Psalm 20
RAISE HIS BANNER
We are being told we are in a state of war with an unseen enemy. Fighting against an unseen enemy is impossible unless you trust in the unseen God. He has revealed Himself by several significant names to Old Testament saints to inspire us to trust in Him as they did. King David penned this song as a song for battle. He knew days of trouble and called on the name of the Lord. He reminds us that the name of the Lord our God will sustain us in our days of trouble.
We are facing battles in life every day in every way. Daily struggles and skirmishes that test our faith and refine it.
How do you fight the battles of faith each day? Notice what we do in verse 5 and what He will do in verse 6. We begin by raising the banners of His name every morning. As we rise in the morning, we fall on our faces before His throne. We praise Him for who He is (His name) and thank Him for what He has done consistent to His name. We call on His name, the names by which He has revealed Himself in the Bible. We can’t know His name unless we read His word and allow Him to speak to us.
What will He do? According to verse 6, He will hear and help. He will answer with His mighty arm of deliverance. The key to triumph will always be the name of our God. When we go out into battle we go out in the name of the Lord.
We fight the forces of evil in the name of our God.
Now if His name wasn’t any good, we wouldn’t ask anything of Him. But it is good. His name is great. His name is glorious. His name is the name above every other name. Jesus is the complete package of all the names of God we find in the Old Testament. We must cry out to Him for help in the battles. He will be faithful to His name.
God reaches down and brings triumph. David knew it. He had experienced it. Saul slayed his thousands but David his ten thousands. David knew victory because God had given Him victory, whether against a lion or bear, an uncircumcised giant named Goliath, or the Philistine armies. We can experience victory trusting in the name of the Lord our God.
Over the next several weeks we are going to call out on the different names of God as we battle against the societal upheaval resulting from our battle against this virus. We will lift up His banners. He will answer and deliver! Our days of troubles will become days of triumph as we trust in His name.
Pastor Chris Thompson