Read
(A psalm by David for the music leader.)
A Prayer for Victory
1I pray that the Lord
will listen when you
are in trouble,
and that the God of Jacob
will keep you safe.
2May the Lord send help
from his temple
and come to your rescue
from Mount Zion.
3May he remember your gifts
and be pleased
with what you bring.
4May God do what you want most
and let all go well for you.
5Then you will win victories,
and we will celebrate,
while raising our banners
in the name of our God.
May the Lord answer
all your prayers!
6I am certain, Lord,
that you will help
your chosen king.
You will answer my prayers
from your holy place
in heaven,
and you will save me
with your mighty arm.
7Some people trust the power
of chariots or horses,
but we trust you, Lord God.
8Others will stumble and fall,
but we will be strong
and stand firm.
9Give the king victory, Lord,
and answer our prayers.
Reflect
For me, this psalm of praise and thanksgiving hinges on verse 4, “May God do what you want most and let all go well for you.” The NIV version has it this way, “May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.”
Nice as it sounds in either translation I find this verse really hard. I have lots of things I desire and lots of things I want to go well, and in my experience lots of times I don’t get what I want and things don’t go well.
But wait, there’s more!
What this really comes down to is we should desire the prayers of others to be joined with our own prayers so we can all rejoice together as we see God’s faithfulness worked out before us. And we can be certain of the Lord’s help and answers to our prayers thus making our witness clear that we don’t trust in any power other than God’s.
That faith walk is so poetically summed up in David’s concluding words, “Give the king victory, LORD, and answer our prayers” (v.9). Here he is seeking an audience with God and rejoicing that the people are behind him in this endeavour as David anticipates God’s acceptance and reply.
What I most want and the things I hope will go well are all the things that need to be worked out and defined in the context of a worshiping, praying and transparent community of believers so we can “raise(ing) our banners …” together, knowing God will give us victory and will answer our prayers.
Respond
LORD God of Heaven and Creator of all that is, show me the true desires of my heart that I may have them and that all may go well with me so that in you I will be strong and stand firm, in Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
James Paterson
James works as a visual artist. His current body of work is a series of metal wire sculptures called Prayer Machines which are whimsically ambiguous machine-like objects that give expression to mystery. “I love to share the gospel message, using art as a bridge, to encourage people in their relationship with Jesus.” He and Lynn have four young adult children. Publications Jim’s Grandiose Big Bible Picture Book (Bastian Books ,2007)