Psalm 28:7

Psalm 28 is a prayer of David that begins as a lament. In Psalm 28:1–3 he begs the LORD to answer him, afraid that if God stays silent he will be like those who go down into the pit, which is the grave. He asks to be kept apart from the workers of iniquity, who speak peace to their neighbours while they plan harm in their hearts. In Psalm 28:4–5 he asks God to repay them for their deeds, because they disregard the works of the LORD.

Then, with verse 6, everything changes. The man who was crying out a moment before now blesses God, because God has heard him. Verse 6 is the hinge of the whole psalm, and verse 7 is the overflow of a prayer that has been answered. The psalm then closes in Psalm 28:8–9 with more praise and a prayer for all of God’s people.

The occasion of the psalm is unknown. David lived through many seasons of danger, such as his flight from King Saul and the rebellion of his son Absalom, and any time of personal or national threat would fit it. For Israel, prayer was a living exchange with a God who acts in the world, and his hearing of prayer was part of his faithfulness to the people bound to him by covenant. The workers of iniquity in this psalm are those who broke that covenant and wronged others through lies, violence and betrayal, and David looks to God to vindicate and protect him.

“Blessed be the LORD” uses the verb bârak, to bless. When a person blesses God, he worships him, declares that he is worthy of praise, and thanks him for who he is and for what he has done. All blessing comes from the LORD, and in blessing him David gives back thanks for it. The Hebrew phrase is a direct acclamation with the verb left unstated, and the KJV supplies “be” to make it read in English.

David praises God here by deliberate choice, and his praise has a definite reason, which follows at once with “because”. God is worthy of praise in every circumstance, and on this day David has a particular act of God to thank him for.

The verb shâmaʻ, “heard”, means to hear, and in Scripture it often carries the sense of listening closely, understanding and heeding. When God hears a prayer, he has taken notice of it, understood it, and will act on it according to his will and character. Scripture speaks of God hearing in human terms so that we can grasp it, and what it tells us is true: he attends to his people.

“Supplications” translates tachănûwn, a plural noun for earnest pleas for favour and mercy. It is the word of someone who knows his need, comes humbly, and asks God for unmerited grace. “The voice of my supplications” is the sound of that pleading, prayer spoken aloud from the heart, and David’s comfort is that this voice reached God.

David says the same in another psalm: “The LORD hath heard my supplication; the LORD will receive my prayer” (Psalm 6:9). God himself calls his people to pray like this, telling them through Jeremiah to call to him and promising to answer (Jeremiah 33:3). Prayer, then, is a true conversation with a living God, and the confidence of this verse belongs to every believer who comes to him in humility and faith.

Verse 7 opens with who God is to David. As in verse 6, the verb is understood in Hebrew and supplied in English, and the statement stands in the present: the LORD is, all the time, his strength and his shield. The word “my” before each title makes the confession personal.

“Strength” is ‘oz, which means strength or might and can also mean a stronghold. “Shield” is mâgên, the shield a soldier carried in battle, and the same word is used as a title for God, or for a king, as the protector of his people. Both are pictures from war, and they suit a king and soldier whose life was full of conflict, betrayal and enemies. The strength is God enabling David to face what is beyond his own power, and the shield is God standing between him and harm.

In a world where survival depended on strong armies, walled cities and good armour, David places his strength and his safety in the LORD. He says so in another psalm: “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God” (Psalm 20:7). The Psalms speak of God this way again and again. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1), and David calls the LORD his rock, his fortress and his deliverer (Psalm 18:2).

The middle of the verse tells what happened. “Trusted” is bâṭach, to rely on someone and be secure in him. It means leaning fully on God, casting one’s cares on him and resting in his faithfulness, a firm confidence that he will act. This trust was in David’s heart, lev, which in Scripture is the inner person, the seat of thought, will and feeling.

“And I am helped” uses ʻâzar, to help, in a passive form. David was helped, and the help came from outside himself, from God, who acted graciously for the one who trusted him. David trusted, and God helped. Proverbs gives the same counsel: “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5–6). Paul tells believers to be careful for nothing, but in every thing to make their requests known to God by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6–7), which is the very path this psalm walks.

“Therefore” ties the joy to the help. The heart that trusted is now the heart that rejoices, and the same word, lev, stands behind both. “Greatly rejoiceth” is ʻâlaz, to jump for joy or exult, the triumphant gladness of someone who has been delivered. Another psalm describes the same turn, where God changes mourning into dancing and girds his servant with gladness (Psalm 30:11–12).

The joy inside then comes out in song. “With my song will I praise him” is a vow to worship aloud, where others can hear what God has done. Music and shared worship were woven into Israel’s life with God, and a person rescued from danger would often tell of it in public praise. The future “will I praise” looks ahead, as David commits himself to go on praising the God who has proved faithful. He says the same elsewhere: “I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Psalm 34:1).

Taken together, the two verses move from pleading, to God’s hearing, to trust, to help, to joy, to song. God’s deliverance brings relief, and it also brings his people to worship him.

Jesus prayed as one who was always heard. At the tomb of Lazarus he thanked the Father for hearing him and said that he knew the Father heard him always (John 11:41–42). By his sinless life and his death on the cross as the Lamb of God (John 1:29), he opened the way for us to come before God with confidence, and our supplications are heard on the ground of his finished work. The Spirit helps us as well, interceding for us “with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Romans 8:26–27), so that even our weak prayers are brought before God according to his will.

Christ is also the strength and shield of his people. Paul writes, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13), and he asks who can condemn those for whom Christ died and rose and now intercedes (Romans 8:31–34). The help that comes through trusting him is salvation, which is by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8–9). And David’s song carries on in the praise of every believer: “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name” (Hebrews 13:15).

These two verses give us David’s own words for the moment when God has heard us, and they show who God is. He listens to the voice of people pleading for mercy, he is strength and shield to those who trust him, and he is glad to be thanked in song. The trust behind David’s joy grows from God’s word, for “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17), and it grows as God’s people remember how he has helped them before. David blessed the LORD while his enemies were still around him, and that same praise belongs to everyone who has cried to God and been heard.