Day 21 of Searching the Psalms

Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can
learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly.


Psalm 21 (NIV)

1 In thy strength the king rejoices, O Lord;
and in thy help how greatly he exults!
2 Thou hast given him his heart’s desire,
and hast not withheld the request of his lips.Selah
3 For thou dost meet him with goodly blessings;
thou dost set a crown of fine gold upon his head.
4 He asked life of thee; thou gavest it to him,
length of days for ever and ever.
5 His glory is great through thy help;
splendor and majesty thou dost bestow upon him.
6 Yea, thou dost make him most blessed for ever;
thou dost make him glad with the joy of thy presence.
7 For the king trusts in the Lord;
and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.


8 Your hand will find out all your enemies;
your right hand will find out those who hate you.
9 You will make them as a blazing oven
when you appear.
The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath;
and fire will consume them.
10 You will destroy their offspring from the earth,
and their children from among the sons of men.
11 If they plan evil against you,
if they devise mischief, they will not succeed.
12 For you will put them to flight;
you will aim at their faces with your bows.


13 Be exalted, O Lord, in thy strength!
We will sing and praise thy power.

Comments

  1. Brad ArnoldAugust 22, 2020 at 2:14 PM

    I'm inspired by David's love for the "joy of God's presence"(v.6), which seems tied to putting His trust in the Lord and being "unshakable"/"unmoved" due to God's steadfast love. Who God is and what God does fills David with Joy and I would like to be filled with joy(and love)too, in all that I do. When I went to bed and woke up this morning, my mind was more on the heavy burdens of yesterday and today. Many micro irritations from 7a-2p today have done a good job of distancing me from the "Joy of His presence". It's good to come back to this psalm again this afternoon and center back on Jesus. Tomorrow begins an important week as we read Psalm 22. I want to wholeheartedly enter into Christ and His sorrows. With you, Jesus, all of who you are, there is "fullness of joy" and in your right hand are pleasures forevermore"(Ps.16:11).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Brad ArnoldAugust 22, 2020 at 2:25 PM

    I'm currently in the Psalms 105-106 range. I've been on them a few days. The verse that continues to leap off the page is: Psalm 105:4: "Seek the Lord and His strength, seek His presence continually." This is a strong theme, if not the most dominant theme, of the Psalms. Craving God. Lord, help me to crave you and you alone. Lord, empty my heart of anger, disappointment, bitterness. Not my will but your will be done. I love you. Help me to live that way in ways that I need to.

    ReplyDelete
  3. KathleenAugust 22, 2020 at 3:13 PM

    At first I was thinking David was the subject of the psalm but when I read verse 7, I suddenly realized that the king was Jesus, the Messiah- who else could be a blessing forever?

    The second part of the psalm digresses into what has always troubled me in many psalms: 1) that is the naming of the ills that will befall the evil and 2) that the psalmist is seemingly glad of it. But perhaps it is written that way so that the faithful will not waste time cursing their enemies/oppressors but to help them realize that God will obtain justice in His time.

    Brad, I used to always wonder at the line of St Paul's about taking up/completing what is lacking in Christ's sacrifice. How could Jesus be lacking or incomplete?

    Still not totally sure of it, but I have come to think that what was lacking was others, and therefore, our, participation in his sorrow. I think that when we experience heavy burdens
    and when we offer them to Christ it joins his suffering to ours and then that makes up for all that others did not do and still do not do. And it gives us a chance to, at least, walk along side Him on the Calvary road.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Brad ArnoldAugust 23, 2020 at 8:00 AM

    Thank you, Mom, for sharing! ;) I feel the same tension w/ the judgment/justice prayers of David and I like your suggestion that he unloads it onto God rather than taking justice into his own hands and, therefore, it's not just a judgment prayer but maybe it's also a "Vengeance is the Lords" type prayer. God seems to allow David latitude to be this expressive, but it's to God and not to others. So I'm with you on this. And I agree too when we enter into Christ's sufferings, say for example, with our own sufferings, we are becoming more "one" with Christ and with his universal church as we walk in His sufferings. I hear him saying to me, "Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest....".

    ReplyDelete
  5. KathleenAugust 23, 2020 at 4:31 PM

    Brad, though we are not kin of body, we certainly are of spirit!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Brad ArnoldAugust 23, 2020 at 8:26 PM

    hahaha, yes!

    ReplyDelete

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