PRAYING PSALM 20 (part one)
Last week I talked about getting alone with God in silent solitude. Obviously when we do that we are going to spend at least some of that time in prayer. We pray for what's on our heart and we pray for others and we pray for our town, state, country, world. Someone sent a text to me recently that mentioned praying Psalm 20 over me. I thought that was special and when I reacquainted myself with Psalm 20 it meant even more.
Psalm 20 was written to be prayed for the king who was going into battle. People have come to use it as a prayer for church leaders. But when you look at this Psalm it's easy to see how it applies to every Christian. In Psalm 20 we see love, care and concern as well as encouragement, faith and trust. Psalm 20 is a good psalm to focus on, take to heart and pray.
Within this psalm are concepts that are probably familiar to us regarding what we know about God. But they are things we need to be reminded of because we are regularly in situations where it will help us greatly to have these principles in our minds. Today we'll be looking at the first 3 verses.
1) God answers and protects.
Psalm 20:1, "May the LORD answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you."
In these verses we see some key words; some things that God does for us. The first is answer. To be in distress is to be in a tense and unnerving situation. It could be a troubling, dangerous or difficult situation. Some synonyms-pain, sorrow, anguish, agony, misery. So distress means I am suffering in some way.
It can also refer to being concerned, worried or upset. We could be in distress after we receive bad news or when something unexpected happens. It can also happen when a bad memory or a fear causes sudden emotional distress.
When we're in distress we call out to God. We look to the Lord to respond to our cries. We ask for relief; we ask for him to quiet the raging storm. And God answers that call. He calms our spirits; he quiets our fears. He brings us back to a state of peace. God sends help when we're in distress. If you've ever been in a situation where you've experienced God doing this for you then you understand the great benefit God's relief is.
We also need to remember the times when we didn't cry out to God in our distress and we tried to deal with it ourselves. Mainly this was before you came to Christ. Maybe you were a worrier or easily stressed about things. If you were a pessimist you understand. How did you handle those situations before you knew Jesus? How were you affected by not having Jesus to turn to?
Now that we're able to trust in God coming to our rescue, we need to thank him immensely for the soothing comfort he brings when we're in these situations. And we need to pray for those we know who are vulnerable to becoming anxious or panicked when distressing things happen to them. We pray, "May the Lord answer you when you are in distress."
The next word we see in vs. one is protect. It's interesting that it says, 'may the name of the God of Jacob protect you'. How does a name protect me? I've talked about this before; when it says the name it encompasses all that God is. Doing things in the name of Jesus signifies all that he is and all that he's about.
So when David prays, 'may the name of God protect you', he's asking for all of who God is to protect you. In other words, "May the all powerful, all knowing, all loving, all wise God watch over you and protect you". How great is that? If we are going to have protection then who better than the one who sees all, knows all and can do all?
God doesn't protect us in the sense that he prevents every bad thing from happening to us; he doesn't prevent-he protects. But that doesn't mean part of his protection is not prevention. However, there are many things he does prevent from happening to us. The reality is that we won't know all of what he prevents.
There are some that we do witness. Close calls, for one. Have you ever seen those videos that show narrow escapes and near misses? Most of those situations are so close that just a fraction of an inch or a split second difference would've meant sure death. Those are God's prevention miracles.
But aside from God's preventative protection, when he does allow bad things to happen he still protects us. His comfort and peace protects us from totally losing our mind. He gives us his wisdom and discernment that protects us from having knee-jerk reactions and making bad decisions.
He protects us in the sense that he doesn't allow it to be worse than it was. In the story of Job he allowed Satan to only go so far. We need to be thankful for God's protection over us. Without it, many of us wouldn't be here.
Maybe you know someone who is prone to making dangerously bad decisions that put them in precarious situations. Maybe you know someone who's depressed and suicidal. Maybe you know someone whose health is in bad shape. We pray God's protection over them.
We ask for God's wisdom, discernment and comfort to break through and help get them out of whatever risky situations they are currently in or prone to being in. We pray that God would answer us in our distress and protect us. And we pray that for others too.
2) God helps and supports.
Psalm 20:2, "May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion."
The focus words we have in this verse are help and support. But not just any help and support-help from the sanctuary and support from Zion. What does that mean? In the OT the place of worship was the tabernacle or the temple. In it they had Most Holy Place, where God would be. On the ark of the covenant there was a cover called the atonement cover or mercy seat. The sanctuary would've been seen as the place where God was sought, where you would seek atonement and mercy.
Today, we have a new covenant through Christ. Through him we seek mercy, help and support. And the church isn't the only place where that happens, our sanctuary can be wherever we go to connect with God. No matter where we are we can seek God and find help and support.
Although we can connect with God anywhere, that doesn't mean the church is not needed. We meet with God as individuals and collectively-both are necessary. In a church building, the room the service is held in is often called the sanctuary. What happens when the church meets-help and support. When we express our hurts and needs we receive prayer and counsel.
