The Wisdom Journey

Long Live the King! (Psalms 20–21)

• Stephen Davey

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When trouble looms and you feel outnumbered or overwhelmed, where do you place your trust? Psalm 20 is a call to prepare for battle by trusting in the name of the Lord. It reminds you that your confidence shouldn’t rest in chariots, horses, or human strength—but in the name, nature, and power of your God.

Then Psalm 21 answers with praise after the victory. It’s a coronation psalm, a celebration of God’s deliverance and faithfulness. David lifts his voice in gratitude for answered prayer and divine protection. And woven through both psalms is a prophetic thread that points to Jesus Christ, the King of Kings.

These psalms give you a strategy for living: trust before the storm, and praise after the rescue. They prepare you to pray with confidence, endure with strength, and rejoice in the sovereignty of your victorious Lord.

Whether you’re stepping into battle or stepping out of one, these truths will refocus your heart. You’re not trusting in luck or chance. You’re walking behind the banner of your King.

Lift your eyes, raise your voice, and live with confidence—because your King lives and reigns forever.

The first of Stephen's two volumes set through the Book of Revelation is now available. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FQ3XCJMY

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SPEAKER_00:

I'd like to ask you to think about your attitude toward the Bible. Do you ever take the Bible for granted? We need to treat it as the treasure it is. The Bible is the enduring word of God Himself. It offers guidance and instruction that's as trustworthy as the one who gave it to us. Psalm 19 reminds us that God's word is of far greater value than much fine gold. Stephen is in Psalm 19 today, and this lesson is called, Better Than Gold, Sweeter Than Honey.

SPEAKER_01:

I've heard it said that if the average believer truly understood what would happen if he used his Bible more often, he would open it more often. Well, the reason is simple. You know, other books are given to us for information. The Bible has been given to us for transformation. And the tragedy is that according to surveys I've read recently, the average Christian opens the Bible once, maybe twice a week at most. And by the way, that includes Sundays. Well, the fact that you've joined me in this wisdom journey through the entire Bible, Genesis through Revelation, indicates that you're probably not, you know, an average Christian. You're wanting to be transformed by biblical truth as we study together all 66 books of this transforming, life-changing, inspired book. Now, so far, here in Psalm 19, we've discovered that God speaks daily through what we could call his big book, that is, his creation. It's open to everyone. We call that general revelation. It's general in that it's generally available to everybody on the planet. All they have to do is go outside and look around, or get on a, you know, some hill and look through a telescope. The universe is huge, or a microscope. Look at the complexity on a smaller scale of what has been created. But God has also given us what we call the little book, that is the Bible. We call this special revelation. It's unique, it's divinely inspired, but you gotta read it in order to find out what God has in mind. Now we've read so far in Psalm 19, it's told us some of what the Bible happens to be for us, and David has also told us some of the things the Bible does for us, like it it revives us, it makes us wise, it gives us joy. Well, we're now here in verse eight, where David adds, The commandment of the Lord is pure. Now this word pure means without contamination. God's commandments are free from any kind of corruption. And in fact, they're gonna keep your heart from becoming corrupt or contaminated as well. You know, one of Satan's most popular lies is that if you obey God's word, you're gonna miss out on something in life. Let me tell you, that's a lie. Well, how do you get spiritual 2020 vision so you can spot the devil's lies? Well, David says here at the end of verse 8 that the commandment of the Lord enlightens the eyes. The Hebrew construction implies that God's word actually gives off light. It's like a candle in a dark room. He goes on in verse 9 to say the fear of the Lord is clean. Now, fear is used here as another term for the law. The word is clean. The word here for clean is a word used often in Exodus and Leviticus to describe a person who's ceremonially cleansed and able to offer God a sacrifice. So here's the picture David is giving us. You think you're walking in the right direction, but then you open God's word and it sheds light on some area in your life that isn't right. Well, you confess that sin to the Lord and He cleanses you, He makes you clean. You're able then to again enjoy fellowship with the Lord once again. So imagine that. The God who created the universe wants to have fellowship with you. He wants to walk with you today. Well, David says now here in verse 9 that the fear or word of the Lord endures forever. It endures forever. Imagine. The other day my wife had a box of canned goods for me to take to the garbage collector. Why? Well, those items had expired. They're no good anymore. You don't want to eat them. You need to throw them away. Well, David's telling us the Bible doesn't have an expiration date. It never gets out of date. It's never contaminated. You don't have to throw it away. And I'm thankful for that because today our world, and let me tell you, even the church at large thinks that so much of God's word is out of date. It needs to be thrown out. No, the Bible lasts forever. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 24, verse 35, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words will not pass away. There's no expiration date on the truth of God's word. You might apply things differently in this dispensation than in the Old Testament, but its truth remains timeless, and principles can be applied to your life to this very day. Now David adds here in verse 9, the rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. In other words, the Bible isn't going to give you a rule that's going to lead you astray. Charles Spurgeon, one of my favorite pastors from several generations ago, wrote, The Word of God is founded in righteousness, and thus it is always right. That's true. And that's true, beloved, because God's word happens to be God's words. These are God's words. They represent his character, they they reveal his heart, his purposes, his plans, his precepts, his rules. They can't be anything but true and righteous altogether. You see, when you make choices according to God's word, you're not going to miss the mark. I remember reading about a television show where they they staged an experiment with a real cannon. They wanted to see what would happen if they fired a cannonball into a large container of water. So I don't know whose idea this was, but at any rate, they got everything ready, they trained their cameras, and then they fired this cannon and this cannonball. Unfortunately, the crew had not aimed correctly. And according to the newspaper report, the cannonball missed that water container, flew through a cinder block wall, skipped off a hillside, flew 700 yards over a highway, and finally slammed into a minivan parked in some guy's driveway. Local authorities could only shake their heads in amazement. There's a lot of damage from one stray cannonball. Let me tell you, when you and I get off track, when we stray, the damage to our lives and to the lives of others can be just as terrible. Well, how do you stay on track? How do we hit the mark? How do we aim our lives in the right direction? Well, David is saying here, let God aim your life according to the truth of his word. Well, now that David has told us what the Bible is for us and what the Bible can do for us, he tells us what the Bible can become for us. First, it becomes our greatest treasure. He says here in verse 10, the word of God is more desirable than gold. That means that the testimony, the precepts, the commandments, and the rules of God are more desirable than gold. In fact, David adds here, even much fine gold. Remember, this happens to be written by a king who's got a lot of gold in his bank account. But if David were living today, he might illustrate this by inviting us to take a trip over to Fort Knox in Kentucky. Well, as king, he would own it. Go deep down into the vault there where you're going to be surrounded now by thousands of tons of gold bullion. Take your Bible with you, and then when you're down there in that vault, look at your Bible and say, you know, if I got to choose between this Bible and all that gold bullion, I'm going to choose the Bible. Why? Well, David tells us gold can't restore your life, gold can't make you wise, gold can't give you joy, it can't enlighten your eyes, it can't aim your life in the right direction and keep you on track. Look, David knew that gold can get us off track. So he's making this comparison. Don't aim your life toward Fort Knox, in a sense. Keep in mind that one day, well, you're gonna head to the Father's house, and then more than ever, you're gonna discover that gold how significant is it? Well, it's it's it's gonna be used to cover all the streets and sidewalks. Gold is nothing more than asphalt in heaven. David goes on to say that the Bible becomes our sweetest delight. Verse 10 says that God's word is sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Wow, that kind of makes your mouth water, doesn't it? In David's day, sweetness was determined or even measured by comparison to honey. Honey is an amazing product to this day. It's all natural, it digests easily, it provides immediate energy. In fact, I use it to sweeten my cup of coffee every morning at home. Now, if it offends you that I drink coffee, well, you're just gonna have to get over it. I like coffee. And by the way, I don't like cats, and you're gonna have to forgive me for that one too. And you know, the thing about honey is that we don't make it. We didn't even invent it. God, our creator, did. All we do is collect it and eat it and delight uh in it. And that's the sweet delight of God's word. We didn't write it, we didn't invent it. God used us to collect it. God did everything else. All we do is is read it and savor it, and it sweetens our lives, and it brings delight to our hearts. So let's make sure today that we thank God for revealing Himself in that big book of creation and in this little book of great treasure, which is the Word of God. Well, until next time, beloved, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

SPEAKER_00:

Thanks for listening to The Wisdom Journey with Stephen Davey. To learn more about us and access all of our Bible teaching resources, visit wisdomonline.org. Our phone number is 866-482-4253. And you can email us at info at wisdomonline.org. Stephen developed this daily program to help you know what the Bible says, understand what it means, and apply it to your life. So please join us next time to continue the wisdom journey.