MONDAY, JULY 23
Psalm 21:1-13
Psalm 23:1-6

Teach me, O Lord, to
follow Thee closely this week.

“GOD SAVE THE KING” (2)

Psalm 21 is a triumphant anthem and is appropriately placed after Psalm 20. Whereas Psalm 20 anticipates, this Psalm realises the hopes of the king’s men. Though David had written of himself in the third person, no doubt it is intended for his people. Here is a second National Anthem to be sung upon victory in battle. It celebrates the glory and majesty of the conquering king, but ascribing both to God, so that the people’s confidence might not rest on the arm of flesh but on the power and might of the Divine. The model king of Israel is a viceroy of God and not a despot.

David is the model king of Israel. Inasmuch as he is “a man after his own heart” (1 Sam 13:14), so God has “… given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips” (Ps 21:2). What did David ask of God? “He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever” (Ps 21:4). David did not govern his people merely as an earthly people. He looked beyond an earthly kingdom to one eternal. He longed for life everlasting, not merely living to a ripe old age on earth (which he did attain unto). While God gave him a long and prosperous reign of forty years (seven and six months in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem) he longed to live with God in His heavenly kingdom, to be saved in Him eternally. This is reflected in the conclusion of Psalm 23.

Do you try to build an empire for yourself on earth? Or do you aspire for life everlasting in the heavens? David’s aspiration for life (and not power, position and wealth) is reflected also in his desire to build God a house (2 Sam 7:1-17). This so pleased the Lord that He blessed him with a kingdom perpetual in the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Sam 7:16). If God promised him a kingdom forever, life everlasting all the more was promised him.

With God on his side, David’s house “waxed stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker” (2 Sam 3:1). So did David triumph over all his foes within the kingdom. (Read Romans 8:31.)

THOUGHT: (Read Psalm 23.)
PRAYER: May I be very courageous when I stand on Thy side, O Lord.