Psalm 20:1-5 - "The Name of the God of Jacob Defend You"

David’s entire life involved conflict. When he was a shepherd, he was fighting with lions and bears. As a teenager or young adult, he fights a giant named Goliath. He becomes a commander in Saul’s army and leads men into battles day after day. When he flees from Saul for ten years he daily is in danger of losing his life hiding in caves and in the wilderness. Now David is king of Israel with an established and flourishing kingdom but he still has surrounding nations attacking him. If there is one thing David has learned through all the adversity and conflict he has faced in his life, it is that there is no victory without the Lord’s help! And he knows that it comes from praying and seeking Jehovah’s aid! Too many people get saved thinking it will get them out of their trouble. But God never promised us that the Christian life would be a bed of roses! Actually, we have be warned by the Savior Himself that “in this world we would have tribulation.” We are at war! Life is a constant battle for the believer! Even when Israel crossed the Jordan River into the Promise Land, they still had battles to fight! But we have been assured of victory because we have a Leader, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has already “overcome the world” (John 16:33). He has already won the victory over sin, death, hell and the grave, by His death and resurrection! Through Him we are now more than conquerors (Romans 8:37-39). We stand in His victory and having done all we stand (Ephesians 6:10-18). We often feel so unworthy and weak as we face our daily battles that it is hard to pray and seek the Lord’s help. Moses wasn’t feeling so strong and confident when he was called to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. He wasn’t sure he could defeat the most powerful king of his day, the Pharaoh of Egypt. So, when God appeared to him at the burning bush, He assured Moses that He was “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” This was to remind Moses of the character and attributes of the kind of God that was calling and helping him. As the God of Abraham, we learn our God is sovereign wants us to trust Him by faith! As the God of Isaac, we learn that God has given us a great inheritance simply because we are His child! As the God of Jacob, we are assured that no matter how miserable a failure we are, how weak we are, how deceitful or sinful we have been, God still desires to be “our God”. I’ve said for years, that if God can be the “God of Jacob”, He can be my God. He can be the God of anyone who will submit to Him as Jacob finally did in Genesis 32 at the Jabbok River, and where God changed his name to “Israel”.  No doubt, this is why the “God of Jacob” is mentioned some 23 times in the Bible. So, when the people were praying for their king in Psalm 20:1-5, they pleaded for the “God of Jacob” to defend him. David was a great king, but he wasn’t perfect and had made some terrible mistakes and committed some awful sins. But the “God of Jacob” was his God and despite his weaknesses and failures, he could be assured that God would be his defense! My friend, today the name of the “God of Jacob” will come to your aid and you can be assured, “That those who know His name will put their trust in Him and He will not forsake those who seek Him!” (Psalm 9:10) God bless!