Psalms 28:1

The Bible says in Psalms 28:1-2, “Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.[2] Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.” These two verses are an expression of David’s desire to have his prayers answered. That would be terrible to spend time talking to God, and then not have the prayers answered. If your prayers are not answered, you are the same as those who do not pray. David said that if God is “silent” to him, then David is the same as those “that go down into the pit.” People who are on the way to hell do not pray, and therefore do not have answers to prayer. If such unbelievers would like to change the direction that they are headed, they can pray to Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. The Lord always answers that prayer.

But for people who are true believers, there are reasons that their prayers may not be answered. It says in Psalms 66:18, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” You must not be living in sin. You must be confessing your sins daily to have God hear your prayers. Also, in order to have your prayers answered, you must believe. That is, you must have faith that God will answer your prayer. It does not take a lot of faith, but it does take faith, that is, confidence in God. Jesus said in Matthew 17:20, “And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” Another reason that some Christians do not have all of their prayers answered is because they do not meet with other Christians in church services and pray with them. Jesus gave this promise about answers to prayer in Matthew 18:19, “Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.”

Of course, in order to have your prayers answered, you must pray. It says at the end of James 4:2, “…yet ye have not, because ye ask not.” And your attitude in prayer is important too. It says at the end of James 5:16, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” There is at least one more thing that can keep your prayers from being answered: praying for the wrong reason, that is, praying selfishly. It says in James 4:3, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” We should always follow Jesus’ example when we pray, and ask for God’s will, not our will.

The Bible says in Psalms 28:3, “Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.” David knows that “the wicked” have a terrible future. David also knows that he is a sinner, and that it is by the grace of God that David would be given a different future than the workers of iniquity. What makes the wicked people so bad? They “speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.” They are deceitful, and their goal is to take advantage of people. David knows that he is not like that.

The Bible says in Psalms 28:4, “Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert.” David expresses a normal desire that those who do wicked deeds would receive the just recompense for their deeds. And David is doing it the right way: he is putting the issue in God’s hands. God must determine who needs to be punished and when.

The Bible says in Psalms 28:5, “Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up.” God blesses everyone on the earth: the unbelievers and the believers. That is because God wants to prove His great love to everyone. God is hoping that the unbelievers will turn to Him while there is still time. Therefore, those who continue to turn their backs on Christ and to “regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands,” are sealing their own doom at the judgment.

The Bible says in Psalms 28:6, “Blessed be the LORD, because He hath heard the voice of my supplications.” In the rest of the verses of this chapter the Psalmist mentions several great things about God. Here is one great blessing: the LORD hears us. This means that He answers our prayers. Prayer changes things because God answers prayer. He loves us and He likes to give us what we ask.

The Bible says in Psalms 28:7, “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.” There is a lot of truth and blessing in this verse, like many of the verses in the Psalms. David calls the LORD his “strength.” That means that God will do for David what needs to be done. David also calls the LORD his “shield.” That means that God will protect David from any spiritual attacks. How does anyone benefit from God being his strength and his shield. David said, “my heart trusted in him, and I am helped.” The lesson is clear. If you put your rust in the LORD Jesus, you will be helped the same way that David was: the LORD will be your strength and your shield too. And then when you see how much the LORD helped you and protects you, you will be happy. You will rejoice and sing praises to the LORD.

The Bible says in Psalms 28:8-9, “The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.[9] Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever.” In the previous verse David stated that the LORD was his “strength.” In these two verses David is stating what we all know: the benefits that David had from trusting in the LORD are the same benefits and advantages that all believers have access to. In addition to being our strength, David uses four verbs to describe what the LORD does for us: “save,” “bless,” “feed,” and “lift.” God will save us. He will deliver us from every difficult situation. So when something bad happens to you, you can just immediately think, “We get to see what the Lord Jesus will do about this.” The Lord will bless you if you are a believer in Jesus. God’s blessings will be showered upon you. It is part of following the Lord. Jesus will “feed” you too. The most important food that you will get is spiritual food from the Bible. When you believe on Jesus, you are given the Holy Spirit inside of you. He will enlighten you. Find a good Bible-teaching church and the Lord will use those teaching to feed you. God always raises up men to teach His Word so that the believers will benefit. Jesus told Peter, “Feed my sheep.” God will “lift” you up. God will make you better than you otherwise would have been. God will open up doors of opportunity for you so that you can serve Him and earn great rewards in heaven. You will go to heaven by faith in Christ, but your rewards in heaven will be based upon your service. God will equip with gifts of the Spirit, and God will give opportunities for service so that you will earn those rewards for the glory of Christ. God will lift you up. Find out what your spiritual gifts are, and look for opportunities to use them.

___________________________________________________