May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!
David wrote this psalm not as a royal command for his own glory, but as a teacher giving the Church a common form of prayer, that God's kingdom, which He Himself erected, might continue safe and prosperous. The occasion may have been a particular battle, but the Spirit's design was to deliver a standing prayer for all God's people.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 20:1-9
"The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble." All loyal subjects pray for their king, and most certainly citizens of Zion have good cause to pray for the Prince of Peace. In times of conflict loving subjects redouble their pleas, and surely in the sorrows of our Lord his church could not but be in earnest.
Even great men who pray well must not despise the prayers of others for them; David himself desired his people's intercession. Those in power ought to prize praying people as their true strength and do nothing to forfeit their prayers, for a ruler's greatness cannot exempt him from trouble or excuse him from devotion.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 20:1-5