January 8
“May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble; may the name of the God of Jacob defend you; may He send you help from the sanctuary, and strengthen you out of Zion; may He remember all your offerings, and accept your burnt sacrifice. May He grant you according to your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your purpose. We will rejoice in your salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners! May the Lord fulfill all your petitions,” Psalm 20:1-5.
As best we know, this psalm was written to be sung by the Tabernacle chorus while the king and the army were battling the enemies that were marching against God’s chosen people. The psalmist begins, “May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble.” We are reminded of what the Lord says in another psalm: “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me,” Psalm 50:15.
We have God’s promise to protect, defend, and help His people. “May the name of the God of Jacob defend you; may He send you help from the sanctuary, and strengthen you out of Zion.” At times, we are tempted to think of God as being far away and far removed from all our needs and troubles. We need to listen very carefully to the call of God: “‘Am I a God near at hand,’ says the Lord, ‘And not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him?’ says the Lord; ‘Do I not fill heaven and earth?’ says the Lord,” Jeremiah 23:23-24.
God is everywhere. In another psalm, the psalmist writes: “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall fall on me,’ even the night shall be light about me; indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You,” Psalm 139:7-12.
Trust in God’s promises to answer, to defend, to send help, to strengthen, to remember, to accept, to grant, and to fulfill, which are all assurances that God is God, and God is in charge! These assurances move us to rejoice in our salvation, and in the name of our God we will raise our banners of praise to the Lord who responds to all of our petitions.
Later, the psalmist says, “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God,” Psalm 20:7. The psalmist points out the foolishness of putting your trust in people and things instead of trusting the Lord. Through the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord says, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord,” Jeremiah 17:5.
As Christians, we put our trust in the one true, triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – for all the necessities of this life and for the life to come. In His love, grace, and mercy, God promised to send a Savior, and He fulfilled that promise when He sent Jesus into the world. Jesus lived, suffered, and died to redeem us. With His holy, precious blood shed on Calvary’s cross, He washed our sins away. The heavenly Father accepted the sacrifice of His Son and He has declared us forgiven. By faith in Jesus we make that forgiveness our own. “He who believes and is baptized will be saved,” Mark 16:16.
“Awake, my soul, to joyful lays,
And sing thy great Redeemer’s praise.
He justly claims a song from me –
His loving kindness, oh, how free!
Through mighty hosts of cruel foes,
Where earth and hell my way oppose,
He safely leads my soul along –
His loving kindness, oh, how strong!
Too oft I feel my sinful heart
Prone from my Jesus to depart;
But though I have Him oft forgot,
His loving kindness changes not.” Amen.