Singing Psalm 20 to plan your course amid opposition and persecution
Singing Psalm 20 brings your mind to John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress if you are familiar with it. There are those you will encounter who will oppose you and mock you simply because you trust God and won’t go along with whatever they are thinking or doing that does not honor him.
Only then, amid the human opposition, do you realize the Lord’s been with you all your life, every moment. Wherever you’ve been, he’s led you there. It was him that blocked your way from places you would have gone. He is becoming your all in all, and you can trust him as you walk along the road, ride in chariots and on horses, as you fly in airplanes, ride on bicycles and trains and in cars and taxis.
You make the plans, and he determines your steps according to his good, pleasing, and perfect will. He works in you to will and to act according to his good purposes. He sets you free you from outside influences that would lead you off your path.
You can resist those who oppose you as he gives you strength to endure and moves you to delight in him, to enjoy him.
Singing Psalm 20 to plan your course amid internal conflict and temptations
He is leading you to himself wherever you go. Wherever you go, he is there. He moves in your desires to draw you to himself as you plan your course. He works things so that you desire him, so that you desire to depend on him, happily letting go of your stubborn independence.
Rather than wanting to look good yourself, you want to make the Lord look good. You plan your course working at it with all your heart as working for the Lord and not for yourself or anyone else (Colossians 3:23).
He places desires within your heart to plan your course for the life he has given you. You no longer want to waste a minute. At the same time, he rids you of your anxiety and anger when things don’t go your way, so that you build rest into your life.
He fulfills all you have designed. Knowing this aids you to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).
When you realize that he works your little design so that it fits into his big (and perfect) design according to his overarching plan, suddenly, the way you see everything changes. You no longer feel that you have to control it all as you plan your course.
In your heart, you plan your course trusting that the Lord will establish your steps (Proverbs 16:9).
He hears your voice and grants all you ask through all your days. He moves your heart to ask not in greed or selfishly but in generosity and praise to the giver. He causes you to serve and not lord over those whom he has placed under your care, gently leading them as your good shepherd tenderly leads you.
He defends and saves you even from yourself. You boast in him and praise him because you know it is him who uses planes, trains, and automobiles as means to take you where you’re going.
You trust him rather than in the car you drive or crowd you move with. You take pride in him whether you are thought well of by those you love or whether you are loved in return.
Singing Psalm 20, you plan your course with confidence invisibly synchronized with the triune God as he establishes your path. He is making you steady and sure of it though you might only see the next step in front of you to take.
You happily wait for the next steps to be made known to you when the Lord thinks it is good to make them known.
This is what it looks like to trust in the Lord with all your heart, leaning not on your own understanding. In all your ways, you acknowledge him trusting him to make your way straight (Proverbs 3:5-6).
When you begin to veer off his path for you, he gives you purity of heart and faithfulness to keep you as you plan your course even when you don’t perceive his presence. He sets you free from within, from desires that would lead you off your path.
You know he is refining you as gold when you are more willing to be discomforted and even to suffer as you plan your course to follow Jesus moment-by-moment, day after day knowing that joy will come in the morning.
“The Lord reply in your distress…And answer us the day we call.” ~ Psalm 20:1,9
July 21-22, 2022
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