Or, The Liturgy of Preparation
Scripture: Psalm 20:1-9
Date: August 4, 2019
Speaker: Sean Higgins
When we live by faith we worship first. Trusting God means praising God before He acts. To believe means to pray to the Lord, to anticipate help from the Lord, and then go to work in the name of the Lord. There will be time to give thanks if/when the battle is gifted to us by God, and that is the capstone of worship. But the cornerstone is laid first.
The song we have as Psalm 20 is a pre-fight checklist. It gives us a liturgical look at how God’s people prepared along side their king for an upcoming military encounter. We can see that it is attributed as A Psalm of David , another one To the choirmaster for sake of teaching a nation how to get ready.
The key verse, and key contrast, is in verse 7. The central question is: in what or in whom do you trust? Everyone trusts in something or someone. We are especially prone to trust in ourselves. Such self-reliance, such bootstrap battling, is as old as thinking that man can be like God. So wisdom tells us not to rely on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5), and that has application for not relying on any arsenal, ally, application, or aptitude instead of relying on God.
Our trust in Him is lopsided, and I mean that in two ways. I mean lopsided in our leaning; we lean over on Him without trying to keep balance. And I mean lopsided in the resulting advantage; there is a boldness that comes from realizing that trusting in the Lord God is an unfair advantage over a man who just has a chariot. God rides a cherub on the wings of the wind from heaven (Psalm 18:10; 104:3)! What can mere man do to me? To repurpose some current language, we who trust the Lord have Worship Privilege.
This trust shows itself in a liturgy of preparation. I also mean preparation in two ways. There is a pattern in that we always prepare, and the in that preparation is a recognized pattern: we petition and praise. More than trained troops, military intelligence and strategy, weapons and supplies, there needs be trust in God.
Notice the seven May s; at least one in each of the five verses and two in two of the verses (there is an eighth “May” in verse 9). These are not petitions by the king himself to the Lord, they are petitions for the king. But, they are not directly to the Lord, they are said in the hearing of the king as an encouragement to him while, it seems, the king is offering sacrifices and prayers of his own.
This makes it appear to be part of a liturgical, ceremonial preparation, and the context looks like war. Help is requested in the day of trouble . Those who “trust in chariots” and “horses” aren’t farmers, let alone horse-cart racers down at the track; these are military officers and soldiers.
The people cry, May [Yahweh] answer you in the day of trouble , presuming that the king is calling out to the LORD for help; answer is the final prayer in verse 10, too. May the name of the God of Jacob protect you! God renamed Jacob, “Israel.” The God of Jacob was the short form for “The God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6), and apparently the brief appellation fit better in this song. God’s name brings to mind all that God is, His character, His strength, His steadfast love. This God would protect or “set you securely on high” (NAS) in the best defended position.
May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion! The sanctuary was the place of worship, and Zion was another name for Jerusalem, the city of David. It was the place of God’s covenantal presence, the place where God committed Himself to be with His people. May His support come from His promised company.
May he remember all your offerings and regard with favor your burnt offerings! Selah Again the assumption of the people is that their king is worshipping the LORD faithfully and diligently. They expect that the king isn’t engaging in this conflict on his own, nor engaging without regard for his own consecration to God. The burnt offering is the holocaust, the complete giving of the offering in fire and smoke as a representation of the sacrificer. Regard with favor means a hope that they are “acceptable” (NAS), but more specifically a prayer for them to be “fat” “since all the fat of the offering belongs to Yahweh (Lev. 3:16)” (Donald Williams). The king has completely given himself in service to God.
This provides important context for the following requests. May he grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans! The word desire is an addition for sake of translation, so it could be, “May God give you (what’s in) your heart and bring about your intentions.” But this is not a king’s heart carte blanche. This is related to the preparations that the king is making for the upcoming fight. The king as Commander-in-Chief is making ready with his generals, strategizing and organizing their resources. His heart wants to win, or at least not die. His plans are for defeating the enemy.
The people are already planning the victory parade. May we shout for joy over your salvation, and in the name of our God set up our banners! The salvation is deliverance (Hebrew: yeshuah). The people will praise God happily and set up our banners , a reference to public displays of credit to God’s name.
