “Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength! We will sing and praise your power.”

It is hard not to think of the people of Israel today as we read this psalm when they are ruthlessly being attacked by their enemies. Sadly, the majority of the Jews have rejected the king of Israel and do not share the hope of the psalmist, which should lead us to pray all the more for their salvation, that the deliverer will come and banish all ungodliness from Jacob when destroying those in his wrath who have plotted evil schemes against them.

However, this psalm is not meant for the Jews alone but for us Gentiles as well who have been grafted into the vine through faith in Jesus Christ. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer each day, we are praying for the glory of our king who leads us into battle. We are praying that the Lord would hear our prayer requests, knowing that He hears the prayers of our king and savior. And when praying for Christ’s kingdom to come, we are indeed praying for the destruction of the evil one and for the Lord to consume in his wrath all those who are in league with him. May the Lord grant mercy where he sees fit to grant mercy, but may the Lord of all the earth also do right and bring justice unto the righteous and the innocent. It is in his power alone that we trust and not in our own.