"From men by your hand, O Lord, from men of the world," whose portion is in this life and whose satisfaction is in children and inheritance (a paraphrase of Psalm 17:14).

David prays that God would confront his enemies, "men of the world whose portion is in this life." These enemies have hope only in this life. They are satisfied with the good things God provides for this life. Their satisfaction is in their children and in leaving an inheritance to them.

It is that last part that gives me pause. The godless find great satisfaction in their children and in leaving them a large inheritance. Isn't that what we say of the godly as well?

Yet here David uses it as a contrast to his own great desire, which is to be found righteous and to see God's face when he awakes (Psalm 17:15).

Friends, it is right for us to love our children and to do our best to nurture and care for them; but that is not our chief aim. Our greatest desire must be to stand righteous before God. And we will find that in pursuing this, our children benefit as well.

Some parents think that while they themselves have no time for a quiet time with God, they are doing well by insisting that their children spend daily time with God. They may not make it to church because they are busy with work, but they make sure their children get there. They seem to think that they will gain God's favor through their children. It is not so.

Each of us must make it a personal priority to spend time with God, whether or not our children follow our instruction and example. We often criticize Samuel and David because their children did not follow in their fathers' footsteps, and we say they must have been negligent fathers. Would you say the same of God? Consider how far His children have strayed from His instruction and example. Yet God is holy, perfect, and good, while His children are sinful and rebellious.

Our faithfulness in instructing and guiding our children is no guarantee that they will follow in the end; but we must be faithful and responsible for ourselves. Instructing our children in the way of the Lord is one of many commands God gives us. But it is one among others. Let us keep perspective.

AI-Expanded Reflection

The contrast the comment draws is exactly the movement of the psalm. After describing those "whose portion is in this life" (17:14), David says, "As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness," and when he awakes he will be satisfied with God's likeness (17:15). The same word — satisfied — is used of both groups. One is satisfied with children and inheritance; the other is satisfied with seeing God. The psalm does not call children or inheritance evil; it identifies where ultimate satisfaction is found.

The comment's point about parental example is worth pairing with its balance. Scripture does hold parents responsible for instruction (Deuteronomy 6:6–7; Ephesians 6:4) and notes Eli's failure to restrain his sons (1 Samuel 3:13). It also shows that faithful parents can have wayward children and vice versa: Hezekiah fathered Manasseh, and Amon fathered Josiah (see #2028). Proverbs speaks in general principles rather than guarantees. The comment's conclusion — be faithful in teaching, and be personally devoted to God rather than outsourcing your own walk — is sound counsel for parents who feel the weight of both.

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, "but we will boast in the name of the Lord our God" (a paraphrase of Psalm 20:7).

This declaration of confidence in God alone stands in the middle of this psalm of blessing. David can pronounce such blessings on the people in verses 1–5 because he knows that those who hope in the Lord will not be disappointed.

In the New Testament we find Paul's declaration of confidence in the Lord: "I can do all things through him who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13). What is the basis of such confidence? Paul tells us: he knows whom he has believed and is convinced that He is able to guard what has been entrusted to Him until that day (a paraphrase of 2 Timothy 1:12).

Friends, what is the ground of our confidence? Is it not the finished work of Christ on the cross? Is not our boast in the promises of God in Christ?

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those called according to His purpose (cf. Romans 8:28). He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all — how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? (a paraphrase of Romans 8:32). And nothing in all creation — neither death nor life, angels nor rulers, things present nor things to come, height nor depth — will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (a paraphrase of Romans 8:38–39).

Friends, if the Lord is our confidence, then let us live in such a way that He is most glorified in our lives. Let us be immersed in His Word. Let us be willing to live against the grain of social, cultural, political, and even religious pressure that stifles our obedience to the good leadership of the Holy Spirit within us as He works out God's will in our lives.

AI-Expanded Reflection

Psalm 20 is a liturgy for the king before battle — the people pray for him in verses 1–5 ("May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble"), a voice declares confidence in verse 6, and verse 7 is the congregation's creed. Psalm 21 is its companion, a thanksgiving after victory. Read together, they show prayer before the battle and praise after it.

The chariot line carries weight from Israel's law and history. Deuteronomy 17:16 forbade the king to multiply horses for himself or send the people back to Egypt to acquire them. Isaiah 31:1 pronounced woe on those who went down to Egypt for help and relied on horses and chariots but did not look to the Holy One of Israel. Chariots were the most advanced military technology of the day; the psalm does not deny their power, but refuses to make them the ground of confidence. Solomon, notably, went on to accumulate thousands of them (1 Kings 10:26–29).

