We Will Boast in the Name of Yahweh Text: Psalm 20
Introduction: Chariots or the Name?
Every man, every society, every nation trusts in something. There are no exceptions. The only question is what you trust in. The modern secular man, who prides himself on his supposed autonomy and rationality, is just as religious as the most fervent believer. He simply has a different god. His trust is in chariots and horses. His chariots are his political systems, his economic models, his scientific advancements. His horses are his military might, his technological prowess, his educational institutions. He polishes his chariots, he feeds his horses, and he believes that by these things he will secure his salvation.
But the people of God have a different armory. We have a different confession. This Psalm is a prayer offered by the people for their king as he prepares to go into battle. It is a corporate prayer, a liturgical prayer, and a military prayer. It teaches us the proper posture of the church militant before we engage in the spiritual warfare that is our constant calling. We are in a battle for the soul of our culture, for the souls of our children, and for the glory of our King. And before the first arrow is loosed, before the first charge is sounded, we must know where our confidence lies. Is it in our strategies, our programs, our budgets, our political savvy? Or is it in the name of the God of Jacob?
This Psalm is a declaration of dependence. It is a refusal to trust in the arm of the flesh. It is a robust, confident, and joyful reliance on the sovereign God who answers His people, who helps from His sanctuary, and whose name is our banner in the fight. Let the world boast in its chariots. We will make our boast in the name of Yahweh our God.
The Text
For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
May Yahweh answer you in the day of distress!
May the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high!
May He send you help from the sanctuary
And uphold you from Zion!
May He remember all your meal offerings
And find your burnt offering acceptable! Selah.
May He grant you your heart’s desire
And fulfill all your counsel!
We will sing for joy over your salvation,
And in the name of our God we will set up our banners.
May Yahweh fulfill all your petitions.
(Psalm 20 LSB)
A Prayer for the King (vv. 1-2)
The Psalm begins with the people praying for their anointed king. This is not a private prayer, but a public, corporate intercession.
"May Yahweh answer you in the day of distress! May the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high! May He send you help from the sanctuary And uphold you from Zion!" (Psalm 20:1-2)
First, notice the context: "the day of distress." The Bible is not a book of sentimental platitudes for comfortable people. It is a war manual for soldiers. Distress is assumed. Conflict is a given. The question is not whether you will face trouble, but who you will call upon when you do. The people pray that Yahweh will "answer" the king. This is a prayer for a victorious outcome, for deliverance in the midst of the battle.
And what is the basis of this confidence? It is "the name of the God of Jacob." This is a profoundly theological statement. Why Jacob? Not Abraham, the faithful patriarch. Not Moses, the great lawgiver. Jacob. The supplanter, the trickster, the conniver who wrestled with God and was broken by Him. To invoke the name of the God of Jacob is to appeal to a God of sheer, unmerited grace. It is to say, "Our king, and we as a people, are just like Jacob. We are weak, flawed, and undeserving. Our only hope is in a God who makes covenant promises and keeps them, not because of our worthiness, but because of His own character." The name of God is His reputation, His revealed character. Our security, our being "set securely on high," is not in our own strength, but in His gracious name.
Where does this help come from? Not from the armory or the treasury, but "from the sanctuary," from "Zion." Zion was the place of God's enthronement, the center of worship. The help comes from the place where God has promised to meet with His people. For us, this means that true strength for the cultural battle is forged in worship. The Sunday gathering is not a retreat from the world; it is our refueling station. It is where we meet with our King, hear His commands, and are equipped by His Spirit. If our churches are weak, it is no wonder that we are losing the battle in the public square. All lasting reformation begins with the worship of the Church.
The Foundation of Access (v. 3)
Before we can ask for victory, we must have a right to ask at all. Verse 3 establishes the ground of our approach to God.
"May He remember all your meal offerings And find your burnt offering acceptable! Selah." (Psalm 20:3)
The king had offered sacrifices before the battle. The meal offering was a tribute, acknowledging God's kingship and provision. The burnt offering was for atonement, dealing with sin. The people pray that God would "remember" these offerings, that He would look upon them with favor. But how could He? How can the blood of bulls and goats, or a tribute of grain, truly satisfy a holy God?
