The Lord’s strength
[Psalms 21]
These days, I sometimes remember the Korean gospel song “When I wept in pain”. So I sing in my heart, “When I wept in pain, Disappointed with myself and enfeebled, ….” It seems that there are so many things that make us to weep in pain and to be disappointed. When I see fellow brothers and sisters in Christ whom God brings in my life these days, they are struggling with many different things. What should we do when we are in pain and disappointed? I think as the song “When I wept in pain” says, we should hear God’s voice and meet Him who wipes away our tears with His nailed hands. We must experience our Heavenly Father coming to us, His children, who are in pain and and disappointed, wiping our tears with His nail hands and restoring our disappointed souls with the Word of God.
If we look at Psalms 21:1, the word “Your strength” comes out. It refers to the Lord’s strength. We must experience the word of the Lord giving us His strengthen when we are weakened by adversity who make us to be in pain and be disappointed in our lives. In order to do that, I would like to meditate on the Lord’s strength in four ways:
First, the Lord’s strength is ‘The Power of Answered Prayer.’
Look at Psalms 21:2 – “You have given him his heart's desire, And You have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah.” The psalmist David's prayer is said to be the prayer of “the king” (v. 1). In other words, David trusted God and prayed to God. Indeed, it must be ‘the precious king’ (Park). This precious king prayed to God and received the answer to that prayer. The contents of the prayer are “the desire of his heart” and “the request of his lips” (v. 2). We can think “the desire of his heart” and “the request of his lips” in two ways:
(1) The first prayer topic was the victory in the war.
Look at Psalms 21:3 – “For You meet him with the blessings of good things; You set a crown of fine gold on his head.” Here, the term “a crown of fine gold” refers to the crown that was taken as a loot after conquering and winning the war against the Gentiles (Ammonites?) (Park). In fact, the David's motive for writing this Psalms 21 was to appreciate victory (Park). David already wrote a poem that experienced victory in Psalms 20:5 – “We will sing for joy over your victory, And in the name of our God we will set up our banners May the LORD fulfill all your petitions.”
(2) The second prayer topic was length of days forever and ever.
Look at Psalms 21:4 – “He asked life of You, You gave it to him, Length of days forever and ever.” What is the power of prayer response? It is joy and rejoicing. Look at Psalms 21:1 – “O LORD, the king rejoices in your strength. How great is his joy in the victories you give!” Look also John 16:24, a passage of assurance of answered prayer: “"Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.” We must remember the words of Nehemiah 8:10 – “… for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” Our strength is to joy of the Lord who answers our prayers. We must keep this in mind.
Second, the Lord’s strength is ‘The Power of Salvation.’
Look at Psalms 21:5 – “His glory is great through Your salvation, Splendor and majesty You place upon him.” David confessed that the winning the war was by the salvation of the Lord. In other words, David acknowledged that the power of God's salvation led him to win the war. Then, what blessing did God give to David through the power of salvation? God magnified David's glory and also gave him splendor and majesty. As a result, David became God's most blessed man forever, and he was joyful with gladness in God’s presence (v. 6).
We, like David, must experience the power of God's salvation, so that we can be joyful with gladness in God’s presence because we have become God’s most blessed people. In order to do this, we must seek God our Savior when we are in pain and disappointed by the adversities and crises in our lives. We must cry out to God. In doing so, God, who wants to hear our hearts’ desire and the requests of our lips, will show us the power of salvation in our lives, which will greatly magnify our glory and give us splendor and majesty. Then we will be able to rejoice and be glad in God’s presence through His salvation.
Third, the Lord’s strength is ‘The Power of Lovingkindness.’
Look at Psalms 21:7 – “For the king trusts in the LORD, And through the lovingkindness of the Most High he will not be shaken.” David was a king who trusted in God. It is relatively easy to trust in God when there is no power. But it is difficult to trust in Him when we have power like David because there are many dangers of pride in that situation (Park). After all, David didn’t shake because he trusted in God through the lovingkindness. In other words, David was firm through the God's lovingkindness.
But why do we sometimes shake? The reason is because there is a problem after we have received our prayer answered when we eagerly seek God in our pains and disappointments due to our adversity. It is as if the Israelites cried out to God when they were suffering as a result of their sins by their adversities during the time of Judges, and God gave them the grace of salvation through the judges when the Israelites prayed to God but afterward they couldn’t feel Heavenly Father's love and His kindness, so hardened their hearts again and disobeyed Him. It is as if the children don’t listen to the father and cry out when they are in pain because they have sinned in their own choices so the father has mercy on him and embraces him in his arms of love and he feels the father’s love, we too are in the Heavenly Father’s arms of love and experience His love after we have experienced God’s answer of our prayers and His salvation and thus we stand firm in the Lord. The children who don’t feel the love of their father cannot stand firm. Our steadfastness is based on God's loving-kindness by trusting in God. God made King David, who is God’s chosen king, the king after God's own heart, and the king whom God loves, to stand firmly so that no one could harm him. Likewise, our solidity is to dwell in His love, trusting only in the Lord. Those who trust in the Most High God won’t be shaken because God raises them up so that no one or any power can harm them.
Fourth and last, the Lord’s strength is ‘The Power of Wrath.’
Look at Psalms 21:9 – “You will make them as a fiery oven in the time of your anger; The LORD will swallow them up in His wrath, And fire will devour them.” God, who heard the prayer of David whom He loved, He poured out His wrath upon David’s enemies to save him. How did God pour out his wrath on the enemies of David?
(1) God found all of David's enemies.
Look at Psalms 21:8 – “Your hand will find out all your enemies; Your right hand will find out those who hate you.” It means that God Himself would find all the enemies of David. So, who could hide from God?
(2) God devoured all David’s enemies.
Look at Psalms 21:9 – “You will make them as a fiery oven in the time of your anger; The LORD will swallow them up in His wrath, And fire will devour them.” God swallowed and destroyed all of David's enemies He found.
(3) God destroyed even the descendants of all David’s enemies.
Look at Psalms 21:10 – “Their offspring You will destroy from the earth, And their descendants from among the sons of men.” God not only destroys the enemies who want to oppose, persecute and kill those who are pleased with God but also their descendants as well.
(4) God didn’t allow all of David’s enemies to succeed.
Look at Psalms 21:11 – “Though they intended evil against You And devised a plot, They will not succeed.” How can a plan be fulfilled that God is not with. Much more, how could the David’s enemies who had the plan to resist King David, who God raised, be succeed?
Those who experience the Lord’s strength cannot but praise His power. David did. He praised the Lord’s strength after experiencing the power of answered prayer of the Lord, the power of salvation, the power of lovingkindness, and the power of wrath towards David’s enemies: “Be exalted, O LORD, in Your strength; We will sing and praise Your power” (v. 13). It’s true. When we weep in pain, are disappointed with ourselves and enfeebled, we should cry out to and should experience the power of answered prayer, the power of salvation, the power of lovingkindness, and the power of wrath towards our enemies. Then we cannot but praise the Lord’s strength. Hallelujah!
Praising the Lord who gives strength “When I wept in pain, Disappointed with myself and enfeebled,”
James Kim
(Determined to do ministry with only the Lord’s strength)