~ Psalm 20 ~ Spiritual Journey From the Beginning to the End of the Psalm ~

~ Psalm 20 ~ Spiritual Journey From the Beginning To The End Of The Psalm ~

This is an exquisitely powerful dynamic Psalm! This bravura Psalms takes us on a journey where we can see courage displayed! It is a marvelous prayer that The Lord would lead, guide and protect His people! That He would keep them mindful of what was before them! Here we learn the importance of not boasting in self! How despite the odds of how things appears you can still be VICTORIOUS with The Lord at your side!

The Psalms are a rich compendium of magnificent influential spiritual wisdom collectively composed by at least seven anointed authors that were inspired by The Lord! They are Israel’s God breathed hymnbook originating from ancient times! The Psalms transcends the test of time and the contents are marvelously scripted to endure and last through eternity! It is applicable right now! God’s Word is quite “Alive!” Therefore we too must continue to embrace, implement and apply the TRUTH therein to our everyday lives!

All throughout the history of the Bible you will discover kingdoms and empires rising and falling! King after king diminishing and losing power compromising the Lord’s way and resorting to worldly tactics rather than consulting the Lord!

There were times in David’s life that he had to regress and take a back seat… But it was all in the Lord’s plans! It is so important to humble yourself before The Lord… David knew and had by now learned that the TRUE POWER was in being obedient to The Lord and not man! We at some point in time will be accountable to GOD for ALL we say, think and do! The LORD is Omniscient and knows everything about all of us! This is why we need to diligently seek Him above all else!

Whenever we are faced with strong opposition or when things are not quite working out as planned this is the perfect time to seek advice from the Lord for direction! We should keep in mind that The Lord is Omnipotent! The Lord is ALL POWER! Therefore if we are to ever boast it should be in Him! We are not to put our trust in mankind over The Lord!

Be Faithful when opposition rises

During this Psalm David is faced with fierce opposition from the Ammonites! He had sent his men to express his sympathy since their leader King Nahash had died. While living this king had shown some kindness to David although the Ammonites and the Israelites had been at war for many years. But when his men arrived the nobles convinced Nahash son Hanun that David had a hidden agenda and doubted the intentions of his men. So they in turn instead disgraced David’s men and shaved off half of their beards, cut their garments off to display their buttocks and sent them away terribly humiliated.

This was a great insult because men at this time grew beards to express their virile manhood and authority! The Ammonites realized that they had now terribly offended David. They feared he would retaliate therefore: “they hired twenty thousand Aramean foot soldiers from Beth Rehob…” II Samuel 10. They hired a host of others as well to fight against David along with them. Yet, they were still not at all successful!

David has been attributed to in The Word as being a man after “God’s own heart!” He was also known for being a man of war! He was not known to back down when unjustly challenged!

Hanun had listened and took heed to very bad advice from what he perceived to be wise counsel. They had misconstrued David’s humble gestures and good intentions. This still happens quite often today. How many times have you extended yourself to someone and they misunderstood your kind sincerity? They allowed someone else to undermine the already established relationship and doubt your intentions and turn against you! This is what has happening here! Things are not always as they appear. Rather than making amends for having defaulted to bad judgment and apologizing for inappropriately humiliating David’s men; they assembled many forces together and prepared for a battle which they subsequently lost. They allowed their pride to take them out on a limb!

TRUST GOD TO BE GOD!

We can learn many great lessons from The Word of God! The Ammonites thought that since they had assembled a host against David and now had them outnumbered, they contemplated that they would surely defeat them. This gave them a false since of security and presumed power. Thinking that their power was in the number of fighting men they assembled against David! The one thing that they under estimated was that David sought The Lord’s direction first and yielded to His directions. Joab the leader of David’s army knew that “The LORD WILL DO what is GOOD in HIS sight.” II Samuel 22. Joab also knew that David’s trust was in The Lord not in the numbers! It is in The Lord we too must TRUST! “GOD WILL FIGHT YOUR BATTLES!”

Book Of Praise Lesson Highlights

BOOK 1

“A Psalm of David”

Theme: A prayer for VICTORY in battle. Such a prayer can help us prepare for any great challenge. David knew that his TRUST should be placed in The Lord more than in human power.

