January 10
“The king shall have joy in Your strength, O Lord; and in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! You have given him his heart’s desire, and have not withheld the request of his lips. For You meet him with the blessings of goodness . . . Be exalted, O Lord, in Your own strength! We will sing and praise Your power,” Psalm 21:1-3.
Psalm 21 is a song of thanksgiving and praise to God for hearing and answering the prayer of the king, who returned from a victorious battle against the enemies of God’s people.
In the previous psalm, the psalmist prayed, “May (God) grant you according to your heart’s desire,” Psalm 20:4. Now, in the following psalm, he says that God answered that prayer: “You have given him his heart’s desire and have not withheld the request of his lips.”
As previously stated a number of times, the Book of Psalms is the Prayer Book of the Bible. We do well when we make it our Prayer Book also. There is such a wealth of material in the psalms that we need to read them again and again to get a better and more full understanding of what God has revealed in them.
In the American Edition of Luther’s Works, we have an English translation of Luther’s lectures and writings on the Book of Psalms, published in five volumes. They are enlightening reading and helpful for meditation.
A summary statement that might be applied to the whole Book of Psalms is this: Through the Book of Psalms, God gives the assurance that He hears and answers the prayers of His people, for which they should thank and praise Him here in time and hereafter in eternity.
Repeatedly in the Book of Psalms there also is a warning to the ungodly and impenitent people. For example, in Psalm 21, we read, “Your hand will find all Your enemies; Your right hand will find those who hate You. 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,” Psalm 21:8-9.
On the other hand, the Psalms are filled with references to the promised Messiah and Savior of the world. The fact that God so loved us and that He promised to send a Savior when our first parents, Adam and Eve, had fallen into sin, and that He fulfilled and kept that promise and sent His Son to redeem us from sin, death, and the power of the devil is really something to sing about.
Read Psalm 150. Praise the Lord! Praise Him! Praise Him!
As humble, penitent sinners, we come before God and thank and praise Him for His grace and mercy. “We love Him because He first loved us,” 1 John 4:19. God’s love, manifested in the sending of Christ Jesus to redeem us, is beyond our comprehension. We accept by faith. God has spoken and declared us forgiven for Jesus’ sake, and we believe Him!
“I know that though in doing good
I spend my life, I never could
Atone for all I’ve done;
But though my sins are black as night,
I dare to come before Thy sight,
Because I trust Thy Son.
In Him alone my trust I place,
Come boldly to Thy throne of grace,
And there commune with Thee;
Salvation sure, O Lord, is mine,
And, all unworthy, I am Thine,
For Jesus died for me.” Amen.