With My Song I will Praise Him – Psalm 28

“A Psalm of David. To You I will cry, O Lord my Rock. Do not be silent to me, lest, if You are silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit.” Psalm 28:1

In these verses David is very earnest in prayer. He cries, not thinks, not whispers, CRIES out to God for rescue. Do you want God to intervene for you? Then, say it to Him like you mean it.

He sees God as his indestructible rock. God is solid! You can depend on God. God is weighty! God is able to crush opposition.

He asks the Lord to respond to his prayer. “Be not silent to me.” He tells God why it is important for Him to respond to his prayer, “Lest, if You are silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit.” Apart from God’s rescue, you will perish.

In John 8:24, Jesus told the religious leaders, “I told you that you would die in your sins. If you do not believe that I am He [the Messiah], you will indeed die in your sins.” According to John 14:6, faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father. In Acts 4:12, Peter preached, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other Name [than Jesus] under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” In Acts 16:30-31, when a man asked Paul and Silas what he must do to be saved, “They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.’”

Biblical faith in God is 100% confidence that Jesus alone is Messiah and that we must come to God in His Name lest we perish in our sins.

“Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to You, when I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.” Psalm 28:2

David cried out to God with his voice and he lifted his hands toward God’s holy sanctuary. The Ark of the Covenant with the Mercy-Seat resided in the holy sanctuary. The mercy-seat between the cherubim was a type of Christ. This is where the priests made atonement for sin, that is, until Christ came and became our atoning sacrifice.

David lifted his hands toward God.

When I uplift my hands to God in prayer, I find that I take my prayers before God more seriously. When my hands are uplifted to the Lord, I am offering a sacrifice to Him. I am offering unto Him the sacrifice of praise, as well as the sacrifice of love as I intercede both for people that I know and people I do not know. In 1 Timothy 2:8, Paul wrote, “I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.”

“Do not take me away with the wicked and with the workers of iniquity, who speak peace to their neighbors, but evil is in their hearts. Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavors. Give them according to the work of their hands. Render to them what they deserve. Because they do not regard the works of the Lord, nor the operation of His hands, He shall destroy them and not build them up.” Psalm 28:3-5

David did not want to be carried downstream with those whose destiny is fiery destruction. They speak of wonderful things but do not deliver. They speak of peace, but cause mayhem.

David did not want to be drawn away from God’s holy presence by those who delight to do evil.

In Matthew 6:13, Jesus taught us to pray, “Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil.” In James 4:7-8, 10, God’s Word says to “Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you... Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

David prayed that God would give to evil doers what they gave to others. Sometimes when I pray for the nations, I pray that saboteurs of faith in Christ will be sabotaged. I pray that those who oppress and torture others will FEEL the PAIN they cause them, come to their senses and turn to Christ to save them.

In Acts 13:6-12, when Paul and Silas were sharing the Word of God with Sergius Paulus, a sorcerer named Elymas tried to turn Sergius from the faith. What happened? “Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, ‘You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.’” Elymas lost his vision. “When the proconsul [Sergius] saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.”

In 2 Timothy 2:25-26, Paul wrote, “Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.” In the New Testament, the goal is to convert enemies to Christ.

In Acts 26:17-18, Jesus told Paul that He was sending him to the Gentiles to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Christ.

Why do people blaspheme God’s Name? Why do people hate God’s messengers? Paul explains in Ephesians 2:1-3 that before people believe in Christ that they are dead to God due to their trespasses and sins. Without Christ, people walk according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air [the devil], and according to the spirit of disobedience. They live to fulfill the desires of the flesh. By nature they are children of wrath.

“Holy Spirit, please fill us with love for lost souls!” I’m glad people shared the Gospel with me!

“Blessed be the Lord because He has 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 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 28:6-9

David blessed the Lord for listening to him. He let people know with songs and rejoicing that the Lord was His strength, shield and refuge.

David asked the Lord to save, bless, shepherd and carry people.

In Psalm 32:7, David wrote of the Lord, “You are my hiding place. You shall preserve me from trouble. You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah!”

