Psalm 28
A Psalm of David.
1 Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me:
Lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
2 Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee,
When I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.
3 Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity,
Which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.
4 Give them according to their deeds,
And according to the wickedness of their endeavors:
Give them after the work of their hands;
Render to them their desert.
5 Because they regard not the works of the Lord,
Nor the operation of his hands,
He shall destroy them, and not build them up.
6 Blessed be the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications.
7 The Lord is my strength and my shield;
My heart trusted in him, and I am helped:
Therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth;
And with my song will I praise him.
8 The Lord is their strength,
And he is the saving strength of his anointed.
9 Save thy people,
And bless thine inheritance:
Feed them also, and lift them up for ever.
In Psalm 28, David prays from the midst of a national crisis. He does this a lot in the psalms, doesn’t he?
A group of men argued over the best position in which to pray; was it standing with uplifted arms, kneeling with head bowed low or prostrate upon the ground? Every man made his argument until one man, a lineman for a local utility, spoke up. He said, “the best position that I ever had for prayer was barely hanging upside down on the top of a power pole.” Can you see his point? Truly, trouble makes for the best prayers. Sometimes it seems that our hearts don’t engage until they hurt.
In the first five verses of today’s Psalm, we see David crying out for God to hear his prayer and rush to the rescue. The last verse closes with that same theme asking the Lord to intervene and save his people.
What stood out to me this morning was the verses in the middle.
Psalm 28:6–7 Blessed be the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications. The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in him, and I am helped: Therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; And with my song will I praise him.
Did you catch that confidence?
Before the Lord intervenes in his circumstance, David says, “Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications,” and the mood of the Psalm changes from desperation to declaration.
I read that George Mueller, a great man of prayer and faith who operated an orphanage in Bristol England, had no food to feed the children. In an act of faith, he had them gather around the dinner table and say thanks. He and the children prayed in grateful response to blessings yet to be given. At the close of the prayer came a knock at the door.
Guess who was there?
A delivery man bringing the answer to their prayer, that’s who.
A food cart had broken down as it passed and the owner felt impressed to donate everything to the orphanage before it spoiled.
Indeed, God was pleased by their prayer of faith and honored it.
Have you tried thanking God in advance?
We can have confidence in our prayers, not because we are deserving, but because we have one making intercession on our behalf who is!
Read the word, pray in faith and catch that confidence!
My 2021 Bible Reading Plan
February 25, 2021