Psalm 28

SLIDE 1 Does God hear you when you pray? Are you certain that he hears you and answers you?

F.B. Meyer, a popular preacher from England in the early 1900s, was crossing the Atlantic on an ocean liner. During the trip was asked to address the first class passengers. At the captain’s request he spoke on “Answered Prayer.” An agnostic who was present at the service was asked by his friends, “What did you think of Dr. Meyer’s sermon?” He answered, “I didn’t believe a word of it.” That afternoon Meyer went to speak to the steerage passengers. Many of the listeners at his morning address went along, including the agnostic, who claimed he just wanted to hear “what the babbler had to say.”

Before starting for the service, the agnostic put two oranges in his pocket. On his way he passed an elderly woman sitting in her deck chair fast asleep. Her hands were open. In the spirit of fun, the agnostic put the two oranges in her outstretched palms. After the meeting, he saw the old lady happily eating one of the pieces of fruit. “You seem to be enjoying that orange,” he remarked with a smile. “Yes, sir,” she replied, “My Father is very good to me.” “Your father? Surely your father can’t be still alive!” “Praise God,” she replied, “He is very much alive.” “What do you mean?” pressed the agnostic. She explained, “I’ll tell you, sir. I have been seasick for days. I was asking God somehow to send me an orange. I suppose I fell asleep while I was praying. When I awoke, I found he had not only sent me one orange but two!” The agnostic was speechless. Later he was converted to Christ.

That woman was certain God could and would answer her prayer. David was certain as well.

SLIDE 2 Let’s start by turning to 1 Samuel 18. Have you ever felt like you were being unfairly attacked? It seemed like someone or maybe even a group of people were out to get you. It is not a fun place to be in. As we go through the Book of Psalms, it would seem that David was often in that type situation. We need to remember that it wasn’t long after Samuel anointed David to be the next king that Saul began trying to kill him. Saul was jealous of the attention David was receiving. After David’s battle with Goliath we read:

6 When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with timbrels and lyres. 7 As they danced, they sang: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.” (1 Samuel 18:6-7)

Remember, this battle took place after David had been chosen by God to be the next king. Samuel had visited his home and anointed him. There’s no record that anyone told Saul about David’s anointing. However, with everyone was singing the praises of David, Saul could read the writing on the wall.

8 Saul was very angry; this refrain displeased him greatly. “They have credited David with tens of thousands,” he thought, “but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?” (1 Samuel 18:8)

Then, in the very next verses Saul makes his first attempt on taking David’s life.

9 And from that time on Saul kept a close eye on David. 10 The next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully on Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the lyre, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand 11 and he hurled it, saying to himself, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David eluded him twice. (1 Samuel 18:9-11)

One day David is helping lead the armies in victory against the Philistines and the next day the king is trying to take his life. Till the day he died, fifteen years later, Saul continued trying to kill David. Can you imagine being falsely accused and running for your life for fifteen years? We have several psalms of David that talk about how he cried out for help in his time of need. This helps to explain why there are so many.

SLIDE 3 Our psalm this evening is Psalm 28. It is another psalm in which David calls out to God in prayer for help. A Sunday school teacher asked his class if they believed God answers prayers. A lot of enthusiastic voices spoke up saying they believed he does. Then the teacher asked, “Then, why don’t we pray more frequently?” There was a long uncomfortable silence for the next few moments. Finally, the excuses began pouring out:

No time.

I’m too busy.

God’s too busy to listen to me.

I don’t know what to say.

I’m not worthy.

I don’t know how.

They believed in prayer, but didn’t want to spend the time praying. David not only believed, he also prayed. Even though God doesn’t always answer as quickly as we might like, God always hears and he always answers.

SLIDE 4 First, we hear David’s plea to God for help.

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. (Psalm 28:1-2)

David says he calls on God for help. Because David was certain that God always heard and answered his prayers, he sought God first when he was in trouble. David refers to God as a rock. When was the last time you prayed to a rock? Of course David doesn’t think God is actually a rock. In calling God a rock, David is saying that God is his foundation and source of stability in his life. God is the one thing that doesn’t move or change. God is always there. It’s been pointed out that in the Old Testament only God is described in this way. People are never described like this.

You are all familiar with the characters from Peanuts. Charles Shultz, who created the cartoon strip, tried to communicate his view of God through his cartoons. He gained much of his inspiration for the strip from those around him, especially his family. One of his daughters explained her theory of how prayer worked like this:

If you fold your hands upside down, you get the opposite of what you pray for.

It’s hard to tell where she would have gotten that idea, but often children learn their theology from the adults in their lives. Too often people think they can affect the outcome of their prayers by the vocabulary they use in their prayers, how they hold their hands, or the position of their bodies. That might work to get a better reception with your cell phone, but it has no affect on how God answers our prayers.

While David is certain God hears his prayers, it would seem that David has grown impatient. That’s why he asks that God not “turn a deaf ear” to him. David felt like his problem needed immediate attention and God was taking his time. Of course we always think our needs are much more urgent than anyone else does. The good news is God is more than aware of what we need but also of when we need it. God may seem deaf when our prayers aren’t answered as quickly as we’d like or in the way we’d like, but that’s just from our perspective.

David points out though, that if God fails to answer his prayer and rescue him, that he would be no different than those who never called out to God. They lived and died without God’s help. Of course that’s because they didn’t believe in God or trust him enough to call out to him in prayer. However, if God doesn’t deliver him, David will be just like them. He’ll be defeated by his enemies and go to the grave.

