Three Cheers for You!

Psalm 20:5

“We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of the Lord. May the Lord grant all your requests.”

It’s all about you! All the shouting and banner waving in this psalm is not about me, it’s about you.

This is a great model for praying a blessing upon another person. It gives me a pattern to pray over someone I love and want to serve. Seven times David asks God to provide in a special way for his friend (probably the King, vs. 9). Look closely at the elements and copy them:

• May the Lord answer you (1a)
• May God protect you (1b)
• May He send you help and support (2)
• May He remember and accept your worship (3)
• May He give you the desire of your heart (4a)
• May He make all your plans succeed (4b)
• May the Lord grant all your requests (5b)

The prayer is extravagant. It invites unreserved goodness to be lavished upon someone else. I can afford to pray with such exaggerated generosity when the focus is not me (Philippians 2:3). I reckon it is therapeutic to want good for someone else.

The prayer leads to a party. When you are victorious, says David, we will shout, wave banners and celebrate wildly with you. I have a prayer list but maybe I should also have a party list, a “shout-for-joy-list”. Who will I pray for like this? Family, associates, friends or even politicians, strangers and enemies? Whose victory could I seek and then celebrate?

Prayers of blessing are probably not prayed often enough. We pray a lot about getting out of trouble but here David is praying for an excess of goodness from God. And, he wants it to fall on someone else. Brilliant!

Questions

• Who is on your shout-for-joy-list? How much prayer have you invested so far?
• Do you feel uncomfortable praying so extravagantly for another person? Explain.