The King's Victory - Psalm 20

Read Psalm 20

Psalm 20 (ESV)

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

1 May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!

2 May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion!

3 May he remember all your offerings and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah

4 May he grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans!

5 May we shout for joy over your salvation, and in the name of our God set up our banners! May the Lord fulfill all your petitions!

6 Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might 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 collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright.

9 O Lord, save the king! May he answer us when we call.

How do we interpret verses like Psalm 20:4?

Psalm 20:4 (ESV)

May he grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans!

Can we substitute ourselves in for this Psalm or is there something else going on here?

Praying for the King’s Victory (vv. 1-5)

Psalm 20:1–5 (ESV)

May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!

May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion!

May he remember all your offerings and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah

May he grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans!

May we shout for joy over your salvation, and in the name of our God set up our banners! May the Lord fulfill all your petitions!

When we look at Psalm 20:9

Psalm 20:9 ESV

O Lord, save the king! May he answer us when we call.

Who is this really about? Answer: the King

Of course, this is a prayer and a song that would be prayed or sung before the king goes into battle.

So this psalm opens up with the idea that God would answer the King’s prayer. It is a prayer and a song from the people for the king that God would hear him and answer his prayer.

And while this is for each of the kings in David’s line, it is also a prayer looking forward to the one God has promised to David that would sit on his throne forever.

As we saw in Psalm 2, Jesus is the promised King of Israel who would reign over all creation from the throne in Zion. And so this prayer is ultimately a prayer for the king asking God to do what He has promised to David in both Psalm 2 and in 2 Samuel 7:10-11. Jesus is the King who will establish his kingdom forever and will reign from David’s throne forever.

In verse 3, the people pray that the king’s sacrifices would be accepted by God so that God would hear and answer the kings prayers. And then in verse 4, they pray that God would grant the desires and the plans of the king, which means they are praying that the kings will would be aligned with God’s perfect will.

Of course, there has only been one king who perfectly fulfilled this description: King Jesus. His desires and plans perfectly aligned with those of His Father and because of that God granted to Him His heart’s desire.

And so, in verse 5, we can echo the prayer of the people because we can shout for joy over his salvation because God has heard and answered the King’s prayer. And as representative of the people, as God answers the King’s prayer, He is granting the people’s prayers as well. Because Jesus is our perfect King, we too can shout for joy for His salvation.

Assurance of the King’s Victory (vv. 6-8)

If you have a King whose heart is completely and totally aligned with God’s will, then God will grant Him the desires of His heart and will grant Him victory. So there is an assurance here that the king the people are praying for, as they know He is seeking the will of God, will gain the victory He is looking for.

God will save the King with His powerful “right hand.” Meaning God will use His infinite strength to give the King victory over His enemies.

This idea is carried further in the image the Psalmist uses next.

Chariots and horses were the most powerful weapons of the day. If you had those, you were pretty much assured success over your enemies. These were the technologically advanced weapons of the day.

However, even if the King were going up against the most powerful enemy, the people knew God would give their king success because God’s power is infinitely greater than any one else’s power. So while they might trust in their power and weapons, we trust int he name of the Lord our God to save us.

And what is the result? They shall fall, but we will rise and stand upright. Again, this is an assurance of the victory Jesus will have over the enemies of sin and death. While not every king in David’s line was always assured victory, the King on David’s throne who would reign forever would. This is a promise that is only perfectly fulfilled in Christ.

Our Answered Prayer (v. 9)

Our prayer for God to give victory to the King, to save Him, is answered in Christ. All throughout history, all the kings disappointed in some way or another, including David. However, Christ never disappointed God or His people in remaining completely faithful and obedient to the Word of God.

God heard and answered the King’s prayer anytime He prayed because His heart was always in line with God’s will. At the grave of a four-day-dead corpse, this king had prayed to God to bring him forth from the grave. And this King knew His prayer would be answered. John 11:41-42

John 11:41–42 ESV

So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”

The people’s prayer has been answered for us in Christ. This psalm has been answered in Christ alone as the perfect King.

How Do We Pray This Today?

Again, we know that God has answered King Jesus’ prayer and has given Him victory over sin and death. However, the final victory is not here yet, as we are still struggling to fight against our own sin and wickedness and against the powers of darkness of this world.

So how do we pray this prayer? We learn to pray for Christ’s desires in our prayers. As Christ prayed, “Not my will, but yours be done,” we also pray for Christ’s will and desires to be done in our lives and in the life of His church.

We pray that our hearts would be conformed to His will and His desires. Later in Psalm 37:4

Psalm 37:4 ESV

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

As we learn to love and delight in Christ, our hearts will be conformed to His heart, and our desires to His desires, so we will begin to ask for the things Christ wants. And guess what? When we ask God to do what He wants to do, He is going to do it.

So we pray this prayer by asking God to do with our church what Jesus wants to do in us, even if that means humbling ourselves. It means asking Jesus to work in the hearts and lives of the families He wants to work in during VBS or in the lives of the students going to camp and to accomplish the work He wants to accomplish rather than our own work.

Why is it tempting to read this psalm as if it were addressed primarily to us?

How might realizing that it is addressed to God’s King reshape your desires?

In what areas of your life do you need to put Jesus’ success and victory above your own?