The True Trust Text: Psalm 20:6-9
Introduction: Two Religions, Two Trusts
Every man trusts in something. Every nation builds its hopes on some foundation. There is no such thing as a man or a society that lives in a state of pure, unadulterated neutrality. The human heart is a trust factory, and it is always producing. The only question is whether it is producing a trust that will save or a trust that will collapse. The world is not divided between the religious and the secular, but rather between the worshippers of the true God and the worshippers of idols. And every idol, when you strip away the paint and piety, is ultimately a trust in man.
This psalm, a prayer for the king before battle, cuts right to the heart of this great divide. It presents us with a stark contrast, a choice between two ultimate confidences. On one side, you have the machinery of man: the chariots, the horses, the raw horsepower, the technological superiority, the military-industrial complex. This is the religion of raw pragmatism, the worship of visible, tangible strength. This is the trust of the secularist, the materialist, the statist. Their creed is simple: might makes right, and the one with the most horses wins.
On the other side, you have the name of Yahweh, our God. This is not a trust in religious sentiment or vague spirituality. It is a trust in a specific Person who has revealed Himself, who has made covenants, who has acted in history, and who has a name. To trust in His name is to trust in His character, His power, and His promises. This is the religion of revelation, the worship of the transcendent Creator who is not limited by the armaments of men.
Psalm 20 is therefore a worldview battlefield. It forces us to answer the fundamental question: In what do you boast? Where do you place your ultimate confidence for deliverance, for victory, for salvation? Is it in the might of man's right hand, or the saving might of God's right hand? How you answer that question determines everything. It determines how you pray, how you fight, how you vote, and how you live. And as this psalm makes clear, it determines whether you will stand or fall.
The Text
Now I know that Yahweh saves His anointed; He will answer him from His holy heaven With the saving might of His right hand.
Some boast in chariots and some in horses, But we will boast in the name of Yahweh, our God.
They have bowed down and fallen, But we have risen and stood upright.
Save, O Yahweh; May the King answer us in the day we call.
(Psalm 20:6-9 LSB)
The Anointed and His Assurance (v. 6)
The psalm shifts here from a corporate prayer for the king to a confident declaration of faith.
"Now I know that Yahweh saves His anointed; He will answer him from His holy heaven With the saving might of His right hand." (Psalm 20:6)
The phrase "Now I know" marks a transition from petition to certainty. This is not the knowledge of abstract deduction; it is the knowledge born from covenant relationship and past faithfulness. The prayer has been offered, the sacrifices have been made, and now faith lays hold of the promise. This is how faith operates. It is not a blind leap into the dark, but a firm standing on the character of God. God has promised to defend His anointed, and therefore, we know He will.
Who is this "anointed"? In the immediate context, it is David, the king of Israel. The word for anointed is mashiach, from which we get Messiah. The king of Israel was a type, a shadow, a placeholder for the ultimate Anointed One to come, Jesus Christ. So while this was a prayer for David's victory, it is prophetically and ultimately a declaration of Christ's victory. God the Father always saves His Anointed, Jesus. He answered Him from His holy heaven, not by sparing Him the cross, but by raising Him from the dead with the saving might of His right hand.
Notice the source and the means of salvation. It comes "from His holy heaven," establishing that deliverance is not a product of earth. It is a top-down invasion of grace. And the means is "the saving might of His right hand." The right hand in Scripture is the symbol of power, authority, and effective action. God does not save with a half-hearted gesture. He saves with all the omnipotent force of His being. This is the assurance for David going into battle, and it is the ultimate assurance for every believer who is united to the true Anointed. Our salvation is not dependent on our strength, but on the mighty right hand of God in Christ.
The Great Divide (v. 7)
Verse 7 draws the line in the sand. It is the central contrast of the psalm and of all human history.
"Some boast in chariots and some in horses, But we will boast in the name of Yahweh, our God." (Psalm 20:7)
The word "boast" here can also be translated as "make mention" or "remember." It gets at the core of what you rely on, what you talk about, what you celebrate. The nations, the pagans, the unbelieving world, they trust in what they can build and what they can count. Chariots and horses were the ancient equivalent of tanks and fighter jets. They were the pinnacle of military technology, the visible symbols of national power. To trust in them was to trust in human ingenuity, human strength, and human systems. This is the religion of secularism. It is the worship of the creature rather than the Creator.
But the people of God have a different boast. "We will boast in the name of Yahweh, our God." The name of God is the summation of His entire revealed character. It is His power, His holiness, His covenant faithfulness, His mercy, His justice. To boast in His name is to declare that our ultimate confidence is not in our resources, but in His reality. It is to say that an invisible, covenant-keeping God is a more substantial reality than a thousand visible chariots.
