Tuesday 27 October, 2020

For the director of music. A psalm of David. 1 The king rejoices in your strength, Lord. How great is his joy in the victories you give! 2 You have granted him his heart’s desire and have not withheld the request of his lips. 3 You came to greet him with rich blessings and placed a crown of pure gold on his head. 4 He asked you for life, and you gave it to him— length of days, for ever and ever. 5 Through the victories you gave, his glory is great; you have bestowed on him splendor and majesty. 6 Surely you have granted him unending blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence. 7 For the king trusts in the Lord; through the unfailing love of the Most High he will not be shaken. 8 Your hand will lay hold on all your enemies; your right hand will seize your foes. 9 When you appear for battle, you will burn them up as in a blazing furnace. The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath, and his fire will consume them. 10 You will destroy their descendants from the earth, their posterity from mankind. 11 Though they plot evil against you and devise wicked schemes, they cannot succeed. 12 You will make them turn their backs when you aim at them with drawn bow. 13 Be exalted in your strength, Lord; we will sing and praise your might.

Every time I have read Psalm 21 lately, I have been drawn to verses 6-7, “Surely you have granted him unending blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence. For the king trusts in the Lord; through the unfailing love of the Most High he will not be shaken.” I have written a small note next to these verses in my bible to remind myself: ‘Trust that God is at work, even when you can’t see the evidence. My trust will not be shaken.’

There is a lot of faith in these verses! David did not start verse 6 with the word ‘Perhaps’, or the word ‘Potentially’ – he used the word ‘Surely’. Often, we don’t get to see all the behind the scenes action that is going on when we bring our needs and requests, our heartfelt desires to God. We cannot fathom how huge He is, nor can we understand all the minute details that He is orchestrating. Sometimes it can feel like we are just waiting and waiting with no evidence of change. Yet as I pray, as I seek God for his help, provision and answers, I am choosing to stand on this promise. It is a choice, an active decision to say that our trust will not be shaken.

The other part of this verse that stands out to me is that David was made “glad with the joy of your presence”. May this be the attitude I take when I seek God, coming from a place of faith & certainty that God can be trusted in all things, yet what I need to seek most is who He is, His presence; not just what He can do.

God, thank you that you are always in control. You are the most trustworthy, you never let us down, regardless of how we are feeling. Lord may I always approach you with such unshakeable faith, knowing that your plans are always best, even when I only have limited understanding of what you are doing. Above all, may I seek you to know who you are and grow in relationship with you. Amen. 

Written by Ps. Madelaine Tarasenko