They cannot. This prayer is pregnant with a longing for the true sacrifice. Every Old Testament sacrifice was a pointer, a shadow, a promissory note that pointed to the one final offering of the Lord Jesus Christ. We can only pray for God to accept our offerings, our worship, our lives, because He has once and for all accepted the perfect offering of His Son. When God the Father looks at us, He remembers the burnt offering of Christ on the cross and finds it entirely acceptable. Because of Jesus, our prayers are not just wishful thinking hurled at the ceiling; they are petitions that have full access to the throne room of grace. The Selah here is a command to pause and marvel at this. Stop. Think about the basis of your acceptance before God. It is not your sincerity or your zeal. It is Christ alone.
The Consecrated Desire (v. 4)
With the basis of acceptance established, the prayer moves to the king's plans and desires.
"May He grant you your heart’s desire And fulfill all your counsel!" (Psalm 20:4)
This is one of the most misused sentiments in all the Psalms. This is not a divine blank check for whatever we might happen to want. This is a prayer for a covenant king, a man whose heart is supposed to be captive to the law of God and whose counsel is to be shaped by the wisdom of God. The prayer is that God would bring to pass the king's righteous ambitions for the kingdom.
The principle for us is this: when we delight ourselves in the Lord, He gives us the desires of our heart because He first shapes the desires of our heart. Sanctification is the process of God aligning our wants with His will. When our deepest desire is for the glory of God, the advancement of His kingdom, and the righteousness of His people, we can pray with full confidence that He will grant that desire. This is a prayer for the success of God's own agenda, carried out through His anointed servant. We should pray this for our pastors, our elders, and for ourselves: "Father, make my desires Your desires, and then, for Your name's sake, fulfill them."
The Public Proclamation (v. 5)
The prayer concludes with a confident vow, a declaration of what the people will do in response to God's anticipated victory.
"We will sing for joy over your salvation, And in the name of our God we will set up our banners. May Yahweh fulfill all your petitions." (Psalm 20:5)
The response to victory is first, joy. "We will sing for joy over your salvation." The Hebrew word for salvation here is yeshua. It is the name of Jesus. The people of God have always rejoiced in salvation, but we see the ultimate substance of that joy. We will exult in Jesus! His victory is our victory. Our joy is not rooted in our performance, but in His deliverance.
The second response is public testimony. "In the name of our God we will set up our banners." This is a military act. After a victory, an army would set up its standards on the conquered high places. This was a declaration of ownership and lordship. The church's task is to set up the banner of Jesus Christ over every area of life. In a world that raises the banners of pride, of godless ideologies, and of autonomous selfhood, we are called to be bannermen for another King. We are to plant the flag of the gospel in our families, our businesses, our arts, and our sciences, declaring that Jesus is Lord over all of it. This is not a private, pietistic faith. It is a public, conquering, banner-raising faith.
The Psalm ends with a final, confident summary: "May Yahweh fulfill all your petitions." Having laid the proper groundwork, having appealed to God's name, His sanctuary, and His sacrifice, the people rest in confident assurance. God will hear and He will act for the glory of His name and the good of His people.
Conclusion: Our Only Boast
This Psalm sets before us a fundamental choice that every generation must make. The surrounding verses make the contrast explicit: "Some boast in chariots and some in horses, but we will boast in the name of Yahweh our God." The world will always trust in its own strength. It will trust in its technology, its armies, its economies, and its political machinations. And those things are not nothing. Chariots are formidable. Horses are strong.
But they are not ultimate. They rust, they break, they die. And those who trust in them will be brought to their knees. But those who trust in the name of the Lord will rise up and stand firm. Our confidence is not in our own abilities or resources. Our confidence is in the character of the God of Jacob, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit. Our help comes from the worship of God's people. Our access is secured by the finished work of Christ. Therefore, let us not be intimidated by the chariots of the enemy. Let us joyfully and publicly set up our banners, boasting only in the name of our God. For that is a name that has never known and will never know defeat.