Context No. 3004 of 4322 · Psalms

Psalms 21:1-13: in context

1The king rejoices in your strength, LORD! How greatly he rejoices in your salvation! 2You have given him his heart’s desire, and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah. 3For you meet him with the blessings of goodness. You set a crown of fine gold on his head. 4He asked life of you and you gave it to him, even length of days forever and ever. 5His glory is great in your salvation. You lay honor and majesty on him. 6For you make him most blessed forever. You make him glad with joy in your presence. 7For the king trusts in the LORD. Through the loving kindness of the Most High, he shall not be moved. 8Your hand will find out all of your enemies. Your right hand will find out those who hate you. 9You will make them as a fiery furnace in the time of your anger. The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath. The fire shall devour them. 10You will destroy their descendants from the earth, their posterity from among the children of men. 11For they intended evil against you. They plotted evil against you which cannot succeed. 12For you will make them turn their back, when you aim drawn bows at their face. 13Be exalted, LORD, in your strength, so we will sing and praise your power.

This royal psalm celebrates the king, but look closely at where his joy and strength lie. The king rejoices in the LORD's strength; God has given him his heart's desire, set a crown of gold on his head, granted him life. And the reason he stands secure is stated plainly: the king trusts in the LORD, and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.

Even a crowned king is shown depending entirely on God, for his life, his victories, his very stability. His security rests not on his own power but on the LORD in whom he trusts. And the psalm ultimately points beyond any earthly king to the true King, Christ, who trusts the Father and is given eternal life and an unshakable throne. The ground of it all is not the king's own merit but the steadfast love of God, which is what finally keeps anyone from being moved.

Is my security anchored, like the king's, in trusting the LORD and his steadfast love, so that I shall not be moved?

Sources

Psalm 21:7: "For the king trusts in the LORD. Through the loving kindness of the Most High, he shall not be moved."
Psalm 20:7: "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God."
Psalm 2:6: "Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion."