Psalm 144 contains a few verses about wars and battles that modern readers may find disquieting, but that ancient people would have sung gladly.
This psalm serves as a reminder that God is Lord not only of peace, but also of war. David begins, "Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle" (vs. 1). Christians know that God is intimately involved in our daily life. It shouldn't surprise us, then, that He is also our teacher even when it comes to learning skilled warfare. God is the Lord of hosts, and He equips us for the battles we must face in life. In David's day, that was actual physical war.
We see this emphasis on God as the Lord of war in a few other places in this psalm as well. In verse 2, God is credited with "subduing people under me", presumably through military means. David also pleads, "Send out your arrows and rout them" (vs. 6). While that may only serve as imagery, God is understood as the one who grants victory, "the one who gives victory to kings" (vs. 10).
We should not judge our ancestors too harshly for this preoccupation with military glory. They lived in a world where war was a fact of daily life, so they of course felt that God would be concerned about that. And, after all, we still have our issues today. Both modern and ancient people look to God for blessings of material prosperity. This psalm ends with a wish on David's part for healthy sons and daughters, full barns and numerous flocks and herds. Revealingly, his final wish is for peace to prevail and no war at all to come to his people. "May there be no breach in the walls, no exile, and no cry of distress in our streets" (vs. 14).
Therefore it is no wonder that this psalm ends with a word of praise to God and an observation on the blessedness of His people: "Happy are the people to whom such blessings fall; happy are the people whose God is the Lord" (vs. 15). Indeed.
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