Paul's statement in Philippians 4:13 is often lifted out as a promise of success, but in context it is about contentment — Paul has learned to be content whether in plenty or in hunger (4:11–12). The strength Christ supplies is strength to be faithful in any circumstance, which is exactly the confidence Psalm 20:7 describes.

Psalm 17:13–14 Arise, O Lord! Confront him, subdue him! Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword, from men by your hand, O Lord, from men of the world whose portion is in this life. You fill their womb with treasure; they are satisfied with children, and they leave their abundance to their infants.

I was in a discussion recently with a man who has been a believer longer than myself. He was trying to tell me of the doom of a certain company since they do not tithe and are unbelievers. I am in close proximity to the company and explained I was not fearful as if surrounded by doom but rather as if I were with God and led by God. Even if everything did collapse around me I would not expect to be at a loss; even if I were at a loss I don't think I would feel empty; even if I did feel empty I would not be without hope; I have faith in the Lord and the future he has prepared for me.

But one point I tried to make to him was they were not doomed. Jesus remarks that it rains on the just and unjust (cf. Matthew 5:44–46). We see God gives even though it is not received, and continues giving. Furthermore we are called to give even if it is not deserved, indicative of his nature.

These verses in particular I think would have been a simple example. Because I am a child of God does not mean I can claim earthly riches! In fact we have it written here they get riches, they get children, they get to offer an inheritance... They get health, they get pleasures... They get rain...

... But I get something eternal and imperishable; I get God.

AI-Expanded Reflection

The distinction between having one's portion in this life and finding satisfaction in God is the central contrast at the end of Psalm 17. The wealthy opponents appear to possess enough not only for themselves but for their descendants. Their prosperity does not prevent the psalmist from identifying them as a threat. Verse 15 then turns to a different hope: beholding God's face and being satisfied with his likeness. The passage resists treating material abundance as a reliable statement of divine approval.

There are translation difficulties in verse 14, including whether part of the language describes present abundance or asks that the wicked receive what God has stored up for them. The NET explanation of Psalm 17:14 discusses the references to treasure, children, and inheritance. The original's use of the prosperity reading is legitimate within that translation, but the larger conclusion need not depend on settling every phrase: the psalm unmistakably distinguishes a merely temporal portion from satisfaction in God.

The conversation about a company applies that distinction to an everyday setting. A business's owners being unbelievers and not tithing does not authorize a prediction of imminent collapse. Malachi's covenant provisions for Israel's temple economy cannot simply be imposed as a universal corporate rule. Equally, a successful company is not thereby innocent of wrongdoing. Its practices should be assessed through evidence concerning honesty, justice, treatment of workers, and other actual responsibilities, rather than through a religious label functioning as a financial forecast.

Jesus' teaching about rain and sunlight in Matthew 5:45 makes divine generosity a reason for enemy-love. Benefits received by those who do not acknowledge God still reveal the Father's kindness. This does not cancel final judgment, but it prevents believers from assuming that every present blessing must be withheld until a recipient becomes worthy. The Christian's own generosity should reflect the same freedom from a purely reciprocal calculation.

The original's repeated “even if” expresses a resilient hope, but it need not require immunity from grief. A believer may feel loss deeply and still belong to God. Nor does confidence remove the need for prudent decisions about employment or finances. The practical freedom is to act responsibly without interpreting every risk as evidence of abandonment. A future secured in Christ allows material gain to be received gratefully and material loss to be faced honestly, without either becoming the final measure of one's life.

I am praying to you because I know you will answer, O God (Psalm 17:6).

David says that he prays to God because he knows that God will answer him. David knows this because God has initiated a relationship with Him, even giving His Spirit to be with him and with his sons after him. The Spirit was taken from King Saul, so that when Saul tried to consult God, God did not answer him.

As children of God we have been given the Spirit of God, and by that very Spirit we can approach God in prayer.

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father" (Romans 8:14–15).

The Spirit helps us to pray, so that our very prayers come to God in a way that is in keeping with His will:

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God (Romans 8:26–27).

For our part, it is important that when we pray, we must pray in faith:

“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours (Mark 11:22–24).

What is this faith? It is faith in the power of God. It is NOT faith in your power to get what you want. It is faith that He is able and NOT that you are worthy. That is why James writes,

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures (James 4:3).

If your request is not in line with God's will, you will not receive what you ask for. It doesn't matter how confident you are that you will receive your request, it will not be granted apart from God's will. Your confidence is not in the request but in God, who grants the request.

In the same way, when David writes, "I know that you will answer," he is NOT expressing confidence in his request so much as his faith in God. James talks about this kind of faith also:

But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord (James 1:6–7).

