Psalm 20                                                                                                                   

Good morning son,

Once again I find myself writing good morning when it is actually almost “good night.” Was I up this morning. Yes. But I went back to sleep after spending the time with God and did not write anything. I hope you took the opportunity to read Proverbs 20 and Psalms 20 for yourself, to hear his voice through the pages and see how it was relevant to your life this day.

You know I tell you to read a chapter from Proverbs and a chapter from Psalms. Today Psalms 20 was really where I was act. In order to get the entire impact of the verses which leaped off the pages to me today I will do something I normally wouldn't – write out the entire Psalm (only 9 verses in total so don't worry). I will underline which verses leaped into me.

(1) 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) Lord, save the king! Answer us when we call.

In the beginning of the psalm the psalmist is entreating God to answer him and calls on the name of the God of Jacob. In the end of the psalm he is again asking God to answer him when he calls, but it comes after an affirmation – an affirmation that if you are reading the passage you really don't see coming.

See what is there to give you any reason to expect what comes in verse 6. Up until then all is an entreaty to God; all is the writer calling out to God, crying out to the God of the universe, the infinite and matchless God. And for what?

• an answer in times of distress
• help from the sanctuary and support from Zion
• a remembrance of all his sacrifices and burnt offerings (at a later time we may look at the significance of the different offerings, but not today)
• that the desires of his heart might be given and that all his plans may succeed
• that all his requests may be granted

All of these are requests. Indeed it seems like, from verse 5, that any praise that is to arise will come from God doing what God said God would do. But still there is nothing that prepares you for what comes next.

“Now I know the Lord saves his anointed; . . .

Now? – REALLY – from what do you NOW know that he saves his anointed? See the psalmist proclaims a statement of what first appears as faith. But is it really? Or is he remembering the times that God saved him? Could it be that His proclamation is only a statement of fact from evidence of God's working in His life from times before? See he knows NOW because he experienced THEN and BEFORE God's salvation!

See when we bring our requests to God it is proper to say “may” but it is ALWAYS important to know that He will answer them and answer them in a manner which saves us. We have this knowledge not from where we are standing at that moment, not in the need of the minute, but in the remembrance of the evidence of the past, of His past salvation work within us and through our circumstances. A request to God should naturally flow out of a present understanding and remembrance of His goodness to us in the past, which the situation where we are standing in at the moment may not affirm.

“Now I know the Lord saves his anointed . . .”

His anointed? Who is that? Well that is you and me, my child. Whenever I think of anointing I think of King David and what a scene it must have been when the runt of the brothers of Jesse, the youngest, the one who was out there tending the sheep, had the horn of oil poured all over him by Samuel the prophet in the presence of his brothers. Go read the story in 1 Samuel 16. Take particular notice of verse 13: “So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and form that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power. . .”

I want to scream out the words “IN POWER.” David had little going for him. Indeed we don't hear anything of David up until that point . . but then he gets anointed and then . . the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him . . . IN POWER! David was not perfect. David was just a man. So what made the difference . . . the anointing! And so it is in our lives.

When we came to Christ we received an anointing. His Holy Spirit came to live inside of us, in such a manner we were anointed. “. . . you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light!” (look it up). See our anointing is not of ourselves it is a gift of God bestowed upon us to give us the power to do that which we have been called to do. As it is not derived from us it is not limited by us in its power to work, and it carries within it the power to do the salvation work from within, and within our every circumstance. We, sinners as we were called, are the anointed.

“. . . he answers him from his holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand.

God answers him. Funny thing, although we have the anointing which is working from within with its own salvation power God still answers with the saving power of his right hand! God intervenes in the outside circumstances of our lives! He does not only do the work internally He does the necessary saving work in the entire cosmos of where we are! He does not leave us at all.

No wonder the Psalmist can exclaim: “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God “

Notice the trust is not a future trust but a present trust. See God in the very midst of our hurt and pain is working out our salvation from both within and without; God, who NOW we know from the past evidence of His salvations in our life, is in the very midst of our present situation saving us His anointed, His children! It is a present trust in the time of need and crying out to the Lord! There is no doubt here! There is only the “I know, that I know, that I know!” He IS God, He DOES love me, He IS here and His salvation IS at work NOW!

When the psalmist writes “answer me when I call” he is not really asking. A better reading would be that he is actually making a statement of assurance, a statement based upon His knowledge that He already is and has answered the psalmist right where he stands, right then.

When you stand in the midst of your pain. Remember the past evidence of God's saving presence in your life. Remember that you are His anointed and He is right now in the work of saving you from within and without. Do not trust in man's tools of war and salvation and battle, but trust in the name of the Lord your God!

Love yah,

dad

PS: forgive me but I had little time to proof read. Wanted this to go out before the next day! LOL

Finished at 11:47 – now lets see if I can get it to you in time. Love yah