We press on in the Battle Psalm today, we call it that because this was a series of prayers that the Chief priests made on behalf of the King of Israel before Israel went to war

Psa 20:4  May He grant you your heart’s desire And fulfill all your counsel! 

Psa 20:5  We will sing for joy over your victory, And in the name of our God we will set up our banners. May the LORD fulfill all your petitions. 

The King’s desire and his counsel were to fulfill God’s will.  In fact, they mention that they will glorify God when the battle is won, they’ll set up banners in the name of God.  

This really shows us how faithful Israel was back then, instead of patting themselves on the back after a victory, they would instead thank God.  

Fast forward to today, and when we compare that to nations that have won wars recently, like America – after winning World War 2, a huge sense of patriotism abounds in the 50s.  America is considered the greatest country on earth, unfortuantely, their patriotism was foolish self-worship.  

America did not win the war, God allowed America to win the war, but the sad part was, God gets taken out of the equation in the 60s, when prayer in school was outlawed, meanwhile America has been slipping ever since, in fact at the end of the 60s and early 70s, America lost their first war in Vietnam and has been slipping on the world’s stage ever since.  

Perhaps if America was more busy praising God and realizing how dependent we are on God, they wouldn’t be humbled like they are right now.  

This all brings us back to our original Pre-War Psalm, “in the name of God we will set up our banners”— not in the name of Israel, but instead the name of God.  

Patriotism and nationalism is rooted in pride, glory doesn’t belong to the nations that win, it belongs to God, who allowed them to win.