What James means here is not "name it and claim it" but "believe that God is able." Otherwise, why would James urge believers in the context to rejoice in their trials? Who would seek trials? And who wouldn't ask to be rid of them? But he instructs believers to pray for wisdom in the midst of trials, so that the trials will have their intended effect, namely, building character and spiritual maturity. This is God's will for every believer. And as the believer seeks this from God, he must trust that God is able to bring this about in his life. But if he cannot trust in the power of God to accomplish this, he shouldn't expect anything else from God.

Consider our Lord Jesus Christ. God answered all of His prayers, for He prayed with unwavering faith and always in perfect alignment with God's will. He also laid down the foundation for this kind of prayer when He taught the disciples to pray in this way: "Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven..." He profoundly demonstrated this kind of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane when He prayed before His crucifixion, "Not my will but Yours be done." And He also taught,

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you" (John 15:7).

I believe this promise is as true for us today as it was for the disciples to whom Jesus spoke. Therefore, if we trust in the power of God and we are living according to God's will, God will grant us whatever we ask. It is as the Psalmist also writes,

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4).

There is a direct link between delighting in God and being granted our hearts' desire. If we desire what pleases God, God will grant what we desire.

Friends, prayer is not so much for God as it is for us. Prayer does not inform God of what He does not know, for the Scriptures clearly teach that God knows everything before we ask Him. A thoughtful consideration of prayer throughout the Scriptures, and particularly in the New Testament, will reveal that prayer is not so much for getting things from God. Just considering the prayers of the Lord Jesus Christ will reveal that His prayers were not so much to get things for Himself, or even for things to work out well for others, but rather for God's will to be done and God's Name to be exalted. This is also the fundamental character of all of Paul's prayers. And the one that was somewhat selfish, his request for a thorn to be removed, was not granted by God. But God's "No" became a lesson for Paul, namely, that God's grace is perfected in his weakness.

Therefore, let us understand that we pray in order that we might better align our wills with God's will. When we are more mature in our thinking about God's will, then our prayers will also reflect this, and we can have greater confidence that our requests will be granted. But even if God answers "No," this too is a lesson for us, even to understand what is not in keeping with His will.

So then, as I have encouraged everyone to read and meditate daily on God's Word, I also encourage everyone to pray diligently. Prayer is like a self-test of your understanding of God's Word. Convert your Bible reading into specific prayer requests for yourselves and others. As God answers, you can better discern whether you have correctly understood and applied a biblical truth in life. As an example, consider what the disciples did in the early days of the church:

On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: “‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one.' Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly (Acts 4:23–31).

The disciples read Psalm 2, a Messianic psalm, and correctly applied it to Jesus, the Messiah, and the persecution that the civil and religious powers brought to bear upon Him. They also rightly acknowledged that this was all according to God's will and plan. Thus, they prayed in keeping with God's purposes in Christ that He might give them boldness to fulfill their part in proclaiming the Gospel of Christ. And God granted them what they asked for, and by this they understood that what they sought through their prayers was in keeping with God's will.

This is how we should read God's Word and pray and so fulfill God's purposes in our lives.

AI-Expanded Reflection

David's confidence in Psalm 17 is relational: he calls upon the God whom he expects to hear. The psalm includes an appeal for protection, an examination of his conduct, and a contrast between present satisfaction and the hope of beholding God. It is not an abstract guarantee that intense confidence can produce any chosen result. The original rightly locates Christian prayer within the same larger reality of divine initiative, now expressed through adoption in Christ and the Spirit's help.

Romans 8 gives that help a particularly tender setting. Believers groan while awaiting the redemption of their bodies, and the Spirit assists precisely because they do not know how to pray as they ought. Inadequate words or uncertainty therefore do not automatically indicate failed faith. The intercession is effective because it accords with God's will, not because the person praying has attained exhaustive understanding. This qualifies any application that makes a disappointing outcome evidence that the believer lacked sufficient confidence or maturity.

Mark 11:22 begins with faith in God, while James 4:3 exposes requests directed toward self-indulgence. These passages support the distinction between trust and a technique of mental certainty. Yet the faithful God is not only able; he is also wise and good. James 1:5 invites confidence in his generous willingness to give wisdom. Prayerful trust rests on that character, even while the believer cannot specify how every particular need should be met.

The example of Paul's thorn should not be labeled selfish simply because the request was denied. Paul reports asking three times for relief, and Christ answers with a promise of sufficient grace (2 Corinthians 12:8–9). The narrative does not rebuke the request as sinful. Jesus likewise asks that the cup pass while submitting to the Father's will. Petitions for bodily relief, daily provision, or protection can be entirely appropriate; submission keeps them within a relationship rather than turning them into demands.

