Psalm 21: 1 – 13
Receiving my heart’s desire
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 The king shall have joy in Your strength, O LORD; And in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! 2 You have given him his heart’s desire and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah 3 For You meet him with the blessings of goodness; You set a crown of pure gold upon his head. 4 He asked life from You, and You gave it to him—Length of days forever and ever. 5 His glory is great in Your salvation; Honor and majesty You have placed upon him. 6 For You have made him most blessed forever; You have made him exceedingly glad with Your presence. 7 For the king trusts in the LORD, and through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved. 8 Your hand will find all Your enemies; Your right hand will find those who hate You. 9 You shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of Your anger; The LORD shall swallow them up in His wrath, and the fire shall devour them. 10 Their offspring You shall destroy from the earth, and their descendants from among the sons of men. 11 For they intended evil against You; They devised a plot which they are not able to perform. 12 Therefore You will make them turn their back; You will make ready Your arrows on Your string toward their faces. 13 Be exalted, O LORD, in Your own strength! We will sing and praise Your power.
A verse that most Christians enjoy to read and then memorize is Psalm 37: 4 that says, “Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”
The great challenge of prayer for any person is to be granted the desires of their heart. It is requesting Almighty God to grant us what has been our prime concern.
If you have ever tried to follow the Lord in all that you do, then you know how frustrating it is when your desires are not answered! When a sin does not budge, when a friend is not converted, when we struggle in loneliness or illness or poverty. The promises seem so powerful and reality so distant from them. The promise of this prayer and the continued practice of prayer seems empty and not worth the effort.
Prayer needs to be telling our Holy Father God about our whole-hearted desires. I have learned that whole-heartedness is essential to miraculous answers to prayer, when Peter took those first few triumphant steps on the water it was because he was whole-hearted in following Jesus. He let his whole heart lead as we read in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 14, “22 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. 24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. 25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” 28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” 29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” 31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”
James tells us that prayer is to be "without doubting" and that double-minded person "receives nothing". Most Christians struggle to get in touch with the desires of their heart to what is Jesus’ will.
It’s like there are several layers of confusion, for me there is the layer of mental confusion, anxiety and intellectual doubt - the area of the plausible and the implausible, the possible and the impossible, thinking ‘I don't think that can happen. That is the outer layer.
Then there is the layer of confused emotions ‘I understand x, but I feel y’. This is the area where we ‘can't believe that God would be like that’. Where we come up with the ‘God loves some people like David but not me’ feelings.
Underneath my reasoning there is the still place where the Spirit lives and prayer begins. That is the place of the desires of my heart. I just tell God what I desire. It’s up to Him to make it possible. Don't pray your doubts, don't try and tell God the mechanism or you will end up full of doubts and confusion.
When you pray the fundamental questions are:
1. Do I want it
2. Can God allow it. (if it’s immoral or significantly violates someone else's free will then God cannot allow it).
When you consider that it is neutral or a good request then ask yourself ‘Do I want this with my whole heart’. If you do, then pray it and expect to receive it. Forget about what your mind says is possible or your emotions say is going to happen, just let God know your whole-hearted desire no matter what is.
This leads us to the ‘how to’. How do we get our prayers answered and results for the Kingdom, our daily needs met, and our hearts desires answered?
1. Ascertain whether the request is within the broad bounds of His moral will. When the apostle John uses the term ‘according to His will’ in his Gospel chapter 9 he says, “Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.” Here he means according to the broad moral will of God.
2. If we are believers and the request is within the bounds of Scripture then we can be confident that God has heard our prayer.
3. Once we know He has heard us we can be confident that we will receive what we have asked of Him.
4. In which case we should believe that we have received it. We should hold on to that fact. We should believe God as Abraham did when praying for Isaac despite being 100 years old. (Romans 4:20-22) “He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore "it was accounted to him for righteousness."
5. After believing we have received it we wait in expectant hope.
6. There are two main obstacles that you will have to remove if you are not to waver in unbelief. The first is your belief about what is possible with God and what is not possible with God. This includes thinking that God must use "normal means". God has means we don't know about or understand. Abraham believed God for a son despite him being 100 and Sarah 90. He put aside human reasoning and calculation and believed the promise of God. Remember that God’s ways are not are ways and His thoughts are not like our thoughts.
