Psalm 28:7: The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, And with my song I will praise Him.
The Psalms are full of praise for the Lord. The word, or some form of it, “praise” shows up 164 times in the 150 Psalms. Today’s verse offers a couple of stepping-stones of truth to help us become more comfortable in living a life that is spent following Jesus Christ. King David begins this verse with a proclamation of who God is to him – the Lord is his strength and his shield. This is an extraordinary confession of a man who was a pretty tough guy in his own right. He had slayed a lion in his youth. He had defeated Goliath in a battle. He led numerous battles where literally tens of thousands of the enemy were slain. Yet, David makes this remarkable statement of a central truth about God. He recognized that all his victories were not because of what He did, but what God did through him.
David’s next statement is important because he is personally responding to his proclamation that the Lord is his strength and shield. As a result of him fully believing his statement, his heart trusted him. That is the proper progression in a relationship with God. Once you believe in a central truth of God’s character, it should yield personal growth or “fruit”. That proper progression from a statement of truth is greater faith. Then watch what happens when David acknowledges that his heart trusts the Lord – he is helped. Unshakable faith in God helps us. In a world that claims to offer help through more things, better drugs, bigger homes, or anything else, everyone of them end up not helping. These things that are supposed to help us actually end up hurting us because what they are seeking to help is our flesh. Our flesh is insatiable – it is incapable of being satisfied for very long. Therefore, the “help” the world offers is really just feeding the beast of the flesh that always wants more. The only end to fleshly pursuit is destruction.
True faith in God ministers to the soul and spirit, and this is the only place that can received lasting peace. David acknowledges there is a deeper fruit from his trusting in the Lord. The fact that he is helped now produces rejoicing in his heart. When you are under an attack via a lost job, a troubled relationship, or bad health, what happens to your heart? It becomes fearful and incapable of finding rest. David is telling us that as long as he believes that the Lord is his strength and his shield, the Lord will see him through the attacks. He then properly concludes that through trusting in that provision of eventual deliverance, the heart that was once in fear is now helped and can even rejoice. There is an important point to see in this verse. Do you see any demonstration of total removal of the circumstances David is facing? – No. What glorious point he is making that even in the midst of an attack, his trust in the Lord being his shield and strength helps him to the point that the fleshly response of fear is overwhelmed so much by his confidence that his heart can rejoice.
The final fruit of David’s progressive statements is that he can sing praises to the Lord. What word is found within the word ‘praise’? – Raise. The help that God provides to your soul and spirit in the midst of your trials, if you chooses to believe, is He raises you above the fear-driving circumstances to demonstrate His assuring protective presence. You find a complete safety when you are in God’s hands that provides a perfect peace that defies fleshly understanding. This is infectious because those that see this kind of strength and peace amidst a terrifying time marvel at how such a confidence is possible. In your praise for the Lord, He will raise you up to Him where nothing formed against you will prosper. All of this is possible, but you have to believe. Will you?