Has the Lord ever brought songs of deliverance to your mind when you were in trouble? He has for me. In Zephaniah 3:17, the Bible says, “The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you with His love. He will rejoice over you with singing.”

All who witness for God need His strength and protection. Jesus had to escape from enemies. In John 8:59, the Pharisees took up stones to throw at Jesus, but “He hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.” In Acts 23:12-31, the Apostle Paul’s nephew informed the Romans of a plot by 40 Jewish men to ambush and kill Paul. The Romans arranged 470 soldiers to protect Paul. Obviously, God orchestrated that protection.

In John 16:33, Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” This crazy world persecutes lovers of the Lord. Thankfully, the Lord has ways of preserving and providing for us who love Him. In Hebrews 13:5, “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” Praise the Lord!


[1] Matthew Henry's Commentary

The Lord is My Light – Psalm 27

“A Psalm of David. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalm 27:1

In 2 Samuel 21:17, Abishai said to David, “You shall go out no more with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel.” Abishai thought of David as a light, but David declared, “The Lord is my light.” David’s goal was to reflect the Lord’s light to people.

In Genesis 1:3, God said, “Let there be light, and there was light.” God dispels darkness by speaking His Word. God gave us His Word, the Bible, so that we would not be in the dark in regards to who created and sustains us.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus Christ is called the Word and the light. John 1:1-4 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

God’s light enlightens the minds of simple people to become wise leaders. Psalm 119:130 says, “The entrance of Your words gives light. It gives understanding to the simple.”

In John 8:12, Jesus confirmed that He is the light, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life.”

The Lord is my salvation. The Name of Jesus means the “Lord saves.” In Matthew 1:21, before Jesus was born, an angel told Joseph that Mary shall bring “forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” In Luke 2:11, “On the night that Christ was born, an angel declared to a group of shepherds who were watching their sheep, “There is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” In John 4:42, after the people of Sychar heard Jesus speak, they declared, “We know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.” We cannot save ourselves, that is, bring ourselves to heaven. Jesus can!

The Psalmist declared, “The Lord is the strength of my life.” The word for “strength” in Hebrew is מָעוֹז, it means a “stronghold.” A stronghold is a well-positioned fortress that provides safety from enemy assaults. Nothing on earth can penetrate God’s protection… not even a nuclear bomb. Proverbs 18:10 says, “The Name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run to it and are safe.”

The Lord is the strength of my frail weak life. He keeps me from fainting and wasting away. In Him, I live and move and have my being.

“Whom shall I fear? Of whom shall I be afraid?” The answer is no one when God is with me, and I am with Him.

“When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh my enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell. Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war may rise against me, in this I will be confident. One thing I have desired of the Lord that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.” Psalm 27:2-4

When David’s enemies came to devour him, God tripped them up. David did not need to smite them because they stumbled and fell. They were so confused and weakened by the Lord that they could not complete their mission.

In John 18:6, when evil men came to arrest Christ, He spoke a word, and they staggered and fell to the ground. The ruin of some of the enemies of God's people is an earnest of the complete conquest of them all. “Though they be numerous, an army of them, — though they be daring and their attempts threatening, — though they encamp against me, an army against one man, — though they wage war upon me, yet my heart shall not fear. Armies cannot hurt us if the Lord of armies protect us.” [1]

No one wants an army and a war to come against them, but David said, if these calamities happen, his heart would not fear. He would remain confident. He knew God. God is bigger than armies. Isaiah 40:15 says of God’s transcendence over the nations, , “Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the small dust on the scales…”

By trusting in the Lord, David killed lions, bears and a giant when he was only a boy.

David practiced the presence of the Lord. He declared, “One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple.” As David focused on loving the Lord, which by the way is the first commandment, the Lord was able to do things through David that He was not able to do through others.

In Genesis 35:7, Jacob called the place where God met with him the house of God. “He built an altar there and called the place El Bethel (God of the House of God), because there, God appeared to him.” God’s house is wherever He chooses to meet with us and commune with us. David tried to live in God’s “house” all his days. [2]

David inquired of God in His temple. The temple was a central gathering place for God’s people. David practiced both a personal and a public devotional life towards God. A good example for us! [3]

David sought the Lord and David inquired of the Lord. In other words, he pursued God. He did not wait for God to show up unexpectedly. David went to the temple where God was known to dwell. In a sense, David was like Mary in the New Testament. Luke 10:39 says that “Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His Word.” David wanted as much of the Lord as he could get.

