The Israelites sang out for God to fulfill His promises to them through David. He was the chosen one, through whom God would make a great (if flawed) king. He did this in an odd way: without the use of cavalry.
Chariots and horses served what we would call conventional wisdom. If you want to win, then surely you pick the greatest weapon. God had done this with David before. Remember his battle against Goliath? Unarmoured, small and equipped only with a sling, David had already learned that the most effective weapon against his foe was the promise of God’s anointing for duty.
We are not David. We in fact have no promise of victory of our own to cling to like David did. Like the rest of the Israelites following him, we stand behind the true Anointed One and trust in what the Father has promised Him. And just like these Israelites, we share in the Anointed One, Christ’s, inheritance. His victory is our victory as we are caught up in His salvation. Isn’t it good that we cling to Christ and what He has done? Isn’t it good that the burden he carried to the cross for you was done away with? When we pray “O Lord, save the king! May he answer us when we call” our King is Christ! He is risen!
The story is played out. Christ has won the battle and run the race in your place. We cling to His victory, not our own. We cling to His life, not our own. Do you see? You only see Christ as Saviour when you look outside of your own life to the objective work He has done in His death and resurrection for you.
Wherever you are in life, Christ is the same now and forever. Victorious. Embracing. Forgiving.
for you
Rest not on your own works. Not on your own merits, your own level of repentance, your own level of trust, your own self-established expectations of where you should be right now.
The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent (jn 6:29). No chariots. No horses. Nothing in yourself. No human requirements. The work of Christ done outside of you. Look at Him. He is smiling at you.
May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble!
May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!
May he send you help from the sanctuary
and give you support from Zion!
May he remember all your offerings
and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! SelahMay he grant you your heart’s desire
and fulfill all your plans!
May we shout for joy over your salvation,
and in the name of our God set up our banners!
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions!
Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed;
he will answer him from his holy heaven
with the saving might of his right hand.
Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
They collapse and fall,
but we rise and stand upright.
O Lord, save the king!
May he answer us when we call.
psalm xx
in a mirror dimly 