Psalm 20 – Will God give us the desires of our heart?

Will God give us the desires of our heart? David seems to pray for that to happen in Psalm 20. But is God like a genie or something? Can we rub His tummy or say some magic words and get whatever we wish for?

Let's shake up the normal order of things for this one. You'll see why in a moment.

Before we read the Psalm, I'm going to do something I always warn against.

I'm going to pick out 2 verses. And then make a conclusion on those two verses. Well, one and a half verses.

Here they are:

Ps 20:4 May he give you the desire of your heart
and make all your plans succeed.

Ps 20:5 ...
May the LORD grant all your requests.

See? Sounds like God's really going to give us whatever we want!

But - is this for real?

The desires of our heart?

Now, with that in mind, let's see what this Psalm says, in full.

Psalm 20 

For the director of music. A psalm of David. 

Ps 20:1 May the LORD answer you when you are in distress; 
may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. 

Ps 20:2 May he send you help from the sanctuary 
and grant you support from Zion. 

Ps 20:3 May he remember all your sacrifices 
and accept your burnt offerings.

Selah 

Ps 20:4 May he give you the desire of your heart 
and make all your plans succeed. 

Ps 20:5 We will shout for joy when you are victorious 
and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. 
May the LORD grant all your requests. 

Ps 20:6 Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; 
he answers him from his holy heaven 
with the saving power of his right hand. 

Ps 20:7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, 
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. 

Ps 20:8 They are brought to their knees and fall, 
but we rise up and stand firm. 

Ps 20:9 O LORD, save the king! 
Answer us when we call! 

Some background on Psalm 20

The twentieth and twenty-first psalms are different from the psalms we have studied thus far, in that they were designed to be sung by the Jewish people on behalf of their king and nation. The first is a prayer for the king’s victory in a day of battle. The second is a prayer of thanksgiving for that deliverance.  ¹Boice, J. M. (2005). Psalms 1–41: An Expositional Commentary (p. 177). Baker Books.

Uh oh!

Do you see a problem there? The "Uh oh" heading tells us there is one.

Here's the issue. Yes, David wrote this Psalm. However, David did not write the Psalm praying for God to give us all the desires of our hearts. No, it's a Psalm for the people (as in us) to sing on behalf of our country and its leaders.

Furthermore, it was written, presumably, for a Jewish King, which we don't have.

Therefore, to further complicate matters, the U.S., like nearly all countries in the world today, is not a theocracy. We don't have a national religion with our King/other leaders with authority over both the country and the religion.

More background on Psalm 20

I have said that the first five verses are a prayer for Israel’s king. Yet strictly speaking, they are not a prayer to God so much as words directed to the king himself, assuring him that the people believe in him and want God to answer his petitions.

The key word here is may. It occurs six times, introducing six fervent desires of the people: “May the LORD answer you when you are in distress” (v. 1); “May the name of the God of Jacob protect you” (v. 1); “May he send you help from the sanctuary” (v. 2); “May he remember all your sacrifices” (v. 3); “May he give you the desire of your heart” (v. 4); and “May the LORD grant all your requests” (v. 5, italics added throughout). As I say, these words are directed to the king more than to God. Yet they really are prayers in spite of their form, since the people clearly want God to deliver, protect, and bless their monarch and are obviously echoing his prayers for these things.