Psalm 21

Stanza 1: God’s Deliverance and Blessing (1-6)

Psalm 21 is like a powerful medicine for the reader that is struggling with feelings of worthlessness and anxiety.

The whole Psalm is based on the themes of deliverance and blessing.

The king that is spoken of throughout is a human king.

David, at first, but then other kings that would succeed him.

The strong, positive tenor of this passage may cause us to think that David wrote this for a time of peace.

But that cannot be the case, as we will see in a moment.

In the first stanza, David, or the current king, is speaking with God as his audience.

Though the king is faced with opposition, he speaks from a position of confidence.

He has been through storms and periods of disorientation and found God to be faithful.

Just think about all that David had been through with God before he became the kiong.

Deliverance is seen in verses 1 & 5.

Psalm 21:1 “1 The king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord; And in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!”

Psalm 21:5 “5 His glory is great in thy salvation: Honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him.”

Blessings are seen in verses 2,3,4, & 6.

Psalms 21:2-4 “2 Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, And hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah. 3 For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. 4 He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, Even length of days for ever and ever.”

Psalms 21:6 “6 For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.”

Inter-Verse 1: Covenant of the King with God (7)

Because of God’s care for the king, the king makes a covenant with God.

Essentially the king is promising to look only to God for the things that He has already proven that He will provide.

Blessing

Deliverance

Stanza 2: The victory of the King (8-12)

There are a couple of different ways that people interpret this.

Most agree that this is a description of the king in battle.

His victory comes through the help offered to him by God.

You see a lot of “thou” and “thine” type words in this section and that is directed toward the king.

Which leads us to believe that someone else is speaking to the king.

This may have been like a responsive reading type event.

The king would sing or speak the first stanza, and the people would respond with the second stanza.

The picture that is painted in these lines is one of total victory.

With God as his deliverer and blesser, the king can face any enemy.

He can do so confident of total victory.

There will be no scraping by by the skin of his teeth.

He is looking at total annihilation of those who move against him.

The reason that the people sing this stanza is because the king is not an island unto himself.

He represents other people before God.

God helping the king filters down to affect the people.

When the king faces his enemies, he doesn’t do so alone.

Whatever God does or doesn’t do will effect the people that the king represents.

So, it is just as much in their best interest for the king to have victory as it is in the king’s best interest.

In this section we see the people’s proclamation that...

The king would discover the location of all those who seek him harm. (8)

That the defeat of the enemies would be as intense and unstoppable as a fire. (9)

So complete should be their victory that the continuation of the enemy’s world view will be cut off. (10)

They had a plan for evil, but they failed. (11)

Now and forevermore they will think twice before moving against the king again. (12)

Conclusion (13)

Does the king receive victory for his own interests?

Does God bless and deliver solely so we can feel good about ourselves?

No.

Verse 13 shows us the motivation behind God’s help.

God blesses and delivers HIs king, so that the king and the people will respond with singing and praise.

You will notice that verse 13 speaks of “we.”

If the first stanza is the king.

And the second stanza is for the people.

Then verse 13 is for the both of them to express their praise for God.

Application

The application of this passage begins with an understanding of who you are in Christ.

You are a royal son or daughter of God.

You are royal due to your adoption into God’s family.

You are not worthless.

You have no cause for anxiety.

Why?

Because, like the author of our Psalm, God has been with you up to this point in your life, and that is not about to change.

All of us, if we will be honest, can look back at the past battles of our life and we can see how God has been faithful to us time and time again.

He has delivered us and blessed us in ways we can’t even begin to realize.

We ought to go back to those beginning verses and make it personal.

I can say those things about my life and not be lying.

Reality check: we still face enemies.

Not all of them are personal.

Sin is our enemy.

This fallen world is our enemy

There is no enemy that stands to oppose us, as God’s kings and queens, that will get the victory.

Instead, the victory is total and sure.

You don’t have to wait until heaven to experience victory in your life.

It’s provided for you right now, tonight.

Why would God be so good to us?

Are there strings connected to HIs blessing and deliverance?

According to verse 13, the expectations are pretty reasonable.

That we would exalt Him.

That we would sing of and praise His power.