**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. ** Psalm 28:7
Here we see the end of the story on yesterday’s post of David’s struggle to not allow himself to overreact to his problems.
In verses 3-5 of this Psalm, David shows us his vengeful heart. In a moment of weakness, he wants his enemies to pay for all the trouble they have caused him. He wants God to be severe and unforgiving. It is not one of David’s finest moments.
But, now we see that he has had some time to calm down. To get some better perspective. He has seen God answer his prayers, and his faith and courage is restored. The LORD has protected him, again. He has stood by his side, again. So, David’s reply…
Praising God, again!
I think that is probably how it is supposed to work. God does his part and we do ours.
Most problems show up when we try to change places with God. We want to be judge and jury. We want to decide who gets off ( which to be honest is usually us, not them) and who gets condemned. And then, when we have done God’s job for him, we expect him to be proud of us and pat us on the back.
But, David does get back on track. He is writing and singing and praising God again. He gets his sights off of himself and starts to think of others’ needs. He reminds us that God is our strength, not just his in verse 8, and then prays for God’s people to be saved from their enemies and asks him to bless them, care for them and to never stop.
I imagine that we can all relate to David and his situation. We have all at one time or another been so overwhelmed with our own problems that we have lost sight of forgiveness, righteousness, thankfulness and grace.
I am going through all of this in a small way right now. I am trying to stay positive and thankful for all that the LORD is doing but at the same time, I am wondering how many more things will go wrong. I can throw the blame at my enemies, just like David did. But mine are not human and I can’t see them or talk to them, they are my spiritual enemies and I war against them much more often than I’d like.
So, Psalm 28 is a help to me. It’s keeping me from going over the edge with my emotions or my words. But that doesn’t mean that the battle isn’t what it is. Prayer, gratitude, and scripture that keeps me focused are all some of the ways that I fight back. And yes, praise too. My phone is full of some of my favorite worship music. I’ve been listening to them more.
Many years ago, a pastor said, if things aren’t going the way you want them to, go bake someone some cookies. Just like David in this season of his life, we need to get back on track and start thinking of others and being a blessing to them. It helps us put our own problems where they belong. In God’s hands.