Secondly, we must put aside our feelings about the situation. There are often deep emotional blocks to faith. These include ‘I am unworthy’, ‘God doesn't care for me’, ‘these things don't happen for people like me.’ and many others. There is a certain degree of spiritual discipline required to keep these interfering things out and stay on track especially if the request is a long-term one.
Let’s look at today’s Psalm and see David’s thoughts relative to receiving the desire of his heart.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
This is another Psalm offered to the organizer of the sacred music, or the choirmaster, and dedicated to David. There is much in it that suggests that it was written by David, for it was to David that the promise was given that his house would continue forever. It may be a song of victory following the petition of Psalm 20. It is a song of triumph for the king and for the everlasting blessing that the Davidic house will bring. It can therefore also be looking ahead to the Greater David, the Messiah Jesus Christ.
1 The king shall have joy in Your strength, O LORD; And in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!
The psalmist declares that the king will rejoice in YHWH’s strength, especially His strength as revealed in His great deliverance on behalf of His people, because He has given them victory. As God’s anointed God has blessed him by revealing His saving power through him, and he can now rejoice in the fulfilment of the promises given to him as God’s chosen one. So, should all rejoice who find themselves being used as His instruments as God goes before them to give them victory, although often only after the battle has been fierce.
Our Lord Jesus Christ Messiah also rejoiced in His Father’s strength and wisdom, and in the wonder of His salvation as worked out through Himself (Luke 10.20-22; John 12.28).
2 You have given him his heart’s desire and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah
For YHWH has given to His king the desire of his heart, victory over his enemies and the enemies of God’s people. He has not withheld from him anything of what he requested. Selah. (‘Think of that!’) Think also of the fact that in the end all triumphs by the people of God are due to Him.
This psalm is a reminder to us that the Davidic king was ever seen as having the responsibility of being a chief intercessor on behalf of his people.
It is a reminder that we too should never forget to rejoice in God when He hears and answers our prayers.
3 For You meet him with the blessings of goodness; You set a crown of pure gold upon his head. 4 He asked life from You, and You gave it to him—Length of days forever and ever.
Our Holy God goes to meet the king with ‘the blessings of goodness’. This probably signifies ‘the blessings that come from the goodness of God’. These blessings include his crown of fine gold, a symbol of his prosperity and victory, and the longevity promised to the house of David.
Kings were regularly greeted with the words, ‘May the king live forever’ (1 Kings 1.31; Nehemiah 2.3). The thought was that he might have long days and be succeeded by his sons. Here that is extended to ‘forever and ever’. It is never to cease. The exaltation is in the fact that he is the chosen of YHWH, Who will give him long life and will give to him through his seed an everlasting kingdom (2 Samuel 7.16).
Long life was always the request of kings both for their own sake, and because it was thought to evidence their righteousness. It was especially important since a king’s death could bring hardship on his people, especially if his successors were weak or quarrelsome So the king is given ‘length of days’. But here the thought would seem to include life through a long and successful dynasty, ensuring the effective continuation of his rule (2 Samuel 7.12-16).
But far more wonderfully was it fulfilled in the One Who was crowned with glory and honor (Hebrews 2.9) and Whom God raised from the dead that He might be our everlasting King (Acts 2.24, 32-36) and give us life for evermore.
5 His glory is great in Your salvation; Honor and majesty You have placed upon him. 6 For You have made him most blessed forever; You have made him exceedingly glad with Your presence.
Further benefits that the king receives are now described. He gets great glory from the recent deliverance as gifts are poured on him, honor and majesty are bestowed on him because of his conquest, as kings submit their kingdoms to him, but most importantly he continues in the everlasting blessing of God, revealed in continual triumphs, and enjoys gladness and joy in the presence of God. He enjoys peace with God and peace for his kingdom. No one ever loses by their faithfulness to God.
For the success of the king is evidence of the divine favor, so that he basks in His glory, and as a truly righteous king walks in the light of His presence.