This is a direct challenge to the pragmatism of our age. The world says, "Trust in your 401k, trust in your political party, trust in the military, trust in your education." The Bible says these things are tools at best and idols at worst. Our boast, our fundamental reliance, must be in the name of God alone. This is not a call to foolishness or inaction. David still had an army. But it is a call to recognize the ultimate source of victory. The army is useless if God is not for you, and the army is unnecessary if He is.
The Inevitable Outcome (v. 8)
Verse 8 describes the logical and historical consequence of these two different trusts.
"They have bowed down and fallen, But we have risen and stood upright." (Psalm 20:8)
The verbs here are in the prophetic perfect tense. The psalmist speaks of a future event with the certainty of something that has already happened. This is the confidence of faith. Those who trust in chariots and horses are brought to their knees. They have collapsed. Why? Because their foundation is man, and man is dust. All human systems, no matter how powerful they appear, are temporary and destined for the scrap heap of history. To trust in them is to tie your anchor to a sinking ship.
Look at the imagery. "Bowed down and fallen." This is the posture of defeat and death. Their trust failed them, and they are prostrate in the dust. This is the end of all man-centered religion and all man-centered politics. It is a heap of smoking ruins.
But in stark contrast: "we have risen and stood upright." This is the posture of victory, of life, of vindication. Those who trust in the name of the Lord are not just saved from collapse; they are raised up. This is resurrection language. This is the story of the gospel. While the empires of men bow down and fall, the Church of Jesus Christ, which boasts in the name of the Lord, rises and stands firm. The gates of hell cannot prevail against it because its trust is not in its own strength, but in the name of its God.
The Final Petition (v. 9)
The psalm concludes with a final, ringing cry to the ultimate King.
"Save, O Yahweh; May the King answer us in the day we call." (Psalm 20:9)
After all the declarations of confidence, the psalm returns to petition. This is not a contradiction; it is the essence of a faith-relationship. Confidence in God does not lead to a cessation of prayer, but to an intensification of it. Because we know He is the one who saves, we cry out to Him, "Save!" The word for "save" is hosanna. This is the cry of the people to Jesus as He entered Jerusalem. "Hosanna to the Son of David!" They were crying out, "Save us now, Son of David!"
And notice the beautiful ambiguity here. "May the King answer us." Who is the King? Is it the earthly king, David, for whom the prayer began? Or is it the heavenly King, Yahweh, who is the only one who can truly save? The answer is yes. The prayer is that the Heavenly King would answer His people through the earthly king. It is a prayer that God would work His will on earth as it is in heaven.
For us, the ambiguity is resolved in the person of Jesus Christ. He is both David's son and David's Lord. He is the Anointed King who is also Yahweh, the King of Heaven. When we call upon Him, we are calling upon the one who has all authority in heaven and on earth. The "day we call" is the "day of trouble" from verse one. In our day of trouble, whether it is personal affliction or national crisis, our final appeal is not to a president or a prime minister, but to King Jesus. Save, Lord! And because He is the King who has already conquered sin and death, we know that He will answer.
Conclusion: Where is Your Boast?
This psalm confronts us with a choice that cannot be avoided. You are either in the chariot camp or the Yahweh camp. You are either boasting in the arm of the flesh or in the name of the Lord. And our nation, our communities, and our churches are filled with people who are trying to have it both ways. They want to sing hymns to God on Sunday and then spend the rest of the week trusting in the stock market and the latest political messiah to save them. They want the security of God's name while boasting in the power of man's chariots.
But this psalm tells us that such a divided allegiance is impossible. The chariots will fail. The horses will stumble. Every human system will eventually bow down and fall. The only thing that will remain standing is the name of Yahweh and those who have placed their trust in it.
The gospel is the ultimate fulfillment of this psalm. We were all defeated, bowed down and fallen in our sin. We had no strength to rise. But God saved His Anointed, Jesus, by raising Him from the grave. And now, all who are united to Him by faith, all who boast in His name alone for their salvation, are raised up with Him to stand upright. We stand not in our own strength, but in His resurrection power.
Therefore, let us be a people who consciously and deliberately reject the trust of the world. Let us look at the political turmoil, the economic uncertainty, and the cultural decay, and let us refuse to put our trust in the chariots and horses offered as solutions. Instead, let us make our boast in the name of Yahweh, our God, and in His anointed Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. For they will all fall, but we, in Him, will rise and stand upright, forever.