Author: David

History teaches us that The Name of The God of Jacob is synonymous with The God of Israel where the Hebrew nation is consequentially derived from! It is known that God was The Protector of the nation! The sanctuary was denoted as The Holy Place designated for worship! “May The Lord answer when you are in distress’ may The Name of The God of Jacob protect you. May He send you help from The Sanctuary and grant you support from Zion.”

Burnt offerings and sacrifices were made on a continuum to make atonement for the sins of the people before Jesus Christ died on The Cross! Jesus became The Ultimate Sacrificial Lamb for the sins of the world! He redeemed us and blood sacrifices were no longer required! We NOW are covered by The Blood of Jesus! It has miraculous cleansing power! We must humble ourselves and readily repent whenever necessary! God is recognized as The Most High God and prayer and intercessions were being made here in this Psalm to request His protection. This remains to be true today!

Here we are able to get a glimpse into the day to lives of God’s people. God was consulted in every aspect of David’s life! David confessed and repented of his sins and sought the face of The Lord! He had a sincere heart and his desire was that the will of The Lord be done! This is also why the Favor of The Lord was upon his life!

We too in this 21^st century need to stay tuned into The Lord through prayer! We are told to PRAY UNCEASINGLY; during this time as we meditate on HIM! PRAYER becomes a conscious state of mind! Thank God we no longer have to offer up burnt offerings! But we can offer up a Sacrifice of Praise! There is POWER in PRAISING our Most High GOD! This is true If you are in the company of many or alone. God sees and knows our hearts!

There is much on the horizon to circumvent us and attempt to derail us from the straight and Narrow Path that leads to The Lord! The Lord is able to direct us as well as deliver us from danger and any evil. Therefore we should daily include Him in our plans! Pray for discernment! Today we can Thank God for Jesus Christ and His Internal Teacher and Comforter; His precious Holy Spirit! He will never leave nor forsake us! “May He remember all your sacrifices and remember all your burnt offerings. May He give you the desires of your heart and make all your plans succeed.”

No failure in GOD!

There is no failure in God! Things will not always go our way and one should expect to be maligned and misunderstood but in the end when you truly LOVE HIM GOD will work it all out for the GOOD! In Him we can have the VICTORY!

When going into battle a flag or banner was waved to announce whose side you were on! It is important that you KNOW without a doubt that God is The Most High God and above Him there is no other! David was known as The King of Israel and represented The Most High God! Here he displays a vote of confidence! “We will shout for JOY when you are VICTORIOUS and will lift up our banners in The Name of our God! May The Lord grant All your requests”

Life can hurl many obstacles in our path. Some intentionally placed before us to discourage, oppress us and or break us down! God will even work the bad things out for our GOOD! The Lord will use them all to strengthen our character! However, it is important to consecrate yourself for The Lord! Spend time in His Presence and allow the cleansing Power of The Blood of Jesus to prepare you for the spiritual warfare! Don't become bitter but BETTER! Draw closer to The Lord!

What others may perceive to be arrogance is really confidence in the Lord! Without HIM life is meaningless... God will interpose His Strength upon us as we yield to Him in our moments of weakness and become humble. Our reliance is not on an army, person or thing but in HIS precious Holy Spirit! We CAN truly TRUST GOD! HE IS so much more than our little finite minds can ever conceive or envisage! “Now I KNOW that The LORD SAVES HIS Anointed; He answers him from His Holy Heaven with the saving POWER of His right hand.”

STAND firm upon GOD'S WORD!

When you have said and done all that you can do; “STAND! Firm with the buckle of TRUTH around your waist, with the breastplate of RIGHTEOUSNESS in place…” Ephesians 6. We are in a spiritual battle against authorities, powers and principalities who want to destroy us and render us powerless and what we stand for meaningless… Therefore it is very important to personally KNOW The Lord and HIS WORD for yourself! “With this in mind, be ALERT…”

It is important to remain PRAYERFUL on ALL occasions & keep your focus on The LORD! “GOD WILL FIGHT YOUR BATTLES!” May our prayers and petitions that are in accordance with His Will be answered… “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we TRUST in The Name of The LORD our GOD. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and STAND FIRM.” Jesus Christ is The King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Our Most High God is The Supreme Ruler & Monarch He alone is SOVEREIGN! Praise God! & PRAISE GOD! “TO GOD BE THE GLORY!”

This Psalm concludes saying: “O LORD, save the king! Answer us when we CALL!”