Psalm 21

Daily Inspiration

to

Bless Your Life

A Monday through Friday devotional

For the week of September 30, 2024

Inspirational Thoughts

from

your host Beth McLendon

Psalm 21

written by

King David

New King James Version

Monday

Verse 1

The king shall have joy in Your strength, O Lord;

And in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!

Joy

David was celebrating the joy he felt

as he contemplated God. 

God had given him strength

and that strength

had given him

joy.

And David took notice of the times

that God had saved him

from things

and he greatly rejoiced

in each time. 

-

In the New Testament, believers are now called

Kings.

Revelation 1:5-6

And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth.
Unto him that loved us,
and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

⁶ And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

So...

I often put my name in instead of "king."

I say out-loud...

Psalm 21:1

"The king shall have joy in your strength, O Lord;

And in your salvation

how greatly shall he rejoice!

And I will have joy in your strength, O Lord;

And in your salvation how greatly shall I rejoice!

This verse reminds me

to rejoice

when the Lord saves me from something.

It is amazing

how many times we can find

such instances

if we are on the look-out for them. 

I often notice when...

The Lord saves me money.

The Lord saves me time.

The Lord saves me from accidents.

The Lord saves me from having to do things
the hard way.

Etc.

Let's Rejoice!

Verse 2

² You have given him his heart’s desire,

And have not withheld the request of his lips.

Selah *

*Selah means pause and think about that.

David is praising God

because his heart's desire has been fulfilled.

David had prayed for a desire and the Lord had given it.

* * * 

In a lot of ways,

David had a hard life.

For example, for a long period of time,

he lived in caves

running from Saul who wanted to kill him.

(David was a cave man!)

Yet,

David also had a very blessed life.

God gave David an Amazing Life.

And David regularly showed gratitude to God.

Tuesday

Verse 3

³ For You meet him with the blessings of goodness;

You set a crown of pure gold upon his head.

David was an earthly king

with a literal crown.

We do not wear a literal crown.

However,

God tells us that

he figuratively crowns us.

Below is a beautiful thought for us.

In Psalm 103:4 b

David wrote that

God crowns us

with

lovingkindness and tender mercies.

Lovingkindness and tender mercies

Verse 4

⁴ He asked life from You, and You gave it to him—

Length of days forever and ever.

David got to see a full life-span on earth.**

He was about 70 when he died.

He started reigning at 30 and reigned for 40 years.

** God tells us through Psalm 90

a Psalm of Moses

that the average age of a full life is 70.

And in this psalm, David was also talking about heaven.

When we love God,

we enjoy eternal life

in heaven

forever and forever. 

Verse 5

⁵ His glory is great in Your salvation;

Honor and majesty You have placed upon him.

 Glory, Honor, Majesty!

Praise Him!

Wednesday

Verse 6

 For You have made him most blessed forever;

You have made him

exceedingly glad with Your presence.

David is known for his

Awesome Praise of God.

For example,

in Psalm 63,

David bursts forth in praise to God.

David says...

"Because thy lovingkindness

is

better than life,

my lips shall praise thee.

⁴ Thus will I bless thee while I live:

I will lift up my hands in thy name."

Psalm 63:3-4 KJV

Paul Wilbur created a song

about Psalm 63.

A Song of Powerful Worship

Verse 7

⁷ For the king trusts in the Lord,

And through the mercy of the Most High

he shall not be moved.

 David

has deep trust in God so he can stand strong with God.

Trials and troubles

do not cause him to waver in his trust of God.

"He shall not be moved / shaken." 

David trusts God. David has FAITH in God.

When we pick up the Shield of Faith,

we are exercising our trust in God.

I've been putting on the armor of God

regularly for over 20 years. 

Here are about 2 dozen armor prayers.

Recently,

as I have been putting on the armor,

I have been saying

some new words

as I pick up my shield.

"I pick up the Shield of Faith in order to

quench the fiery darts of the enemy.

