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Asked and answered!
In Psalm 20, King David asks for help, and in Psalm 21, He sings praises for answered prayers. David was confronted by his enemies in Psalm 20, and in Psalm 21, he sings of victory!
Psalm 20 and Psalm 21 go together with the theme – Asked and Answered. Psalm 20 (Asked) and Psalm 21 (Answered).
Asked … In Psalm 20, David prays when confronted by his enemies:
May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you! May he send you help from the sanctuary (Psalm 20:1-2).
Answered … In Psalm 21, God answers David’s request:
Though they plan evil against you, though they devise mischief, they will not succeed. For you put them to flight (vv. 11-12)
Asked … In Psalm 20, David asks:
May he grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans! (v. 4)
And God quickly answers in Psalm 21:
You have given him his heart’s desire and have not withheld the request of his lips. For you meet him with rich blessings; you set a crown of fine gold upon his head. He asked life of you; you gave it to him, length of days forever and ever (vv. 2-4).
For the full effect, read Psalm 20 and then Psalm 21.
As you read of David’s victory in Psalm 21, you will find this verse about what God does to David’s enemies:
You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear. The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them (v. 9).
You might think, “This verse is rough. God treats His enemies like wood thrown into an oven.” In the time of David, with enemies, there was complete victory or complete defeat. Israel’s loss wasn’t an empty bank account or a lost court case – but death.
If we had a life-or-death situation and losing meant death for our families, we would abandon our western sentimentalities and pray like King David.
Israel’s faith in God has constantly placed the nation in the crosshairs of demonic schemes. Now, faith in Christ is a life-and-death matter in other countries. In the end times, lives sacrificed for faith in Jesus will be a prevalent theme with the anti-Christ.
As Psalm 20 says:
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright (vv. 7-8).
But Psalm 21 reveals our victory:
For you will put them to flight; you will aim at their faces with your bows. Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength! We will sing and praise your power (vv. 12-13).
Victory and defeat. Life and death. Jesus gives the victory.
Asked and answered!