How much more then is the eternal glory poured out on the King Messiah Who receives all these things in even greater abundance as He takes His throne in Heaven, with all being made subject to Him. For glory, honor and majesty are divine attributes.
He is not only blessed, but he dispenses blessing and is the source of blessing to his people. The people are themselves blessed in the success of their king, both because his success brings peace and joy, and because it brings stability and wealth. And of none was this truer in the spiritual sphere than with the King of Kings.
7 For the king trusts in the LORD, and through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved.
All this result from the king’s faith in God. It is because he trusts in YHWH, and through His lovingkindness, that nothing can move or defeat him. It is his trust in God that is the foundation of his success.
Again, we see how true this also was of the King Messiah, for He too trusted His Father fully, and was confident in His mercy and goodness. That was the root of His own success. And it gained Him the victory.
8 Your hand will find all Your enemies; Your right hand will find those who hate You.
The consequence of his faith is that the king will root out and defeat all his enemies. Neither their deceit nor their strength will succeed against him. Wherever they hide he will discover them. Whatever their plots he will know of them.
There is also here the assurance that those who are God’s can always be sure that He will watch over them, and that He will know all that there is to know about their enemies.
There is here the guarantee that the King Messiah will finally triumph over all His enemies who will not be able to avoid His searching eye. As the next verse makes clear, they will be brought into fiery judgment before Him.
9 You shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of Your anger; The LORD shall swallow them up in His wrath, and the fire shall devour them.
For God’s anger, His antipathy to sin, is aroused against the enemies of His people, because their very sinfulness is revealed in their desire to attack those who are faithful to Him. That is why He allow their enemies’ cities to be burned and the fires to destroy them. For He will enable the king to capture their cities and make them like a blazing furnace, and when the king personally arrives (the time of his countenance) and reveals his anger at their behavior against God’s people, they will be swallowed up before the face of God’s anointed, and this will be in accordance with God’s will. For God’s wrath is revealed, as well as the king’s, because He is determined that He will protect His own who obey His covenant and reveal their love for Him and His ways, against all that would come against them. That then is why He will allow the fire to devour their enemies. Fire is often used in Scripture as a metaphor for the wrath of God.
While in our day this may seem ferocious we must remember that the people then lived in dangerous circumstances in dangerous days. Enemies were ever likely to swoop on them in order steal their possessions, rape their wives, burn their cities, destroy their crops and slay their children (especially the males), taking over their land, and either driving them out or exacting tribute. The only alternative was for their armies to get in first and prevent it.
10 Their offspring You shall destroy from the earth, and their descendants from among the sons of men.
The result will be that the ‘fruit’ of their enemy, their sons and daughters (Lamentations 2.20), will be destroyed from the face of the earth by the king and his armies. Their seed will be destroyed from among the children of men. This would ensure the future, for it was only by rendering the enemy weak that they could be subdued and prevented from being a constant threat.
And the king’s success in all this mirrors the success of King Messiah when He comes to judge the world.
11 For they intended evil against You; They devised a plot which they are not able to perform.
For, as he points out here, these peoples that have been attacked by the king were not innocent. They had intended evil against them. They were constantly plotting and planning their raids. And the only reason that their plans failed was because the king got in first. That is the reason that they were not able to ‘perform’ their ‘devices’. So, do we learn that God can deal with all our enemies, whatever their schemes, if we respond to what He asks of us He will take care of our enemies even before we are aware of them.
12 Therefore You will make them turn their back; You will make ready Your arrows on Your string toward their faces
The enemy will not be able to stand against them, but will turn their back to them, while their own bowstrings will cause havoc and devastation among the enemy. Their victory will be certain because God is with His anointed.
We are reminded here that God may allow chastening for His people for a little while, but He will not allow them finally to be destroyed. He will guide us in the use of whatever weapons we possess to discomfit our enemies.
13 Be exalted, O LORD, in Your own strength! We will sing and praise Your power.
Their final plea is that YHWH might be exalted, revealing His strength. Thus, will they be able to sing and praise His power. In the end it is the glory of God that matters, not the success of men, and it is that which should be our main concern, and it should always lead us to praise and worship.
