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 LORD is their strength, and He is the saving refuge of His anointed. Save Your people, and bless Your inheritance; shepherd them also, and bear them up forever. Psalm 28: 7-9, NKJV.
Gracious God, we thank You for being everything that we need You to be for us. In the time of peril please remind us that You are the great I Am! In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
It is such a joy to come upon verses like these that are full to overflowing with great truths, and that have such depth of thought regarding God’s care for His children! I believe we will need at least two days to dig as deeply as we can into this treasure house of Scripture and discover as much as we can about the mercies of the Almighty in taking care of His children!
When the psalmist David spoke about his “heart” trusting in God, he was not just talking; he was declaring the depth of his confidence in God! He was saying, according to all that the word conveys in its root meaning, “My trust in God is more than a feeling. In the innermost part of my being, I have decided to trust in Him. With my will, with my mind, from the depths of my guts, I will not hold back! I have made an intelligent decision to trust in God!” When someone makes a declaration of such magnitude, it is usually based on past experience. David said in psalm 34: 8, that he had “taste[d] and see[n] that the LORD is good,” and that every “man,” woman, youth or child, that trusts in Him is “blessed!” He could also say, “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread” (37: 25). He knew from experience that “When evil [people] advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall” (27: 2). Yes, David knew Who his heart was trusting! He could make a bold boast in God! There was no need to fear! There is no need for us to fear! Hallelujah!
David is one of my favorite Bible characters. I love his fervor for God. He is passionate in his devotion, and worship, and praise to God! He talks to God as you would to a friend in whom you have total confidence; a friend that you know will accept you just as you are, and will not judge you, no matter what you did. That friend will tell you when you are wrong, but in the same breath, he or she will let you know that you are dearly loved! That is the relationship that I perceive between David and his God! The “song” with which David purposes to praise God is a religious song with special lyrics. It is like the song he sang when the ark of God was being brought back to Jerusalem. It is a song of praise! This is the kind of song that the Levitical choirs would sing in their worship service to God.
The root word for praise, denotes “to use the hand,” “to worship with extended hand;” to “throw down,” to “cast,” to “shoot,” [an arrow]. This can be true in personal or corporate worship. When I understood all that the word “praise” represented, I thought of the scenes in heaven, described in Revelation, chapters 4 and 5, where the beings in heaven, cast themselves down and worship God! I thought about what it is going to be like when “every knee” is going to bow before our God, acknowledging Him as the One “highly exalted” with “a name that is above every name,” and when “every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2: 9-11)! My friends, you and I cannot afford to miss that experience of Praise in excelsis! Nothing that we can imagine here on earth can be compared to our worship to God on that day! I enjoy practicing here on earth, for my worship in heaven!
David also knew God as his “saving refuge.” God had delivered David from the hands of his enemies, both within, and without, his household. There is something interesting about one of the root meanings of the word used for “saving.” It denotes salvation because of a wall! Brothers and sisters, do you know what this means? Because of the hedge that God has put around His people, we are protected! Glory be to God! The Adversary sometimes knows more about what God is doing for His people than we know ourselves! Do you remember how he accused God of putting a hedge about Job (Job 1: 9, 10)? Of course God had hedged Job in; and He has also hedged us in! Praise His name! If He had not, none of us would be alive to praise Him today! Praise God for the angels who form walls of protection around us (Psalm 34: 7)! It also denotes deliverance from our sins! It speaks of God’s salvation! Glory, hallelujah!
We will continue our study tomorrow!