1 May Yahweh answer you in the day of trouble. May the name of the God of Jacob set you up on high,
2 send you help from the sanctuary, grant you support from Zion,
3 remember all your offerings, and accept your burnt sacrifice. Selah.
4 May He grant you your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your counsel.
5 We will triumph in your salvation. In the name of our God, we will set up our banners. May Yahweh grant all your requests.
Free Grace note
A community that prays over its king, and a God who answers. The first five verses are the people praying for their leader before battle: may the Lord answer you, send you help from the sanctuary, grant your heart's desire. It is a striking picture of a whole community lifting one man to God rather than merely criticizing him. There is a lesson here about interceding for those over us, echoed later in 1 Timothy 2:1-2, where we are told to pray for kings and all in authority. But the deeper current runs toward the greater Anointed One. The word for anointed is messiah, and every earthly king who was prayed over points ahead to the King whom God truly saves and always answers. Your own day of trouble is not met by a distant deity. It is met from His holy place, by the strength of His right hand.
6 Now I know that Yahweh saves his anointed. He will answer him from his holy heaven, with the saving strength of his right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust the name of Yahweh our God.
8 They are bowed down and fallen, but we rise up, and stand upright.
Free Grace note
Everyone trusts something; only one thing holds. Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust the name of the Lord our God. Chariots and horses were the tanks of the ancient world, the most impressive strength money could buy. The psalm does not say trusting is optional. It says the object of trust is everything: those who lean on horsepower are bowed down and fallen, but those who lean on God rise and stand. This cuts against a common objection, that faith is a crutch for the weak. Not so. Faith is simply an honest confession about who can actually hold you when the ground gives way. The strongest army still fell. The question is never whether you will trust, but whether the thing you trust can bear your full weight. Only the Lord can.
9 Save, Yahweh! Let the King answer us when we call!
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