Psalm Chapter 20

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.

• Psalm 20:1 The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee;
• 2 Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;
• 3 Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah.
• 4 Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel.
• 5 We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the LORD fulfil all thy petitions.
• 6 Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.
• 7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.
• 8 They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.
• 9 Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call.

The theme of this psalm seems to be the salvation and deliverance of the Lord for those that trust Him. The Lord saves His anointed. The Lord will hear us when they call. Some trust in chariots but we remember the name of the Lord our God. It's all about trust and faith.

• Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

God keeps the gospel simple, it is man that complicates it. We must simply believe that God exists and believe that He rewards those that diligently seek Him. To seek means to go after, search for and ask about.

• Jeremiah 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

God is speaking primarily to Israel in Jeremiah, pleading with them to repent and turn to Him to avoid judgment for their continual backsliding. He shows them how to get back in fellowship with Him.

God also wants this fellowship with all mankind. He sent Jesus to save the lost and give the promises made to Israel to all who believe in the one He sent to save, which is His Son, Jesus the Messiah (Christ). God sees our hearts and He knows when we really seek Him in sincerity. He desires to save rather than destroy in judgment. We make a mistake if we think that He is just sitting in Heaven hoping we make a mistake so He can send judgment. He loves. He would much rather save and give us eternal life.

• Matthew 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 
• 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 
• 9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? 
• 10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? 
• 11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

The trouble comes when we doubt His word.

• James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 
• 6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 
• 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 
• 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

To strengthen faith, one needs to study the word of God with a seeking heart. The more you hear the word, the more your faith will be strengthened.

• Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Without faith it is impossible to please God. So by reading and hearing the word, our faith is strengthened. The study of God's written word helps guard against unbelief.

Seek God when times are good so that your faith is strong when bad times come. People tend to call upon God when they are in trouble, and forget God when times are good. We really need God in all situations.

• Deuteronomy 4:9 Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons;

Some within the instructions in Deuteronomy that was given through Moses to Israel can apply to all who believe. Because of Jesus those words of blessing and salvation apply to those outside of Israel. The sacrificial system was done away with when Jesus gave Himself as the final sacrifice for all of our sins, but many of the words that pertain to our walk with God and avoiding sin still are words of life that we need to take heed to. The word should be studied at all times so that we do not forget the warnings and goodness of God.

• Deuteronomy 8:11 Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:

Keeping in fellowship with the Lord through prayer, studying the written word after it was made  available and meeting regularly with others who believe will strengthen our faith. If you live somewhere where these things are not available, pray that God will miraculously supply them but nothing will prevent anyone from calling upon God and seeking Him. He will provide understanding to a person seeking diligently to know His word. I remember watching a video of a group of people in a nation that does not believe in Jesus or the bible, receive the written word that some missionaries gave to them. They were in awe and the joy they had when they received the bible in their own language was exciting to watch. Oh we all would love the word that much.

• Psalm 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.

A great many tend to ignore the subject of hell and we prefer to think of God as a loving God who does not want evil to happen to anyone.

He is a loving God. That is the whole reason that He sent Jesus to die for our sins is so that we can escape hell. Indeed, hell was created for the devil and 1/3 of the angels that followed Satan in his rebellion against God. So all those that refuse the way of righteousness through Jesus and stay in the deception of Satan and his followers will go where Satan is going. Jesus made a way so that you can escape hell and inherit eternal life. If you ignore that good way, then you actually send yourself to hell, God does not send you there.

• 2Peter 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 
• 5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; 
• 6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
• 5  And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; 
• 6  And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; 
• 7  And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: 
• 8  (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) 
• 9  The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: 
• 10  But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. 
• 11  Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord. 
• 12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; 
• 13  And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; 
• 14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
• 17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. 
• 18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. 
• 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 
• 20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. 
• 21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

I've added a few verses here to point out that sin will be judged. Ungodliness will not remain on the earth forever. God made a way that you may escape that judgment. Only you can make that decision to seek God and receive Jesus Christ. Jesus is the way to be saved and escape the coming judgment. Those verses above sadly reflect the attitude of those living in the country I live in. Only a national revival and repentance can turn that tide of evil back to God.

• John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Jesus is the only way to receive eternal life and be saved.

• Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

If you want the salvation David was speaking about, if you want someone to trust in and be with you always, and if you want eternal life, turn to Jesus Christ this very hour.

• Acts 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

Ask and it shall be given, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened. He wants to save you more than you want to save yourself. Sin takes us to hell. Jesus came to save us from sin. If we refuse Jesus, we remain in sin. Sin has to be judged. If we don't allow Jesus to save us from sin, our sin remains and we will be judged for all our sins. Let Jesus save you from sin this day and all the old things will pass away. -DC

• 2Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Psalm 21

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