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