Jehovah is my strength and my shield; my heart confided in him, and I was helped therefore my heart exulteth, and with my song will I praise him.
Psalm 28 opens with a man crying to God from the edge of the grave. He fears that heaven will stay silent. He asks God not to sweep him away with people who speak friendly words while they plan evil. By verse 7 everything has changed. God has heard the cry, and the same voice that begged is now singing.
Prayer answered, praise begun
The verse sits on the hinge of the psalm. God has given what the opening verses asked for, and the writer names what God proved Himself to be. The writers below call Him Jehovah, the personal name of God used in the Old Testament.
Here Jehovah has heard and helped. He has shown Himself both strength and shield. He has answered the prayer, and praise follows.
Two words, two needs
"Strength" and "shield" are not repetition. One meets the enemy; the other keeps the man safe while he does.
The wicked are destroyed, but the Lord richly blesses the believer. The Lord has heard his pleading. In the quiet confidence of faith he calls the Lord his "strength and shield" — strength to meet the attacks of the enemy, and a shield of perfect protection. He trusts in Him, and so he says, "I am helped." His heart then fills with joy and with singing praise to the Lord.
Why the cry mattered
The help in verse 7 answers the calling out of verses 1 and 2. That calling out is not a formality. It is a sign of where a soul stands.
The heart connects itself with Jehovah in crying to Him. The cry assumes that Jehovah cares about us. We start from that, and we openly admit that we depend on Him. So crying and prayer to the Lord matter, and they show the state of the soul. We may want things from Jehovah and believe He is good to give them. But crying to Him ties us to Him in public, in front of other people. Here the psalmist is in extreme distress — the pit of the grave lies open before him… Here his faith shows itself in crying out, when to human eyes all seemed hopeless.
Trust as a verdict on God's character
Notice the singular and personal note: it is my heart that trusted. The rescue is not the whole gain. It also proves that the heart's estimate of God was right all along.
But Jehovah's rescue gives us far more than the rescue itself. He has delivered us. The heart was attached to Him, adored Him, looked up to Him, believed Him, and He has not failed us. Oh, how true this is, and how it attaches the heart to Him afresh! So here (vv. 6, 7), "in Him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to Him." Looking to Jehovah with that confidence means truly entering into His character and being shaped by it. You value it, delight in it, honour it, and count it impossible that He should be anything else.
The same writer puts it in everyday terms. Think of a friend you would stake your life on. Now picture a moment when his coming to help looks impossible.
I am sure he will come. I rely with affection on what he is… To my mind he is greater than any circumstance, because he acts out of his own excellence. That is what I value and depend on… When he has acted, I rejoice in him, in my estimate of him. I say, I knew my judgment of him was right; I knew him, and what he is.
One song, then a wider one
In verse 7 the strength is "my" strength. In verse 8 it belongs to God's people and to His anointed one. The psalm then closes by asking God to save the whole nation. One writer reads the psalm as prophecy — the voice of Christ heard in a faithful few of Israel during a coming time of trial.
In Psalm 28 the psalmist cries out in distress — if Jehovah does not step in, he will go down to the pit. He prays that God will not drag him away with the wicked, and his heart rejoices that the Lord has heard. Here we find the Spirit of Christ throughout, leading the cry of the faithful few. "The LORD is my strength," "The LORD is the strength of His people" — "He is the saving refuge of His anointed" — "Oh, save Your people," it closes.
Summary
- Cry. Calling on God in trouble is not a last resort. It is the mark of real dependence, and it ties you to Him in front of others.
- Trust. The heart's confidence is a verdict on God's character — you are saying He cannot be other than good.
- Help. God answers with strength for the fight and a shield around the fighter. Together they are what "I am helped" means.
- Song. Praise is the natural next step after answered prayer. Rescue binds the heart to the Rescuer more closely than before.
- Widening. The psalm will not stop at "my" — it moves out to God's people and His Anointed, ending in prayer for all of them.