I pick up

Faith in God's Goodness.

Faith in God's Word.

Faith in God's Mercy.

Faith in God's Love for me.

Faith in God's Plan for me.

Faith in God's Power.

Faith in God's Miracles for Me.

Faith in God's Intentions toward me."

Etc.

These statements energize and deepen

my faith and trust in God.

I can then

extinguish the fiery doubt arrows

the enemy sends to me.

{ Note }

If any of the Faith statements

is hard for you to say,

I suggest that you

strengthen your faith in that area

by saying it regularly

and meditating upon it until it is easy for you to say.

That is what I have done! 

Consider Music for feeling Loved by God 

Here are other helpful links for becoming transformed.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

Romans 10:17

Meaning
Hearing and speaking God's Word increases our faith.

Reading God's Word increases our faith.

And even

giving godly proclamations

such as the Faith statements that I wrote above,

helps to build our faith.

But note -

the Word of God is the most powerful Faith builder.

Thursday 

Verse 8

⁸ Your hand will find all Your enemies;

Your right hand will find those who hate You.

~ ~ ~

 God sees all.

In the fullness of time,

God will come against those who hate God.

Verse 9

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. 

This verse is prophetic.

David is saying that the time will come

when these evil ones

will be judged

and the punishment will be given.

Verse 10

¹⁰ Their offspring You shall destroy from the earth,

And their descendants from among the sons of men.

Again, this verse is prophetic -

looking toward a future time

when evil ones will be judged and punished.

The word

" Offspring "

Offspring does not always refer to biological offspring. 

This verse does not refer to biological offspring.

It refers to those who follow the devil. 

I'll explain.

I'll start with 

God's offspring.

The Bible says that...

Those who love God are

God's offspring.

See below and also John 8:42.

Acts 17:28 KJV 

For in him [God] we live, and move, and have our being; as certain

also of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring.

Verse 29 in some versions is helpful too.

Acts 17:27-31 NCV

²⁷ God wanted them to look for him and perhaps search all around for him and find him, though he is not far from any of us: ²⁸ ‘By his power we live and move and exist.’ Some of your own poets have said: ‘For we are his children.’ ²⁹ Since we are God’s children, you must not think that God is like something that people imagine or make from gold, silver, or rock. ³⁰ In the past, people did not understand God, and he ignored this. But now, God tells all people in the world to change their hearts and lives. ³¹ God has set a day that he will judge all the world with fairness, by the man he chose long ago. And God has proved this to everyone by raising that man from the dead!”

In Psalm 21 verse 10,

God is not speaking of biological offspring.

* * * 

* 

The offspring in Psalm 21:10 

are those who follow the evil men and become like them. 

*

* * * 

These offspring

are actually offspring of the devil -

because they follow the devil.

God is speaking of those who follow the devil.

They could repent,

but they continue to follow the devil.

Notice what the Bible says below.

The Bible speaks of those

who say they are

Abraham's children (followers of God)

but they are offspring of the devil.

John 8:37-44

 “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. ³⁸ I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.”

³⁹ They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.”

Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. ⁴⁰ But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. ⁴¹ You do the deeds of your father.”

Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.”

⁴² Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. ⁴³ Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. ⁴⁴ You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. 

Emphasizing

John 8:44 KJV

 Ye are of your father the devil,
and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar,
and the father of it.

Friday 

Verse 11 - 12

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.

These evil ones try to do evil against God.

They plot against God and his will. 

Therefore,

God will get

his arrows ready

and

come against them.

Verse 13

¹³ Be exalted, O Lord, in Your own strength!

We will sing and praise Your power.

Psalm 93:1 ESV

The LORD reigns;

he is robed in majesty;

the LORD is robed;

he has put on strength as his belt.

Blessed be the Lord

Psalm 103:1 NKJV

Bless the Lord,

O my soul:

And all that is within me, bless His holy name!

Amen

Jump to the top of Psalm 21.