seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Psalm 28:1 To you, Lord, I call;
you are my Rock,
do not turn a deaf ear to me.
For if you remain silent,
I will be like those who go down to the pit.
2 Hear my cry for mercy
as I call to you for help,
as I lift up my hands
toward your Most Holy Place.
you are my Rock,
do not turn a deaf ear to me.
For if you remain silent,
I will be like those who go down to the pit.
2 Hear my cry for mercy
as I call to you for help,
as I lift up my hands
toward your Most Holy Place.
3 Do not drag me away with the wicked,
with those who do evil,
who speak cordially with their neighbors
but harbor malice in their hearts.
4 Repay them for their deeds
and for their evil work;
repay them for what their hands have done
and bring back on them what they deserve.
with those who do evil,
who speak cordially with their neighbors
but harbor malice in their hearts.
4 Repay them for their deeds
and for their evil work;
repay them for what their hands have done
and bring back on them what they deserve.
5 Because they have no regard for the deeds of the Lord
and what his hands have done,
he will tear them down
and never build them up again.
and what his hands have done,
he will tear them down
and never build them up again.
6 Praise be to the Lord,
for he has heard my cry for mercy.
7 The Lord is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.
My heart leaps for joy,
and with my song I praise him.
for he has heard my cry for mercy.
7 The Lord is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.
My heart leaps for joy,
and with my song I praise him.
8 The Lord is the strength of his people,
a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.
9 Save your people and bless your inheritance;
be their shepherd and carry them forever.
a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.
9 Save your people and bless your inheritance;
be their shepherd and carry them forever.
Of course the last three words of this poem stand out for me. As I read this... I saw David sitting out on the edge of a meadow.... there are sheep grazing around him.... I figure in this daydream he is just taking a break. As he's writing... he sees a lamb... a lamb that probably can't keep up... a lamb that has to be carried when the flock is moved to the next meadow...... and then I saw those last three words "carry them forever".
This is from the easy English site.
We do not know when David wrote Psalm 28. The end of the psalm tells us that there was danger for the whole country. Verse 8 is about the Messiah. In the time of David this was the king. Later it meant God's special servant and last of all Jesus. At the time of David , if God gave help to the Messiah it meant that he gave help to the whole country. In verses 1-5 David prays for help. In verses 6-9 he thanks God for giving him and his people help. Perhaps the danger was fighting other countries; perhaps it was illness in many homes. Whatever it was, God answered David's prayer. He gave help to David and to his people.
Verse 1: "Rock" is a name for God. You will find it in Psalm 18:2 and in other psalms. It means that God is a place where people can hide and be safe. Twice David says "from me". He felt that God was looking away from him. This makes us think of Psalm 22:1, "My God, why have you left me by myself? Why is my help far away?" David thinks that he will go down into the pit. The pit is where the Jews believed that very bad people went when they died.
Verse 2: When they prayed, Jews often lifted their hands up to God. This meant that they were lifting themselves to God. It also meant that they had nothing to hide. Christians do the same. Paul wrote, "I want people everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands". (1 Timothy 2:8) The most holy place was part of God's house. There God spoke to the leader of the people.
Verse 3: "Drag" is what they did to bad people. They dragged them to the place where they would kill them. In the psalm, the people were bad because they did not obey God. They were godless.
Verse 4: These people made bad plans. God can make these bad plans hurt the people that made them. "The work of their hands" means the things that people do. In verse 4 the people did bad things with their hands.
Verse 5: Here we read of "the work of his hands". This means the good things that God did. The word "God" is not in Psalm 28. David uses the word "LORD". That is the word that the people of God use for him. It means that they are his servants. And they love him and they obey him. It also means that they have begun to understand God. The godless do not understand God. It means that they do not love him or obey him. In the end God will destroy what they do ("the works of their hands").
Verse 6: The psalm changes here. David has stopped asking for help. This is because God has given him and his people help. Look in verses 2 and 6. You will find the same words in them, "my voice when I prayed for mercy". In verse 2 David makes the prayer, but here he says that the LORD has heard his prayer. In the Hebrew, this also means that he has answered the prayer. The word "mercy" is a special Christian word. It means that God is kind to people that he really should punish or hurt. Only the Christian God does this.
Verse 7: In the Bible the heart means the place where you think. To jump for joy means that you are very, very happy.
Verse 8: The Hebrew says "the LORD makes them strong". "Them" must mean the people that David is king over. The Messiah when David wrote the psalm was David himself, the king. To Christians, the Messiah is Jesus.
Verse 9: "Your inheritance" here means "your people". "Be the shepherd" gives us help to remember that Jesus (LORD in the psalm) is the good shepherd. "Lift them up" may mean "carry them" or it may mean "make them great".
There's some discussion about why a shepherd would carry a sheep. Some say he has to carry the sheep because he broke one of its legs so it wouldn't wander off. Others say he's carrying the sheep because its little and can't keep up.
If I were to believe that the shepherd breaks the sheep's leg to keep it from wandering off.... what does that tell me about the shepherd? Is he willing to cripple an animal to save it? If he has more than one errant sheep does he carry both?
If I were to believe that the shepherd just carries the sheep until it's capable of outrunning a threat.... what does that tell me about the shepherd. Is he willing to carry that animal around forever? Why would he? Eventually that lamb will grow swift enough to outrun a threat.
The key word for me... is forever. It doesn't matter if the Lord has to break my legs to keep me safe. I figure He started doing that the day I accepted Him as my Father and Savior. It doesn't matter if the Lord thinks I'm to slow to keep out of trouble. I figure He started carrying me out of trouble before I ever got to the womb. The stars had to align for my mom to meet my dad and conceive me..... and God knew I would be heading His way.... traveling with His flock... and if He has to... He'll carry me.... forever!!!!
God says "I got you".
