Be exalted in your strength, Lord; we will sing and praise your might.
Psalm 21:13
From the context of Psalm 21, this concluding verse expresses a genuine desire to see God exalted over His foes. This expresses the hopeful reality that God’s power would be so manifested that God would be exalted in a way fitting of that which He deserves. And this represents the ultimate desire of everyone who genuinely belongs to God. As God graciously acts on our behalf, we are blessed. But our greatest priority and desire should be that by His acts He would be exalted so that all may see our God for who He is, in fullness and majesty.
The Psalmist David praised God for His personal blessings (as David referenced God’s blessings upon his own life in the third person):
“The king rejoices in your strength, Lord.
How great is his joy in the victories you give!
You have granted him his heart’s desire
and have not withheld the request of his lips.
You came to greet him with rich blessings
and placed a crown of pure gold on his head.
He asked you for life, and you gave it to him—
length of days, for ever and ever.
(Psalm 21:1-4)
David’s recognition of God’s blessings turned to the confidence he had in God alone against the enemy, and in this David concluded, “be exalted O Lord, in your strength.” David knew that all things good and victorious come through God, and thus all glory belongs to God alone. This becomes the depth of David’s heart as he rightly petitioned that God alone would be exalted, and that all would see God’s strength.
I reflect on this Psalm as a standard of our lives of praise. Our ultimate desire should be that God alone would be exalted. Among all the mighty blessings God performs, and of all that He does in our lives personally, our chief blessing and greatest joy should be the exaltation of God in His full nature, and then to rejoice in the personal blessings that come as a result.
When God responds to our personal intercessions, may our ultimate desire be that as He intervenes, He is exalted even over our circumstance that He has helped. At the heart of our yearnings and longings, may our ultimate cry be for God to be exalted in His might and majesty. And, as we prioritize this as our highest desire, may our worship follow rightly – may we sing and praise Him for His might.
I often wonder how our singing, preaching, serving, and giving would change if we were consistently and wholly interested in one priority, and one priority alone: that God would be exalted.
May we prayerfully find a way to return to this chief aim of the heart as exemplified by David. May our ultimate desire be that God would be exalted in all His dealings with us. And may the service and worship we render to God be noticeably different as we make the necessary heart adjustments to return to this our greatest calling – to glorify God and lift up the name of Jesus. This indeed represents our greatest desire.
Blessings.
READ
Read Psalm 21:1-13 and move toward a deeper desire to truly exalt God above all things.
