"To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
1 May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble!
May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!
2 May he send you help from the sanctuary
and give you support from Zion!
3 May he remember all your offerings
and regard with favour your burnt sacrifices! Selah
4 May he grant you your heart's desire
and fulfill all your plans!
5 May we shout for joy over your salvation,
and in the name of our God set up our banners!
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions!
6 Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed;
he will answer him from his holy heaven
with the saving might of his right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
8 They collapse and fall,
but we rise and stand upright.
9 O Lord, save the king!
May he answer us when we call."
Psalm 20
The picture of corporate prayer given here is one that fits the New Testament missionary situation, as we may see in Acts 13/14. Not only prayer, but the fellowship of prayer, bounded Paul's first missionary journey from beginning to end: he and his col- leagues were sent out by a praying fellowship and they were welcomed back by a pray- ing fellowship that had upheld them all through the months of their journeyings, sharing with them in all their travail. What must this have meant for Paul and Barnabas, in all the hazards they experienced, just to know that loving and earnest prayer surrounded them everywhere they went. This is surely the true meaning, purpose and function of a Christian fellowship. And since it is, the message of the Psalm may be applied in a general as well as in the special sense, illustrating the encouragement and help that can be given by loving prayer to those who fight in the battles of life - in the spiritual life, where God's children battle with themselves, with difficult natures, when great forces they cannot understand, let alone control, are like to tear them apart; in the battles of doubt and depression, when the clouds come on and the race of God seems hidden and obscured from view; in the sorrows and sadnesses of life, which are for many the greatest battles of all. To know then, in such circumstances, the strengthening power of a living, loving fellowship, the fellowship of people who care deeply for us in our need, to know that they are praying, 'The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble ...', must surely help troubled hearts round the corner of trouble into rest and deliverance and peace. God grant that ours may be such a fellowship.