Psalms 24:8
Who is this king of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.

I love this Psalms. Petra used to have this as a song and everytime I read it I can hear the lead singer’s voice. Besides being a great song, it’s also a powerful reminder of who God is. Strong and mighty. Mighty in battle.
We like to depict God as a passive because the thought of an all powerful God wielding His sword against the enemy is sort of really terrifying. For the enemy of God that is, but it should not scare us, in fact it should comfort us. God wielding His sword against those who would attack His people. The devil comes in like a marauder, but is driven out by the power of the King.

Take away:
God fights our battles. He is strong and brave. When I think of God battling for us, I see a powerful king returning from war as His children run up to Him and reach up their arms to be carried home. They do not know that their Father the King was out on the field of battle to protect them and their home, all they know is that they are safe and their big, strong father is holding them.

Psalms 23:5

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over.

You anoint my head with oil.
In the heat of the summer I often find myself out in my pasture with a bottle of baby oil. Oil is good for so many thing that involves out door animals. For my horse I use it to get out burs, to shield his legs from fly eggs (yuck) to remove ticks some days (double yuck) to discourage flies. Oil is the farmer’s go to. It is the same with shepherds, they use oil for the same things I just named. Oil in Bible times was also often used for anointing and for greeting honored guests to a banquet, they would use special oil, (most likely not the value size bottle of Jameson that I buy).
So when David speaks of God anointing our heads with oil it can have multiple imagery.
God protects us from things that would harm us, He removes things that are bad that already cling to us, He anoints us as His children and as guests welcome at His banquet.

Take away:

God anoints us as His children, then proceeds to protect us and care for us.
There is another anointing in the Bible that is significant. When Mary anoints Jesus’s feet. We are anointed as God’s children because a long time ago His only begotten son went to

Psalms 22:1, 8, 16-18, 31 NIV

[1] My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?

[8] “He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”

[16] Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet.

[17] All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me.

[18] They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.

Do these words sound familiar? Here David calls on God to save him and he uses words we know as the pained cries of someone we love, Jesus.
Some like to say that Jesus was quoting the scriptures when He called to God that day, but I do not feel that is accurate. Rather those who say David prophesied about how Jesus (his descendant several generations removed) would die. The word “my God why have you forsaken me!” Are one thing, but the dividing of Jesus’s garment and casting lots for it, the piercing of His hands and feet, He did not quote this, it truly happened. Showing the potential accuracy of a prophecy being made.
However, these words are not our sole focus today. I want us also to consider how psalm 22 ends.

[31] They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!

The suffering Jesus went through was beyond horrible. Yet even the prophecy of it shows how the battle ends. “He has done it!!”

Jesus won the war that day and He stands as our savior. We are free because of Him!

Take away:

Death was not the end. Not for Jesus. He went to the cross knowing how it would all turn out.
It is good also to remember that, in His pain He cried to God, asking why He had been forsaken even though He knew and understood it. So when you are suffering and you cry out to God asking why He has left you abandoned, even though you know He is there with you, remember that you don’t have to he ashamed about that, because Jesus understands better than anyone. Unlike David, God truly did turn away from His son because He could not look at the sin that Jesus bore for us. Unlike David, Jesus died. Unlike anyone, Jesus rose three days later and saved us from our sins.