PSALM 20 Reading Guide


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PSALM 20 Reading Guide May 19 - 25

 

PSALM 20•

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PSALM 20 1 May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you! 2 May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion! 3 May he remember all your offerings and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah 4 May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans! 5 May we shout for joy over your salvation, and in the name of our God set up our banners! May the LORD fulfill all your petitions! 6 Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand. 7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. 8 They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright. 9 O LORD, save the king! May he answer us when we call.

DAY 1 Read through Psalm 20 once writing down what you find interesting, what you find helpful, and what you don’t fully understand. Read through the notes on Psalm 20 in the ESV Study Bible*. Write at least one paragraph highlighting what you learned from the study notes. Though this was most probably written as a prayer before a particular battle, it still is used today. As John Calvin explained in his commentary on Psalm 20 (emphasis mine): The design of the Holy Spirit, in my judgment, was to deliver to the Church a common form of prayer, which, as we may gather from the words, was to be used whenever she was threatened with any danger... The object, therefore, which David had expressly in view was, to exhort all the children of God to cherish such a holy solicitude about the kingdom of Christ, as would stir them up to continual prayer in its behalf. Reread Psalm 20, personalizing the Psalm as your own prayer. Write out that prayer.

 

 

PSALM 20•

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DAY 2 Read Psalm 20 again. This is a prayer that God’s people would pray on behalf their king. The “you” throughout the Psalm is singular. The petition in verse 9 is for the king. In verse 6, the king is identified as the Lord’s anointed king (“messiah” in Hebrew). Commentator Derek Kidner explains the importance of this king to God’s people: “In this one man the whole people see themselves embodied and their national life sustained.” 1 When the king was victorious in battle, all God’s people benefitted from the victory. If he lost, all God’s people would feel the impact of that loss. “In reality such a role must prove too big for any but the Messiah, whom it thus foreshadowed.”2 God’s people knew they could ask God’s help because he was their God. “The God of Jacob” committed himself to Jacob and all his descendants (the Nation of Israel then; the Church now). Read verse 1 again, noting the situation for the prayer and the initial request. In Luke 22:42, 44 we read Jesus praying a prayer in a similar situation (a “day of trouble”), just before his death: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done... And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Unlike the king in Psalm 20, Jesus was not delivered from death but instead handed over to death. His prayer for deliverance was not answered so that he could taste death for us. He did this so that “through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through the fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery” (Heb. 2:14-15). Jesus fought our battle with sin and death for us. He won. We benefit. Jesus died and rose from the dead so that we can pray Psalm 20 with a twofold confidence: Jesus’ victory is sure: “Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand” (Ps. 20:6). And, Jesus’ victory is ours: “We will rise and stand upright” (Ps. 20:8). In verse 5 God’s people say they will “shout for joy” and the victory of their king. Reflect on the many benefits you have because of what King Jesus won for you. Write out a “shout for joy”-type prayer to Jesus in response to those benefits.

DAY 3 Read Psalm 20 again. As you read it, write down some of the words and phrases that indicate the life and death urgency of this prayer. Think of a similar situation in your life, a place where you need God to intervene. David mentions a common temptation in a “day of trouble” (Ps. 20:1): “Some trust in chariots and some in horses” (Ps. 20:7), because chariots and horses were the greatest force in ancient times. Write down things in your life similar to chariots and horses that you are tempted to trust in to deliver you in the place you need God to intervene.

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D. Kinder, Psalms 1-72. Downers Grove, Ill.: Inter-Varsity Press, p. 101.

2  Ibid.

 

 

PSALM 20•

Write out a prayer to God that starts and ends with you quoting verse 7. In the prayer, explain the place and way you need God to intervene. Ask him to help you not trust in things like chariots and horses but instead constantly turn to him in prayer.

DAY 4 Read Psalm 20 again, reading it as if you were asking for something that was a certain reality. Unlike the Nation of Israel, we don’t take up our swords in battle but instead pray and work so that people will become everything God designed them to be and our cities everything God desires they be. We do so, following Jesus, the eternal king who has secured our eternal victory. This is reflected well in Ernest Shurtleff’s hymn “Lead on, O King Eternal:” Lead on, O King eternal, The day of march has come; Henceforth in fields of conquest Thy tents shall be our home: Through days of preparation Thy grace has made us strong, And now, O King eternal, We lift our battle song. Lead on, O King eternal, Till sin's fierce war shall cease, And Holiness shall whisper The sweet amen of peace; For not with swords loud clashing, Nor roll of stirring drums, But deeds of love and mercy, The heav'nly kingdom comes. Lead on, O King eternal, We follow, not with fears; For gladness breaks like morning Where'er thy face appears; Thy cross is lifted o'er us; We journey in its light: The crown awaits the conquest; Lead on, O God of might. Think either of a person who doesn’t yet know Jesus or an area of your city that doesn’t yet look like everything God desires it to be. Write out a prayer, asking God to make his victory of sin, Satan, and death evident in either your friend’s life or in that area of your city. Ask him to give you the courage to follow him into that battle, advancing his kingdom in his way: “Not with swords loud clashing, nor roll of stirring drums, but deeds of love and mercy, the heav'nly kingdom comes.”

 

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DAY 5 Read through Psalm 20 twice. Write out at least two paragraphs reflecting on what you’ve learned about God, yourself, and others from Psalm 20. Write out at least one thing you hope to apply to your life from Psalm 20. Spend at least 15 minutes sharing what you wrote with a trusted friend or family member. If they read Psalm 20 this week, ask them to do the same. End your time in prayer, thanking God for what he taught you this week.

* Purchasing an ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Bibles, 2008.) will aid you in your understanding of the Psalms. The first day’s reading each week assumes you will have access to the notes in the ESV Study Bible. The ESV Study Bible is the most comprehensive study Bible ever published. It will help you understand not just the Psalms, but also the rest of the Bible in a deeper way. You can either buy the Bible (amazon.com, search: ESV Study Bible) or purchase online access to the notes at www.esvbible.org.

“Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.” © 2013 Elliot Grudem.