The recommendation to pray Scripture is fruitful when it honors each passage's context. Acts 4 shows the community interpreting opposition through Psalm 2 and requesting boldness to continue its mission. It does not provide an infallible experimental method in which an apparent answer proves every interpretation correct or a delay proves it wrong. Providence can be difficult to read. We should test interpretations by Scripture and pray with humility about outcomes.

Psalm 17’s concluding contrast also reorders desire. David looks beyond the satisfaction available to those whose portion is confined to this life and anticipates satisfaction in God’s likeness (17:14–15). Whatever questions remain about the verse’s precise horizon, its direction is clear: the greatest answer is not merely the preservation of present comforts. This helps prayer move from listing desired outcomes toward seeking the God whose fellowship gives those outcomes their proper place. We can ask earnestly for relief while also asking to become truthful, merciful, and faithful within the situation. Such requests are not substitutes for practical needs; they keep those needs within the larger hope of knowing and enjoying God.

Such prayer both seeks God's action and forms the petitioner. We ask for actual help, bring desires honestly, listen to correction, and trust the Spirit amid weakness. The goal is neither resignation without petition nor confidence without submission, but the freedom of children addressing a Father whose faithful care exceeds their understanding.

Psalm 19:7–11 describes the law of the LORD as perfect, reviving the soul; sure, making the simple wise; right, giving joy to the heart; pure, giving light to the eyes; and altogether desirable — more precious than gold, sweeter than honey, and a warning that brings great reward in keeping it (a paraphrase of Psalm 19:7–11). Who wouldn't want these things? Even though I'm ignorant of so much, I can still be sustained and lifted up; even though I'm sinful, I can still be forgiven and treated as a child of the Father Almighty. It would be easy to read this and think, "Great, I believe there's one true God — bring on the blessings!" (a reference to James 2:19). But while our salvation is entirely a gift of grace, a free and sovereign act of God, we're still told in Philippians 2:12–13 to work out our own salvation — to obey Christ's commands and remain in Him (a reference to John 3:36). We're given both the choice to act for God and the desire and power to do so. Philippians 2:12 adds that we do this "with fear and trembling" — less an outward action than an inward attitude of gratitude, something genuine flowing from the heart. Affecting the heart means immersing it, baptizing it, in the direction it should go. We can't buy God's love or favor through good works, since Philippians 2:13 makes clear it's ultimately God's own work and will accomplishing it in us. There's no need to figure out "how to buy God" — He's already bought you, through the cross. At every moment, in every circumstance, the opportunity to grow into the blessing of Psalm 19 is right at hand: be blessed, be pure, be protected through trials, pain, and loss, by abiding in Him who is Life.

AI-Expanded Reflection

The tension this comment holds together — salvation as pure gift, yet commanded to "work it out with fear and trembling" — is one of the more carefully balanced verses in the New Testament precisely because Paul places both halves in the same sentence rather than letting either stand alone: he commands the effort in verse 12, then immediately grounds that effort in God's own prior work in verse 13. That structure suggests Philippians 2:12–13 isn't asking believers to contribute a separate percentage of effort alongside grace, but to actively live out a transformation God is already producing — less like adding your own ingredient to a recipe, and more like a plant actively growing toward light that's already there, doing real work while the growth itself remains entirely dependent on something outside itself.

Psalm 17:4–5 and 18:4–5 really stood out to me — torrents, cords, coiled snares, floods: all images of things that trap and hold us tight, much like sin does. We're genuinely unable to free ourselves on our own. We claim we can, and sometimes we wade partway out of the mud ourselves, but only God can actually pluck us out and set us free — and only by calling out to Him can we truly be freed. God deals with people according to their righteousness in Christ and according to their own character, as Psalm 18:25–27 describes: to the faithful He is faithful, to the blameless He is blameless, to the pure He is pure, and to the devious He is shrewd, since God Himself is neither devious nor deceived. He saves the humble but brings down haughty eyes. So the real question is: who am I, and what is God to me? God's laws, statutes, precepts, commands, and decrees are each important — through them we're refreshed, given wisdom, given joy, given light for our eyes, and given lasting purity and righteousness. He gives victory to those He's chosen, and He answers when we call. Some trust in the things of this earth, but we trust in God — those who trust in earthly things will eventually be brought to their knees and fall, but we will rise up and stand firm.

AI-Expanded Reflection

The image cluster this comment highlights — torrents, cords, snares, floods — is worth noting as more than poetic variety; each image captures a genuinely different mechanism of entrapment (being swept away, being bound, being caught by surprise, being overwhelmed gradually), which together paint sin less as a single kind of danger and more as a whole category of threat that can catch a person in multiple different ways. That range is part of what makes the psalm's confidence in rescue so striking: whatever specific form the trap takes — sudden or gradual, external pressure or internal binding — the psalmist's answer is the same single act of calling out, not a different technique tailored to each different kind of danger.