Psalms 21:7 - Meaning and Application

The psalmist has already taught his people to look back with joy and praise at what God has done for him and for them. Now he teaches them to look ahead with faith, hope, and prayer, trusting what God will still do for them. The king rejoices in God (Psalm 21:1), so they give thanks. The king trusts in God (Psalm 21:7), so they are encouraged. The joy and confidence of Christ, our King, is the basis of all our joy and confidence.

First, they are sure of the stability of David’s kingdom. By the mercy of the Most High, and not by David’s own strength or goodness, he shall not be moved. His prosperous condition will not be shaken, and his faith and hope in God, which support his spirit, will not fail. The mercy of the Most High, meaning God’s goodness, power, and rule, is enough to secure our happiness. So trust in that mercy should quiet all our fears.

Because God was at Christ’s right hand in his suffering (Psalm 16:8), and Christ is at God’s right hand in his glory, we can be sure he will not, and cannot, be moved. He remains forever.

Second, they are sure of the destruction of all the stubborn and unrepentant enemies of David’s kingdom. The success God had already given David in battle was a promise of the rest God would give him from all his enemies nearby. It also pointed ahead to the complete defeat of all Christ’s enemies, those who would not have him reign over them.

Notice their description. They are those who hate him (Psalm 21:8). They hated David because God had chosen him for himself, and they hated Christ because they hated the light. In both cases, they hated without any good reason, and in both cases, their hatred was really against God, too (John 15:23, John 15:25).

Notice also their plans (Psalm 21:11). They intended evil against him and made a wicked plan. They claimed to fight only against David, but their hostility was really against God himself. Anyone who tries to overthrow David, and therefore the kingdom God had set up, is really fighting against Jehovah. What people plan against religion, and against the people God raises up to support it, is deeply evil. God counts it as planned against himself, and he will deal with it that way.

Their plans fail, because they cannot do what they plot (Psalm 21:11). Their hatred has no power to carry out its purpose, and they imagine a useless scheme (Psalm 2:1).

They are also uncovered (Psalm 21:8). “Your hand will find them out.” Even if they hide behind friendship, even if they blend in with faithful citizens, even if they run from justice and hide in secret places, God’s hand will still find them. No one can escape his judging eye, and no one can get beyond his reach. In the end, rocks and mountains will shelter no one better than fig leaves did at the beginning.

Their ruin will be complete. They shall be swallowed up and destroyed (Luke 19:27). Hell is the full misery of body and soul for all Christ’s enemies. Their children and their descendants shall also be cut off (Psalm 21:10). The enemies of God’s kingdom in every age will come under the same judgment, and the whole line of opposition will finally be rooted out. Every opposing rule, authority, and power will be brought down.

The arrows of God’s wrath will put them to flight and strike them in the face (Psalm 21:12). That is the end of those who dare to oppose God openly. The fire of God’s wrath will consume them (Psalm 21:9). They will not only be thrown into a furnace of fire (Matthew 13:42), but they will become like a fiery oven to themselves. They will be their own tormentors, because the thoughts and fears of their own consciences will be their hell. Those who could have had Christ to rule and save them, but rejected him and fought against him, will find that even the memory of that choice is enough to make them a fiery oven to themselves forever. This is the worm that does not die.

In this confidence, they pray that God will still act for his anointed (Psalm 21:13). They ask him to work in his own strength, by the direct action of his power as Lord of hosts, the ruler of heaven’s armies, and Father of spirits. They want him to use little means and few human helpers.

By doing so, God would exalt himself and glorify his own name. “We have little strength, and we are not as active for you as we should be, which is our shame. Lord, take the work into your own hands. Do it without us, and it will be for your glory.”

Then they would exalt him in return. “So we will sing and praise your power all the more gladly.” The less God has of our service while a deliverance is being worked, the more he must have of our praise when he brings it about without us.