Psalm 20:4-6 - March 1, 2009

Ps 20:4-6 May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. 5 We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the LORD grant all your requests. 6Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he answers him from his holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand." NIV

This psalm is in its foundation an intercessory psalm for good government and the wellbeing of the national leaders. Yet it is also a powerful model of intercession for any person that is leading others in the purposes of God, be it family, ministry, business, education or government. Leadership is by its very nature surrounded with conflict and resistance on both the human and spiritual levels and this powerful intercession is both simple and compacted with powerful principles of. The perspective of this initial passage may be interpreted in two directions. May the Lord grant the success of your desires or may the Lord be the origin of those desires. Though this second principle may not be the primary force behind this prayer its value as a prayer that is prayed over those who lead us is undeniable. We cannot but help to benefit if the desires of those who lead us are governed by the Lord! The scriptures declare that “The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases,” Prov 21:1. It is vital that those who pray not despair in those seasons when men who do not serve God govern over us. Because we have this promise from Pr. 21:1 we know that we can appeal to a higher power for the Lord’s desires to be accomplished through those he has placed over us.
In the same way we can pray for the principles of this psalm over our own lives and the lives of those we love. Imagine the satisfaction that will accompany our lives as we consistently see this psalm fulfilled in our Christian experience. “Lord let my desires come from you, and then let them be fulfilled in my experience.” The things that I am doing now as a mature adult are not the result of my own decision to chart the course of my life. The things that the Lord has allowed me to accomplish and even the desires that are now the fuel for my future sense of mission in life are the outflow of a life surrendered to God. One of the benefits of this psalm is its sense of consecration to the Lord. The success of the plans emerges directly from the surrender of the desires to be shaped by the Lord. I can know that because the goals that I am in pursuit of are the result of God’s influence upon my heart that he is for me and working for the fulfillment of those goals.
True success is the fulfillment of the will of God. Success is not found in choosing my own destiny and then striving to reach that destination. True success is the purpose of God being fulfilled in my life and because of this it is not the greatness of the purpose in human terms that determines its value and worth. It is the measure to which I have fulfilled the purpose God has ordained for me that determines success. Because of this I can live content in a sense of success whether I am working my career and raising my family or traveling the world and raising the dead! True success is obedience to Christ!
The power of this truth is that for those who have learned its secret we can live in joy not only in our own success but when we see others succeed in their calling and purpose. We are no longer hindered by feelings of insecurity or the temptation to comparison and jealousy when someone else is blessed or successful. Instead we are able to celebrate the victory that the Lord has given. In doing so we establish the context for true Christian community that rejoices when God’s will is done and by this we establish a testimony for the Lord in the earth.
The very nature of intercession is captured in this principle and in the cry of this psalm; a life that is focused not on our own glory but on the glory of the Lord. “May all your plans succeed… May the Lord grant all of your requests!” What a selfless heart is reflected in the nature of these prayers. One of the foundations of a life lived for God, is a life lived for others as well. When we give ourselves in intercession for the blessing and success of others we are embracing the primary role of Christ today in his eternal ministry.
Heb 7:25 “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Choose the heart of an intercessor today and join the work of God by praying that those around you and those in leadership in both the church and the world may fully accomplish the will of God as it relates to them.