Psalms 21 – Praise God in every circumstance

Psalm 21 is an utterance of praise to God for His deliverance. David wrote it to the choir director or better known as the chief musician to complement Psalm 20. His intention was to praise God for the victory, or for the anticipated victory in the battle against his enemies.

The first segment again began with the praise the people had for God. It implied that the victory had been won and now the people lauded their king. First they extolled God for saving their king who now rejoiced in His provision of strength and salvation. It is a recognition that without God the battle would not have been won. This is so true. Our victory in life is through our constant reliance on God for the strength, without which we will be destined to fail. The Lord is near to His people who call upon Him. So in David’s case, God granted his desire and request, blessed and crowned him. God also prolonged his life and had majestically honoured him, and gladdened his heart with joy in His presence. He let us know through this Psalm that the mercy God had showered upon him was the result of his trust in God.  

From praise of victory won, the people now look with great exhilaration in anticipation of future God-enabled victory over all their enemies. God would help them to search out all their enemies to devour them with fire. The Almighty would annihilate the fruit or descendants of the enemies from the earth. Their evil design against God and His people would be decisively terminated. They would fail and be made to turn back because God had aimed His arrow against them.

With great determination the people promised to praise and sing of God’s saving power. It is fitting to praise God not only for present victory but for all the victories He will bring in the future. With God there will always be progression. He wants to bring us from victory to victory. He wants us to advance over our circumstances one after another. He would not allow us to be bogged down and despair in the mire of defeat. Victory should always begin and end with praise.

In praising God we acknowledge that He is in control over each and every circumstance in our life. We may not know how the victory will come but we know He will fight with and for us. For the present and for the future, let us fully trust the Lord and praise Him even in the thick of our difficulties. He is faithful and will see us through. Like one stanza of a song that says:

“I believe I’ll testify
God’s been good to me
Through every test and trial
I’ve got victory
The enemy has tried his best to make me turn around
Bring me down
But my God has never failed me yet so I’m gonna stand my ground
No matter what comes my way
I’ll lift my voice and say
Hallelujah anyhow”