#699 The Answer

O Lord, in your strength the king rejoices,

and in your salvation how greatly he exults!

2 You have given him his heart's desire

and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah

3 For you meet him with rich blessings;

you set a crown of fine gold upon his head.

4 He asked life of you; you gave it to him,

length of days forever and ever.

5 His glory is great through your salvation;

splendor and majesty you bestow on him.

6 For you make him most blessed forever;

you make him glad with the joy of your presence.

7 For the king trusts in the Lord,

and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.

8 Your hand will find out all your enemies;

your right hand will find out those who hate you.

9 You will make them as a blazing oven

when you appear.

The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath,

and fire will consume them.

10 You will destroy their descendants from the earth,

and their offspring from among the children of man.

11 Though they plan evil against you,

though they devise mischief, they will not succeed.

12 For you will put them to flight;

you will aim at their faces with your bows.

13 Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength!

We will sing and praise your power. Psalm 21 ESV

They prepared for war, but while the enemy trusted in the number of soldiers, horses and chariots, David put his hope in God, His salvation would come from above. This is the answer to the prayer of chapter 20, it is the praise not held by the king to himself, but directed to the One he asked to deliver him. 

In your salvation how greatly he exults - Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord. There is so much confusion that comes with the disability of pride, that you went to battle, that you were victorious, and so you are in your mind the better man. David's certainty was in a God that honors righteousness, that makes men righteous. May the army on the other side of the field always be so many more in multitude, so that we look upon all our means as meager, our strength as insufficient. Now that it is too big for you, trust God, and now that He has brought you through it, praise Him for it.

He asked life of You - Lord, so many things may go wrong in battle, kings have hid their identity but still been struck down by an uneducated arrow. I will not run away from this fight, but the natural odds are against me, You will have to deliver me if I am to make it out alive. We do not have life of ourselves, it is a gift, and eternal life cannot be bought or earned by us, it is a sacrificial gift.  

For He says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then, it does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”… Romans 9:15-17

His glory is great through Your salvation - By the power of God we enjoy victory, through the Work of God upon the cross we have salvation. Continuing in verse 5, from where comes his splendor and his majesty? They are bestowed. Why is he blessed forever? He is made that way. From whence comes his joy? The presence of God. People fight to pull you away from there, because if you forget that God is sovereign, if you leave His presence then you are vulnerable, it is easy for you to be depressed, to stop growing. They tire of you praising God, of your joy in Him, because they hate Him and refuse His grace. 

For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those He predestined He also called; those He called He also justified; those He justified He also glorified. 31 What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?…Romans 8: 29-31

With your bows - God has not faltered or forgotten, His bow is drawn and aimed at sin. It points to the face of that which defies His grace, shuns His forgiveness, thinks it lives of it's own. He has not changed His opinion of sin, and it is mercy that His arm is so strong, that He has not yet let go. In a world where people scream about justice, there is real justice in God's hand, but if you knew where it was pointing you might beg for grace instead.

Beloved, do not let this one thing escape your notice: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as someunderstand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyoneto perish but everyone to come to repentance. 10But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid bare.…2 Peter 3: 8-10