Commonplace –
“The Lord is my strength and 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).
Psalm 28 is a prayer. David confesses his allegiance to the Lord by acknowledging he will turn to God alone. He petitions God to answer when he cries and lifts up his hands to Him. He prays to not be included with the wicked, those who say one thing but mean another, and asks they be punished according “to the wickedness of their endeavours” (v.4a) and that they be sent to “their desert” (v.4b), because they, unlike him, do not turn to God. David ends his prayer with faith, blessing God for hearing his prayer and proclaiming “my heart trusted in [God], and I am helped” (v.7) and closes with a prayer for his people, that God will save them, bless them, feed them, and lift them up forever” (v.9).
Matthew Henry presents the following two viewpoints regarding Psalm 28.
“The former part of this psalm is the prayer of a saint militant and now in distress (v. 1-3), to which is added the doom of God’s implacable enemies (v. 4,5). The latter part of the psalm is the thanksgiving of a saint triumphant and delivered out of his distresses (v.6-8), to which is added a prophetical prayer for all God’s faithful loyal subjects (v.9), so that it is hard to say which of these two conditions David was in when he penned it. Some think he was now in trouble seeking God, but at the same time preparing to praise him for his deliverance, and by faith giving him thanks for it, before it was wrought. Others think he was now in triumph, but remembered, and recorded for his own and others’ benefit, the prayers he made when he was in affliction, that the mercy might relish the better, when it appeared to be an answer to them” (272).
From my summary, it’s apparent which view I believe it is, which is that he is in distress when he prays it. Which view do you think it is?
Works Cited
Henry, Matthew. “Psalm 28.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3 and Volume 6, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.
Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.
© 2025 Angela Hormberg
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