Psalm 21

Psalm  21---A psalm of David

A psalm by David, the warrior king, exulting in God's strength and trusting in His power.  It incorporates punishing imagery that I'd rather avoid.  David's early life was full of  confrontation, and it forced him to look to God for relief:

Psa 21:8  Your hand will find out all your enemies; your right hand will find out those who hate you.
Psa 21:9  You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear. The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them

Psa 21:12  For you will put them to flight; you will aim at their faces with your bows.

Aim at their faces--wow! We are blessedly far from the brutal realities that David and his culture faced, but if we were faced with them, we would long for this strong response.  We would feel that need with this intense immediacy.

It is our materialism and modernism that puts distance between what many in this world face and what the average American faces.  We face our enemies differently these days, but their threat is as real if not as physically in your face.  We need to seek God for perspective and protection as much now as then.