Psalm 21: Holy Confidence
Strength, power, might. These are words that focus on assertion, establishing one’s dominion through rigorous training, subduing enemies, superior strategy, or just having bigger guns. The king in Israel was the tangible manifestation of the nation’s vitality. The king not only set the defense budget but led the troops into battle. It would be completely understandable and appropriate for the king to pray for specific things that the nation needed to be successful: Dear Lord, please bring us faster horses, stronger armor, sharper arrows, favorable weather, and smarter soldiers. But his prayer here is not an itemized list of things you need to win at war. In fact there is no anxiety here about scarcity or uncertainty. In v. 8, the king shifts into the future tense, declaring—prophesying, really—what the Lord will do to the enemies of Israel.
Where does this confidence come from?
Simple. The king knows where his strength comes from and he knows the promises that the Lord has made to Israel. He proclaims to the congregation, “In your strength, the king rejoices, O Lord, and in your help how greatly he exults!”[1]Psalm 21v1 If anyone in the nation of Israel could convince himself that the success or failure of the kingdom was all on his shoulders, it was certainly the king. When the nation first demanded for a king to lead them, Samuel warned them that the biggest danger is that the king would not put his trust in the Lord first. Here, we see the king, as proxy for the nation as a whole, placing his trust in the strength of the Lord. But it’s not just that the king trusts in the Lord, he knows the Lord and thus knows his mission in the world.
For the king trusts in the Lord, and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.[2]Psalm 21v7
The monarch attributes everything that he has, his life, his strength, his glory to the Lord. And in that trust, he is secure knowing that the task that is before him is not his alone. God, in his hesed, his steadfast love to the people of Israel, will go before them. For us, this raises the obvious question, where does our trust reside? This is an important question and is foundational to a life with God. But beyond that, this psalm asks the question, what task are you undertaking that requires the kind of holy confidence on display in the words of the king. For the king, trust was a matter of life or death not just for him but for his entire kingdom. Accordingly, perhaps our faithfulness is not simply about us, but is a question of life or death for our families, our neighbors, and our cities.