You Are Not the Only One

1(To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.) The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!

David is rejoicing over the victory that he has received from the hand of The Lord “joy in thy strength, O Lord.”  When we receive victories over anxiety, depression, sins that have plagued us etc., those victories come from The Lord God Almighty. They do not come from someone else’s hand. No book that we read – that does not contain His holy Word can give us victory over anything only YHWH! David anticipated victory and received it. See Psalm 20:5-6, 9.

2Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not with holden the request of his lips. Selah.

Once again David affirms that his prayers were answered.”Thou hast given him his heart’s desire [David’s desire], and hast not with holden the request of his lips. See Psalm 2:8   and Psalm 20:4 before the victory.

In 1 John 5:11 the most significant victory that a Christian receives from God is the victory over death/eternal death. A Christian’s desire is to be with The Lord at the end of their life on this ball of clay. They also want peace of mind. Love, Joy, faithfulness See Galatians 5:22-23. King David wanted the same things and got them after every victory from The Lord. 

3For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head.

Lawson proposes that David received the “blessings of goodness” and the “crown of pure gold on he head” because ” These victories, to be sure, were in direct response to the petitions David had made of God” (Lawson 2004, 122).

Christians fight spiritual battles all day long. They are not looking for a crown of god in this life. Howevern 2 Timothy 4:8 does describe what is waiting for them because of their faithfulness to their beliefs and their trust in The Almighty as their King and Deliverer.  “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

4He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days forever and ever.

David prayed for his life and the lives of his army to be spared, and it was. “He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him;” however, not only did David experience and answer to this prayer he also received confirmation of a promise that The Almighty made to him. “even length of days forever and ever.” Does this mean that David, himself, would never die? No, He is looking through the lens of time all the way down to the birth of Jesus Christ who is from the line of David.

(See the geneology of Jesus in Matthew 1.) Matthew 1:6 “And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Uriah;”  Now look at the end of the lineage. “¹⁶ And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. ¹⁷ So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.” When God makes a promise to any of us, we can be confident that He will keep it.

David continues to praise God for the victory and the blessings that God has given to him.

5His glory is great in thy salvation: honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him.

In the culture of the Ancient Near East (ANE) a king who is continually and consistently victorious is honored and recognized for his leadership skills. However, the ANE culture also recognized their gods for giving them their victories. David acknowledges God for the “honour and majesty [that God]thou laid upon him. Christians have this same honor and majestic viewpoint. When we look at the lens of God’s work through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we see a clear picture of who the babe that was born in a manger is today. 

Philippians 2:911 “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:” “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of [things] in heaven, and [things] in earth, and [things] under the earth;” “And [that] every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

We are reminded that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one. The honor that Christ received was received by the Godhead.  Jude 1:25 tells us of the glory that Christ received.

To the only wise God our Savior, [be] glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.” We serve a powerful and mighty God. Don’t allow anyone to tell you that He is impotent and cannot control the events of life on this earth.

He does not need our help to rule and govern. Neither does He need our help to orchestrate His plan for our lives, or community, or state, or our nation. It does not matter what country a Christian lives in he or she has God’s protection over their lives, just like David. Why?

“6 For thou hast made him [all of God’s children] most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.” 

We also have exceeding joy. See the following scriptures:

• Romans 9:5 “Whose [ we are] the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ [who came in the flesh as a human being], who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.”
• Acts 2:28 “Thou hast made known to me [us] the ways of life; thou shalt make [us] me full of joy with thy countenance.”

7For the king trusteth in the LORD, and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved.

David knew that God’s mercies are sure. His brilliance will never cease. He trusted God to be faithful to him. He is describing what God means to him in verse 7. 

David continues this Psalm by describing what God did to his enemies. See the verses 8-12 below.

 8Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. 

• 9Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. 
• 10Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth and their seed from among the children of men. 
• 11For they intended evil against thee: [David states that his enemies were not fighting against him. They were fighting against the almighty. The same thing applies to you and me when the enemy comes at us full force.  “they imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform.”
• 12Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them.

13Be thou exalted, LORD, in thine own strength: so will we sing and praise thy power.

As the youth of today would say “David is jamming right along. After slamming his enemies and letting them know what time it is he raises the roof and praises God!”

13Be thou exalted, LORD, in thine own strength: so will we sing and praise thy power.

https://youtu.be/4QRXCYHh9hg

References

Cayce, Ken. 2017. “Books of the Bible.”  http://www.bible-studys.org/About%20Me.html. Accessed August 29, 2018

Lawson, Steven. 2004. Holman Old Testament Commentary – Psalms. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group. Accessed August 29, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Longman, Tremper, III. 2014. Psalms: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press. Accessed September 4, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central.