Psalm 21

You have often heard this phrase, haven’t you? King of kings. Lord of lords. If nothing else, Handel made it famous with his Hallelujah Chorus. But, have you ever stopped to think about what it means? Does it just mean that God is a better king than any we’ve had in Earth’s history? Like saying that an F5 tornado is the “mother of all storms,” is God just the “King of all kings”?

I certainly think that’s a fair amount of the picture, but try this one on for size. In today’s psalm, we encountered this: “You came to greet [the king] with rich blessings and placed a crown of pure gold on his head.” (vs 3) David is talking about how God made him into a king.

Now a question: Who was David? What made him so special that God made him a king? Actually, David was a nobody. You couldn’t get more ordinary than David—the youngest in the family, a short pipsqueak, a shepherd. He certainly wasn’t on anybody else’s list to ascend to the throne. But God picked him to be a king.

I think part of the reason for that is because God wants all of us to be kings. He wants you to be a king. He wants me to be a king. Kings are vested with honor, glory, power, and authority—and God intends for all of His children to also be clothed with those things. He granted us honor and glory when He created us with individuality. And He granted us power and authority when He created us with the freedom to choose. Ultimately, in God’s Kingdom, nobody else tells us what to do. We all make our own choices. We all steer our own ship. We all choose our own destiny.

We are all kings.

And so we see that God—who is a King—decided to fill up His Kingdom with kings. Thus, He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

Have you ever thought of yourself as a king? That’s who God created you to be!