This summer I am focusing on a specific Psalm each week. You are encouraged to spend time through the week reflecting on the Psalm and on what the Lord is saying to you through the Psalm. Please feel free to post some comments (what the Lord is saying to you, what you are hearing through the reading) and/or questions (what you don’t understand, or what you are wondering about).

My hope is to help you hear from the Lord through these readings, but to help others through your comments and/or questions. I also hope you use your comments and questions to help me prepare for this Sunday’s message.

The Psalm for this week is Psalm 20.

My Reflections

1. I’ve been reading through this psalm all week, and trying to get a feel for what it is about, what is being said, and how it is relevant to me/to us today.

2. Three questions came to my mind as I read these words:

• Who is the one giving the blessing?
• What is the meaning of the blessing?
• Who is the one being blessed?

3. Who is the one giving the blessing.

3a. Ultimately God is the source of every blessing. God may be using someone to convey the blessing, but it is God that is actually doing the blessing.

3b. Since this is a psalm of David, it could be David giving the blessing.  Maybe he is standing before his troops giving them the pep talk before the battle. He reminded them that he knows from personal experience (v.6) that the Lord gives victory to his anointed, so the troops can be confident that the Lord will give victory to them in answer to their prayer (v.9).

3c. It could also be the priest blessing the king and the troops before they go into battle. The priest stands between God and his people, conveying God’s blessing on God’s behalf to those who are dedicated to serving God’s kingdom purpose.

3d. Either way, the one giving the blessing is the Lord’s anointed. The priest was anointed as a mediator between God and the people; the king was anointed as leader over the people. The anointing represents God’s blessing received; the blessing given by the priest/king is God’s blessing extended to the ones receiving it by God’s anointing,

3e. Who is the Lord’s anointed now, since we don’t have priests and kings. First of all, Jesus has become our ever-living priest and king, God’s anointed (Hebrew word for anointed is ‘messiah’, Greek word for anointed is ‘christ’). So as we read this psalm, we can imagine Jesus praying it over us, blessing us with the blessing he himself has received from God. The Spirit he receives is the Spirit he gives – the blessing of God shared through God’s anointed. Jesus.

3f. Second, as Jesus followers we are God’s anointed (‘christ-ians’ = anointed ones). We are a royal priesthood, a kingdom and priests, priests that reign (1 Peter 2:9, Revelation 1:6,5:10,20:6). We are appointed by God to spread God’s blessing with those that God has entrusted to our care. We are all anointed servants of Jesus extending the blessing of Jesus to those Jesus sends us to.

3g. This applies to all of us in general as humans. All humans are their brothers and sisters keepers, responsible to love all of their neighbours. Jesus sends all of us as his anointed disciples to spread the baptism blessing to all nations.

3h. But this also applies specifically to people in their roles: as parents, as spouses, as church leaders, as government leaders, as teachers, as judges and peace officers, as bosses and managers. Just as the priests and kings had specific callings, we do too. Whatever role we may find ourselves in, we are God’s representatives to those entrusted to our care. Our task is to bless them in God and Jesus’s name.

3i. How is the Lord using me to bless others. Who are the people the Lord has entrusted to my care and anointed me to bless them? My children, my spouse, my neighbours, my church family, my coworkers, my employees, my students, etc? In order to bless these people, I need to know what the blessing is!

4. What is the meaning of the blessing?

4. From the words of the psalm I wonder if this is a prayer just before a military battle. As you go into battle, may he see you if you get in distress, may he give joy over your victory and as you lift your (war) banners in the name of God. The psalmist is confident that God gives the victory, and that their trust is not in chariots or horses. God will bring their enemies to their knees, but they will rise up and stand firm. Based on this, and on knowing that David was often leading his troops into war, I will assume this is a war psalm, and a prayer of blessing for victory and success.

To be continued…