Devotional Thought about being the recipient of prayer from Psalm 20
Psalm 20
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.
1 The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble;
The name of the God of Jacob defend thee;
2 Send thee help from the sanctuary,
And strengthen thee out of Zion;
3 Remember all thy offerings,
And accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah.
4 Grant thee according to thine own heart,
And fulfil all thy counsel.
5 We will rejoice in thy salvation,
And in the name of our God we will set up our banners:
The Lordfulfil all thy petitions.
6 Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed;
He will hear him from his holy heaven
With the saving strength of his right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses:
But we will remember the name of the Lord our God.
8 They are brought down and fallen:
But we are risen, and stand upright.
9 Save, Lord:
Let the king hear us when we call.
I was singing this Ricky Skaggs song as I read this passage this morning,
Somebody's prayin, I can feel it Somebody's prayin' for me Mighty hands are guiding me To protect from what I can't see Lord I believe, Lord I believe That somebody's prayin', for me
To Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHtWhnZU2Xo
It appears from the context of this passage Israel is about to go to war.
Understand that Israel was not like our nation is today, she was not technologically more advanced than her enemies.
Israel was smaller, younger and less established than her enemies most of the time. Now, they are about to go into war and that combination of fear and adrenaline had to be intense. Can you put yourself in their shoes and think about how they must have felt before battle?
Now, imagine that you are the individual responsible for all of the lives on that battlefield.
It is said, “Weary is the head that wears the crown,” well, David’s head was wearing that heavy crown and certainly his stomach was filled with knots.
Something happens that touches the heart of King David. It affects him so much that he is inspired to write this song. What happened?
Notice the word “we” in verse five.
Psalm 20:5 We will rejoice in thy salvation, And in the name of our God we will set up our banners: The Lord fulfil all thy petitions.
The prayer of the first five verses is coming from a group.
The people that David was about to lead into battle were praying for him, lifting him up before the throne of grace.
They are not praying in doubt either, but in powerful faith. “We will rejoice” they say, “we will set up banners.”
Those confident prayers changed things. Prayers of faith do!
Now, notice the change of speech.
The prayer in verse six is coming from an individual
The personal pronoun changes from plural to singular as David now says,
“Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed; He will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.” Psalm 20:6
Did you catch the obvious impact of the prayers?
“Now” seems to imply a change in David. It is as though David said, “I was nervous and fearful before but NOW after hearing the confident prayers of faith I know my God will hear my prayers! I know we are going to be on the winning side!”
David isn’t alone, I too have had similar experiences. I have been weak in faith and defeated in spirit and then lifted by the prayers of some faithful children of God.
I have gone to preach at a church nervous and gained boldness from the prayers of men who placed their hands on me before I assumed the sacred desk.
I have preached revivals confident in God’s presence because I was certain that some elderly prayer warriors were gathering at the very time in which I spoke, calling down blessings.
I have gained composure in crisis because a group of people prayed.
We can strengthen each other’s faith with our prayers. Today you might need to lift me from a place of weakness, tomorrow I may need to lift you but imagine how strong we can be with such a wonderful arrangement of teamwork through prayer!
My 2021 Bible Reading Plan
February 8, 2021