The last petition of the people proves what we assume the king has been doing all along. May the LORD fulfill all your petitions! The people are praying that God answer all that the king has been praying. The king shouldn’t go into battle without seeking direction and blessing from the LORD.
The song moves from multiple “may”s, speaking in the second person, to the first person singular. This could be the response of the king speaking about himself, or perhaps it could be one of the Levite’s presiding over the preparation liturgy, as in 2 Chronicles 20:13-17. It is an affirmation after the people’s part in verses 1-5.
The verse starts with Now , an indicator that it’s a new moment. Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed , the anointed being the messiah, the king. Yahweh chooses His man and identifies the man publicly. And He who began a good work will be faithful to continue it: he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand. That is, the LORD will not overlook all the sacrifices offered in obedient dependence, or the petitions made in humble trust. From His cosmic dwelling place God comes and exerts His power on behalf of the king.
The song returns to the voice of the many. While the people have prayed for the LORD to work through the king and even for the LORD to fulfill the plans of the king, their hope is not in man or any other military maneuver or means.
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God . Chariots pulled by horses would have been some of the most expensive and effective pieces of battle equipment available in the day. Though not as effective in a mountain skirmish, they represent an army’s resources (chariots and horses were expensive) and an army’s speed and mobility (man can’t run as fast or cover as much ground). God commanded the kings of Israel not to gather many horses for themselves, but it would be difficult to see the opposing side gather up their forces and not feel overwhelmed. Between two armies, one with many chariots and horses and one without, the battle would seem to be lopsided to those with better equipment.
But the actual lopsided side is to those who trust the LORD.
One side is brought low, the other exalted. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright . Whether fallen to become servants or fallen to death, those who trust everything that they can see lose. The LORD lifts up those who humble themselves before Him.
The final petition is a combination, direct plea to the LORD and another word of encouragement to the king’s ears.
O LORD, save the king! Deliver the king, and by covenant, all of us. May he answer us when we call where he refers again to the LORD. May God hear our prayers, see our worship, and respond to us in the day of trouble.
There is a great example of this liturgical preparation against enemies in 2 Chronicles 20, when the Moabites and Ammonites came as a great multitude against Jehoshaphat and Judah and Jerusalem. “Judah assembled to seek help from the LORD; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD” (2 Chronicles 20:4).
Jehoshaphat himself “set his face to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah” (verse 3). He offered prayers, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (verse 12).
At the same time, “all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children” (verse 13). And Jahaziel, a Levite, stood up and said, “Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s” (verse 15).
And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the LORD your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed.” And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the LORD and praise him in holy attire, as they went before the army, and say,
“Give thanks to the LORD,
for his steadfast love endures forever.”And when they began to sing and praise , the LORD set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed. (2 Chronicles 20:20–22)
What from this song can be applied to us?
Our Commander-in-Chief is not anointed. No President of the United States is the messiah, and thank God.
Also, no one needs to make offerings or burnt sacrifices any more as part of liturgical worship. Christ is the fulfillment of those sacrifices, and we in Him.
But though we are not Israel, we do worship the God of Jacob. Though we are not part of God’s chosen nation, we do still have days of trouble, and we have leaders who represent us.
Both on a corporate and individual level, it is right to learn the liturgy of preparation. It is right to worship first. We make our prayers and we give God praise and then we do our work. This happens on a weekly basis, Sunday and then the next six days. It also happens on individual occasions when we get bad news.
The Israelites continued to sing this song even after there were no more kings. The final fulfillment of the petitions is, obviously, in the Messiah. He is both the King and the LORD, the one we pray for and the one in whose name we pray.
As Oliver Cromwell addressed his army around 1650: “Trust in God and keep your powder dry.”
Worship is the right way to begin your week. The day of trouble might be Monday, it might be Friday, it might be the whole time. But you have worshiped in the name of the LORD. You have sung for joy over your salvation. You have called to Him and heard His promises. May He remember your offering of worship and comfort you and bless you as you reenter the fray.
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. (Romans 16:20, ESV)