Does God Meet Us With Answered Prayer, Before We Ask? Part 1

 

“For You meet him with the blessings of goodness;  You set a crown of pure gold
upon his head.” (Psalm 21:3 NKJV).

 
The Biblical word for “meet” here has a different meaning than how it is normally used.   It means ‘to anticipate, to precede, to foresee and fulfill in advance, to pay a debt before it is due.

 

*“Furthermore, in almost every instance, it implies pleasure.   Isaiah gives us a glimpse of this kind of pleasure. It comes from God anticipating a need and fulfilling it ahead of time.   “It shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; And while they are still speaking, I will hear.” (Isaiah 65:24 NKJV).

 
This verse provides us with an incredible picture of our Lord’s love for us.   Evidently, He is so anxious to bless us, so ready to fulfill His loving kindness in our lives, that He can’t even wait for us to tell Him our needs.   So He jumps in and performs acts of mercy, grace, and love toward us.   And that is a supreme pleasure to Him.

 

This is just what David is saying in Psalm 21, in essence: “Lord, you pour out blessings and loving kindness on me before I can even ask.   And You offer more than I could even conceive of asking.”

 
David is referring to some awesome work that God performed for him in the spiritual realm.   It’s something that gave David victory over his enemies, answers to prayer, overcoming power and unspeakable joy.   And God did it all before David could even go to prayer, to unburden his heart or present his request.   Once David finally did pour out his heart, he discovered that God had already made provision to defeat his enemies.   David’s victory was assured before he could even get near the battlefield.

 

Indeed when David wrote Psalm 21, he was speaking of a literal battle.   This Psalm is a companion chapter to Psalm 20, both referring to a battle described in 2 Samuel 10.   In that 2 Samuel passage, Israel’s enemy, the Ammonites, had hired Syrian battalions to wage war against David.   So David dispatched his military leader Joab and a choice army to meet the enemy at the nation’s border.   They defeated the Syrians soundly in an overwhelming victory, and the enemy fled in fear.

 
David rejoiced, thinking,  ‘That’s the end of the Syrians.   We won’t have to deal with them again.   Our army has dealt them a death blow.’ He wrote, ‘I have wounded them, So that they could not rise; They have fallen under my feet.’ (Psalm 18:38 NKJV).

 

 

Yet scripture tells us, ‘When the Syrians saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they gathered together.’ (2 Samuel 10:15 NKJV).   This enemy regrouped and began plotting another attack.   Now they would come against David with great chariots of iron.

 

Of course, this story is about more than David’s troubles with the Syrians.   It is also about followers of Christ today and our battle with Satan.   It’s about a battle we thought we had won long ago – perhaps against lust, a habit, a temptation we once defeated.

 

At the time we thought, ‘All my fasting and praying over this matter has paid off.   I’ve finally won the victory, by faith.   I won’t be plagued anymore.’ Yet God gives us this story to reveal to us a crucial lesson.”*

 

We will continue in Part 2.   CHRIS

 

*This teaching is paraphrased from the World Challenge Pulpit Series.   This message was delivered by David Wilkerson at the Times Square Church in New York City, February 26, 2007.   “The Preventing Love of the Lord, An Encouraging Message for Those In Need of Hope”