Psalm 21

¹The king shall have joy in Your strength, O Lord;
And in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!
² You have given him his heart’s desire,
And have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah

³ For You meet him with the blessings of goodness;
You set a crown of pure gold upon his head.
⁴ He asked life from You, and You gave it to him—
Length of days forever and ever.
⁵ His glory is great in Your salvation;
Honor and majesty You have placed upon him.
⁶ For You have made him most blessed forever;
You have made him exceedingly glad with Your presence.
⁷ For the king trusts in the Lord,
And through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved.

⁸ Your hand will find all Your enemies;
Your right hand will find those who hate You.
⁹ You shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of Your anger;
The Lord shall swallow them up in His wrath,
And the fire shall devour them.
¹⁰ Their offspring You shall destroy from the earth,
And their descendants from among the sons of men.
¹¹ For they intended evil against You;
They devised a plot which they are not able to perform.
¹² Therefore You will make them turn their back;
You will make ready Your arrows on Your string toward their faces.

¹³ Be exalted, O Lord, in Your own strength!
We will sing and praise Your power.

And have not withheld the request of his lips

Verses 1-7 concentrates on the blessings that God has given, specifically to David. But, I think it’s important to realize that He can give us all these things too. We just need to ask for them and trust in God. Notice, also, how it doesn’t say that David did anything to deserve these things. In fact, David arguably did a lot of things to not deserve this. We all sin, even though we are in Christ. It’s in our nature. Now, we shouldn’t let that be an excuse, but it should make us realize that we could never be good enough, we could never do anything to earn anything from God. All He asks is that we trust in Him.

Your hand will find all Your enemies

I’m not about fire and brimstone, but it is a common request in the Psalms that God get rid of enemies. I think the real issue that arises is one of forming a sort of utopia, in which everyone trusts in the one true God. I’m not saying that we can’t learn anything from this, but the Old Testament was about destroying those who didn’t believe in God. Christ, however, taught that we should go to the people and teach them about our God rather than just killing them all on sight. I, for one, am glad about this rule change. We can’t be the ones who do the judging, though. Paul was a persecutor of Christians, one of these people David would have been praying against. Still, God used him too. So, I think we have to amend the Psalm a little and take the enemies of God as the people who knowingly turn their backs on God. And, rather than praying that people get dead, maybe we should be praying that they find God.