Psalm 20 ends with “Lord, give victory to the king. Answer us when we call.” Therefore, the last class at the Eastside Church of Christ Ladies’ Retreat focused on the difference between personal victory and a victory for the King of Kings – in other words, we don’t always get what we want, but we are on the winning team!
As part of that winning team, we can call and cry out in celebration (Psalm 20:5, 9), not just in pain (when you are in distress… Psalm 20:1).
God wants us to remember and celebrate the victory, which is why he assigned 200 singers in the book of Ezra and 245 in the book of Nehemiah to proclaim victory in song. Purim was established in the book of Esther to remember victory each year and sing of it in celebration.
In light of those directions given by the Lord, at the close of the retreat this weekend, I had the ladies stand in a large circle and sing the song, “This is how we overcome” (taken from the texts in Esther 9:22 and Jeremiah 31:13).
After singing, we read the Lord’s Prayer out loud together as a united prayer lifted to the Father and a reminder that we are asking for his kingdom to come and his will to be done – not our own.
Finally, we read Psalm 20 to one another, spoken as a prayer over each of our Christian sisters present. We looked into each other’s eyes as we read verses like, “May the Lord grant all your requests.” And “Now this I know: The Lord gives victory to his anointed.”
But the most powerful moment for me was when we got to verse 7. “Some trust in chariots and some in horses…” The volume rose and the certainty swelled as each lady finished the verse as one voice “BUT WE TRUST IN THE NAME OF THE LORD OUR GOD.” They owned it. They believe it. And they were strengthened to remember it as we carried on beyond the weekend events. I had chills and my eyes filled with tears, humbled by the simple and heartfelt proclamation by these women.
I pray you can come to own that verse and the other promises of Psalm 20 as well.