David wanted to dwell in God’s house not due to the good entertainment there. Not due to the feasts that happened there! Not due to the music and good singing there! He wanted to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his temple. He desired to be in God’s courts that he might have the pleasure of meditating upon God. [4]

David’s life was full of battles and enemies, but rather than allowing thoughts of battles and enemies to dominate his thought-life, he let the peace of God which passes all understanding have his thought-life.

“For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion. In the secret place of His tabernacle, He shall hide me. He shall set me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; therefore, I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.” Psalm 27:5-6

The gracious presence of God’s Holy Spirit is the secret place of God’s tabernacle. People cannot see Him but He is there. He shows up in the promises of God’s Word. We know He has been with us when afterwards we find our feet on the rock of God’s truth. He provides us clear guidance. He assures us that our enemies will go down while we rise up. For the work of God’s Word and Spirit, David offered sacrifices of joy. By the power of God’s Spirit he sang praises.

The essence of worship is to seek the face of God. God’s favor is our chief good. In Psalms 145:16, the Lord’s open hand satisfies the desire of all living things. [5]

“Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me and answer me. When You said, ‘Seek My face,’ my heart said to You, ‘Your face, Lord, I will seek.’ Do not hide Your face from me. Do not turn Your servant away in anger. You have been my help. Do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation. When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take care of me.” Psalm 27:7-10

The Lord did hear David’s voice. He did have mercy on him and answer him. The Lord helped him. When those who were closest to David abandoned him, the Lord took care of him.

“Teach me Your way, O Lord, and lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies. Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries. For false witnesses have risen against me, and such as breathe out violence. I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord! Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord!” Psalm 27:11-14

The Lord did teach David His ways. He did lead David in a smooth path. He did deliver David from the will of those who sought an occasion to destroy him. The Lord helped David to prevail over all the fake news stories that were waged against him.

The Lord gave David faith to see God’s goodness in the land of the living. If the Lord had not given David this faith, he would have been overwhelmed with sorrow. The faith that God gave to David kept him patient, prayerful, and confident to keep pressing onward.

What a beautiful thought to see the Lord in the land of the living. 2 Peter 1:4 says that the Lord has “given to us exceedingly great and precious promises...” Especially, the promise to see God’s face. In Psalm 17:15, David wrote, “As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.” In Revelation 21:27-22:5, those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life, see God’s face. “They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light.”

1 Corinthians 2:9-10 says, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.”

David urges us his listeners to wait on the Lord. Waiting on the Lord can be compared to waiting on the gas pump to fill your gas tank. Don’t put a shot of gas into your gas tank and drive away! No, fill your tank up! Don’t give your soul a shot of Jesus per day! No, fill your soul to the brim with Jesus. He will make you strong and give you courage to face your challenges. [6]


[1] Matthew Henry’s Commentary
[2] Ibid
[3] Ibid
[4] Ibid
[5] Ibid
[6] Ibid

I Will Bless the Lord – Psalm 26

“A Psalm of David. Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity. I have also trusted in the Lord. I shall not slip. Examine me, O Lord, and prove me. Try my mind and my heart. For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes, and I have walked in Your truth.” Psalm 26:1-3

“It is probable that David penned this psalm when he was persecuted by Saul.” David, like Christ, was mistreated by authorities though he had not broken any of their laws. [1]

David trusted God to judge him rightly. King Saul judged that David was a conspirator and traitor against him, which was not true. David had no one to appeal to other than God Himself. He wanted God to vindicate him. He told the Lord, “I have walked in my integrity.” He asked the Lord to examine and prove his mind and his heart. He was confident that the Lord would find no cause for the charges that King Saul brought against him. David’s eyes have been fixed on the Lord’s lovingkindness and truth.

God put it in David’s heart to walk in truth, and he delighted to do so.