We can receive understanding from God as he speaks to us through the praise and worship time, the meditation and LS messages, the sermon, the Sunday School discussion as well as the fellowship time. I've had many people tell me they were struggling with something and when they came to church or bible study something was said that addressed the very thing they were dealing with.
God can speak and minister to us from anywhere but there's something to be said about how God works when his people are in corporate worship together. When we get in our sanctuary, supernatural things happen.
Psalm 73 is a psalm of Asaph. He was having trouble accepting the prosperity of the wicked. I'm sure we've all been there before, right? Wondering why those who don't serve God seem to be living happy, carefree lives. And because he was going through suffering, he even considered it worthless that he had kept his heart pure. Then, he gained some help, support and understanding when he entered the sanctuary.
Ps. 73:16-17, "When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny."
In his alone time with God, Asaph realized that it didn't matter that the wicked had some material prosperity now if in the end they would perish without hope. He goes on to say in
Vs. 21-26, "When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you. Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."
When Asaph sought God about this situation he was made aware of how bitter, senseless and ignorant he had become over it. He also realized how unbecoming his behavior was before God. He comes to the conclusion that he could have everything in the world and it wouldn't matter if he didn't have God.
But when did he come to these realizations? When he went to the sanctuary to be with God. Whether it was a literal sanctuary or just a place where he could be alone with God, Asaph didn't receive these epiphanies until he humbled himself and sought God in silent solitude. In the sanctuary he looked to God for answers, help and support. In the sanctuary of God he received clarity and understanding as well as perspective and assurance.
How many things have been revealed to you in the sanctuary? We can receive help and support from worldly people and establishments but the help and support that comes from God, his word and the church is supernatural and can't be matched. God helps and supports his people.
3) God remembers and accepts.
Psalm 20:3, "May he remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings."
The next words to focus on are remember and accept. David prays that God would remember our sacrifices and accept our burnt offerings. In this case, the two covered here are gratitude offerings and sin offerings. In essence the people were thanking God for what he had blessed them with and making atonement for their sins.
One way we give our thank offering is through tithes and offerings. We sacrifice a portion of what God has blessed us with and give it back to his service. We may show that gratitude in other ways too like donations of our time, talents and possessions.
There are material sacrifices and there are spiritual sacrifices. 1st Pet. 2:5 says that we offer spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus.
David said in Ps. 51:17 that the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart. In other words, our spiritual sacrifices are humility and repentance. We realize how much we need God and how much we've wronged God. Then we sacrifice our will and desires for the sake of committing ourselves to God's will.
Heb. 13:15 talks about us offering up a sacrifice of praise. When we profess all the wonderful things the Lord has done for us we are giving a sacrifice of praise. But we don't just do this when he does something for us; we also offer up a sacrifice of praise when God does things for others too.
Rom. 12:1 says we need to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. Jesus was our sin offering, he sacrificed himself to pay our penalty. 1st John 4:10 says God sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. When we are born again, we are offering ourselves over to him in response.
We can't truly offer up any other spiritual sacrifice until we first offer ourselves up as a living sacrifice to God. So we offer our bodies as instruments of holiness. Our bodies are now a temple of the Holy Spirit so we don't do things that are contrary with what God himself would do.
We make a covenant with our eyes to not view things we shouldn't. We do the same with our ears and not listen to things that are harmful. We don't allow our mouths to spew poison. We don't do destructive things with our hands but only useful things. Our minds and hearts are filled with goodness and purity. We have commissioned ourselves as instruments of righteousness.
These are our sacrifices to God. And these things are not easy. There is plenty of temptation to not honor God. There may be times when we get discouraged because we're sacrificing and doing things for the Lord and it seems like we're not "getting a good return on our investment". Like how Asaph felt. But then we read an account like his in Psalm 73 and we are reminded and encouraged.
Heb. 6:10, "God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them."
God remembers all the sacrifices we've made for him. Even if the people we do them for don't acknowledge or appreciate it, we know God does. Our work for God is never in vain.
David prayed that God would accept our offerings. Why would he reject them? If they're not sincere. What if we sacrifice our money in tithes and offerings but it's done with the expectation that God will put us on easy street now? What if we give to someone expecting to get something back in return? What if we do things just to get recognized for them?
In Matthew 6, Jesus spoke about three sacrifices we can make: giving to the needy, praying and fasting. In each verse, he was highlighting that the Pharisees do these things to be recognized for them. He told us to not be like them. He said they had already received their reward, which was recognition and praise from men.
When we do godly things with a worldly motive, we'll receive a poor reward. But, when our sacrifices and offerings are done with the motive to please God and love others, they will be accepted by God and rewarded by God as he sees fit to do so.
So, may the Lord answer you when you are in distress, protect you, help you, support you and remember all your sacrifices and accept your offerings done in his name and for his glory.
