Heart of a Psalmist - Worshipping Christ Through The Psalms

7. “ MAY the Lord answer all your prayers.” (5) We must remember that Christ our High Priest is praying for each of us at the throne of our Father. “ …he (Christ) is the one who died for us and was raised to life for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us.”(Rom. 8:34) The prayer of Jesus changed Peter’s life: “But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail.” (Luke 22:32) May all his prayers on our behalf be answered!

II HIS GREAT POWER - The Protection of the King- (6-8)

(6) “ Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed king. He will answer him from his holy heaven and rescue him by his great power.” • David was the anointed of the Lord: “ Samuel took the olive oil …and poured it on David’s head. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him from that day on.”(1 Sam. 16:13) and God rescued him from 32,000 chariots. • Jesus was the anointed of the Lord: The Holy Spirit rested permanently upon Jesus, the Mes- siah: “ I saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and resting upon him.”(Jn. 1:32) • Believers are now the ‘anointed’ of the Lord as we have received the Holy Spirit empowering us for his work. “ But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere (Acts 1:8, 2:4) God always saves, answers and rescues his ‘anointed’ ones! The Lord never intended for Israel to rely upon horses and chariots for military protection as evi- denced in Deuteronomy: “ The king must not build up a large stable of horses for himself, and he must never send his people to Egypt to buy horses there, for the Lord has told you, ‘You must never return to Egypt.’(Deut. 17:16) The chariot was the modern armored vehicle of its day. Two horses usually pulled it and in its carriage were a driver and two archer/swordsmen. They were fortified with iron and bronze and were very effective against an army of infantry soldiers such as the Israelites 1 . We are not told how David defeated this massive army of chariots but it was as great a victory as the Israelites experienced over Pharaoh at the Red Sea. “ David captured one thousand chariots, seven thousand charioteers, and twenty thousand foot soldiers. Then he crippled all but one hundred of the chariot horses.” (1 Chron. 18:4) In challenging times we are commanded to ‘stand firm’ and watch for the deliverance of God. “ Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to [stand] firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil … (Eph. 6:11) (7,8) “ Some nations boast of their chariots and horses, but we boast in the Lord our God. Those nations will fall down and collapse, but we will rise up and stand firm.”

III GIVE VICTORY TO OUR KING - The Prayer of Victory (9)

(9)“ Give victory to our king, O Lord! Respond to our cry for help.”

The king of a kingdom must be victorious in order for his subjects to experience success. Just as the subjects of David’s kingdom partook of the victory of their king, we share in the results of Christ’s triumph over Satan on the cross. “ In this way, God disarmed the evil rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross of Christ.”(Colossians 2:15) Even though we face 32,000 chariots and millions of flaming arrows, our High Priest has declared triumph and success for us. The final and definitive victory of history will go to Jesus, the king of kings and to his loyal subjects. This is the fiber and sinew of our praise, King Jesus the Son of David triumphed over sin, death and all the adversaries.

1 Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Vol. 1, page 780

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