In 2 John 1:4, the Apostle John wrote, “I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, as we received commandment from the Father.”

In Revelation 19:11, Jesus is called Faithful and True, “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.”

Faithful and True invited David to walk with Him in truth and David accepted His invitation.

David was faithful and true to King Saul. In 1 Samuel 24:1-7, when Saul entered a cave where David was hiding, David’s men whispered, “This is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand.’” David could have killed King Saul but did not. Later, in 1 Samuel 26:7-11, when Abishai asked for permission to pin Saul to the ground with a spear, David again refused to harm “the Lord’s anointed,” trusting in God to remove Saul instead. David resisted calls from close friends to take justice into his own hands. He believed that God would eventually bring about justice for him.

“I have not sat with idolatrous mortals, nor will I go in with hypocrites. I have hated the assembly of evildoers and will not sit with the wicked.” Psalm 26:4-5

David avoided idolators and hypocrites. He hated evil gatherings. He would not sit with the wicked. In Psalm 1:1-2, David wrote, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night..” God’s Word provided sustenance for David’s soul and helped him to do works that glorified the Lord.

Thank God for David’s example. God can change a man and help him to make godly choices.

In Jude 1:17-19, Jude warns us not to participate with ungodly people in pursuing sinful pleasures. He wrote, “Dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, ‘In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.’ These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.” Their acceptance of you is not worth the price they want you to pay.

“I will wash my hands in innocence. So, I will go about Your altar, O Lord, that I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving and tell of all Your wondrous works. Lord, I have loved the habitation of Your house, and the place where Your glory dwells. Do not gather my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men, in whose hands is a sinister scheme, and whose right hand is full of bribes.” Psalm 26:6-10

“I will wash my hands in innocence.” The first step for drawing near to God is to be cleansed of unbelief. James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” The cleansing of hands, heart and mind from unbelief is vital. How can you come to God if you don’t believe He exists. How can you pray prayers of faith when you are double-minded? Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

In Mark 1:15, Jesus preached, “Repent and believe the Gospel.” Repent of bad thoughts against God! Believe in His goodness! Believe in His love! “God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.”

After repenting of unbelief, the next step is to come to the altar. Confess your sins to God and ask Him to apply the blood of His Son to your account. 1 John 1:7 says that “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Having your sin under the blood of Christ opens the way for the Holy Spirit to come and fill your soul with His indwelling presence.

“O Lord, that I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving and tell of all Your wondrous works.” In Acts 2:4 the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit. Afterwards, in Acts 2:11, their listeners declared, “we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” After David was cleansed of sin, he began to thank God and testify of God’s wonderous works.

Inspired by the Holy Spirit, David wrote, “I have loved the habitation of Your house, and the place where Your glory dwells.” In Ephesians 5:26, Paul wrote of the Lord cleansing people by the washing with water through the Word. The outcome of sanctification by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God is love for God.

In Psalm 51:10, David prayed, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” In Matthew 5:8, Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” A sanctified heart is a happy heart. After David’s heart was purified, he loved the habitation of God’s house. He had the joy of salvation (Psalm 51:12).

In Psalm 26:9-10, David asked the Lord to keep him from uniting his soul with sinners, evil schemers, bribers and murderers. In Matthew 6:13, Jesus taught us to pray, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” In Proverbs 1:10, Solomon coached his son, saying, “My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.” In Proverbs 1:15-16, 18, he added, “My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your foot from their path. For their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood. But they lie in wait for their own blood.” In other words, whatever evil they sow, they will reap.

“But as for me, I will walk in my integrity. Redeem me and be merciful to me. My foot stands in an even place. In the congregations I will bless the Lord.” Psalm 26:11-12

David knew the path he wanted to take. He said, “As for me, I will walk in my integrity.” In other words, as I behave when good people are watching me, so I will behave when they are not. He asked the Lord to redeem him and be merciful to him. He knew his need of the Lord’s redemptive and merciful intervention to keep him on level ground. He did not want to harbor evil thoughts about his persecutor. David preferred to congregate with God’s people and be filled with praises and blessings toward the Lord. Amen! Hallelujah!


[1] Matthew Henry's Commentary