David understands how much he needs God’s help. His dependence on God is illustrated by his hands which were directed to the tabernacle. This is the third of three psalms, Psalm26, 27, and 28, in which David mentions the tabernacle of God. Two weeks ago I pointed out the different names David used for the tabernacle in Psalm 27. He called it:

House of the Lord (v. 4)

His temple (v. 4)

His dwelling (v. 5)

His sacred tent (v. 5, 6)

In this psalm he refers to the temple as the most holy place. In verse 2, David says he lifts his hands towards God’s holy temple or most holy place. The term refers to the Holy of Holies. The tabernacle, and later the temple which was patterned off of the tabernacle, had two rooms. The first room, called the Holy Place, contained the table of incense, golden lamp stand, and table of show bread. Those items required daily attention by the priests. The second room, called the Holy of Holies or Most Holy Place, contained the Ark of the Covenant. Only the high priest could enter this room and he could only go in one day a year. While the tabernacle as a whole represented God’s presence among his people, God’s Spirit resided in the Most Holy Place. David says he lifted his hands toward the Most Holy Place. Even though he was miles from the tabernacle, in his mind he was facing and directing his prayers to the place where God dwelled.

SLIDE 5 Second, we take note of David’s petition for safety.

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. 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. (Psalm 28:3-5)

David understood that one day the wicked would be judged for their evil. Interestingly, David says that they were nice to their neighbors. They sound nice enough when talking to their friends. However, they were planning evil even though they looked peaceful from the outside.

They would deserve their punishment. But David does not want to be judged with them. He wants to be separated from them.

David was asking that God bring justice and that those who planned evil would be given the punishment they deserve. In verse 4, to emphasize the point, David repeated the same idea in four different phrases:

For their deeds

For their evil work

For what their hands have done

What they deserve

David wants God to repay them for what they have done. David was asking for vengeance.

God talked about revenge and vengeance in Deuteronomy. SLIDE 6

It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them. (Deuteronomy 32:35)

In his letter to the Romans, Paul quoted this verse writing: SLDIE 7

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. SLDIE 8 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. (Romans 12:17-19)

SLDIE 9 We’re not told that there will be no justice. We’re told that it’s not our place to execute it. God will bring justice. He will avenge for evil committed. David is asking God to deliver him and bring justice. They didn’t care about God’s commands like David did.

SLIDE 10 And third, we listen to David’s praise for God’s deliverance.

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. 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. (Psalm 28:6-9)

Tony Evans is a popular preacher from Dallas Texas. Evans says he’s never been particularly comfortable riding elevators. There’s something about riding up and down in a little box several hundred feet off the ground that has never sat well with him. He worried that something would go wrong. One day it did.

The car he was riding in got stuck in between floors way up in the higher floors. He noted that some of the people in the car became frantic. They began to beat on the door hoping to get someone’s attention. Others began to yell in the hopes that their voices would get someone on the surrounding floors to come to the aid. But nobody heard their noise or their cries.

Then Evans quietly made his way to the front of the car, opened a little door in the wall and pulled out a telephone. Immediately he was connected with someone on the outside. He didn’t need to beat on the wall to get their attention. He didn’t need to speak loudly in the phone to receive their help. He could have whispered and they would have heard him.

Recalling that incident, Evans said:

In this world, we’re going to get “stuck” in places we aren’t comfortable with. Some people begin to beat against the walls, others cry out in dismay. But the person who trusts in the power of confident prayer knows there’s someone on the other end who hears their call and comes to their aid.

This prayer for help suddenly becomes a song of praise. After seeking God’s help and asking for justice, David praises God for his help. There’s no reason to believe God’s help has arrived yet, but David is completely trusting that it will. David knows that God has heard his cry for help and thanks him. Charles Spurgeon noted that true praise is not based on emotion, but:

. . . rises, like a pure spring, from the deeps of experience.

David praises God because while this prayer may not yet have been answered, previous prayers had been so he knew he could trust God with this one.

Praise the LORD! For he has heard my cry for mercy. (Psalm 28:6, NLT)

David refers to strength that assurance gave him.

If you didn’t know, English is one of the most difficult languages to learn. I’ve read that English has thirty-six tenses. But the Hebrew, there are only two: completer and incomplete. Something is either decided (complete) or undecided (incomplete). When David wrote this psalm he is telling us that he knows God had already decided the outcome of his prayer. David declares that God has heard his prayer. These things are not undecided. They are not “up in the air.” David is praying for help, but even while he is praying David is declaring that he thoroughly expects God to act. He is confident in God. There is no doubt in his mind. The outcome has already been decided. David prays this way because he has seen God do it before and he knows God will do it again. And that’s how we should pray as well. James wrote: SLIDE 11

6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. SLIDE 12 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. (James 1:6-8)

Pray like you believe God is going to answer.

SLIDE 13 This past summer a friend of mine was watching a replay of a football game. Since no one is playing football in the summer, if you’re going to watch it has to be a replay. I’m not sure why you’d want to watch a replay, but this was his favorite team so that might explain it. It was a great game and his team was leading, but then in the fourth quarter his team blew their lead and lost. Can you imagine re-watching a football game where your team blows a lead big lead? The next time he watched a replay it was one he already knew they’d won.

I’ve used this illustration before, but imagine if you’re watching your favorite team and you already know your team wins. If you know they’re going to win you don’t get upset when the other team scores a touchdown or intercepts a pass. You don’t even get discouraged when your team goes down by two touchdowns. And when they go down three touchdowns you start to get excited. Why? Because you already know they’re going to win. The exciting part is to sit back and watch how because when they’re down by twenty-one points and have less than a 5% chance of winning, you know the game is about to get really good for your team. It gives you a confidence you wouldn’t normally have.

David doesn’t know how God is going to answer, but he is certain he will and that gives David strength to continue on. We don’t know how God is going to work in our lives, but the promise we have is that he does. SLIDE 14 Paul wrote to the Philippians of his confidence that God would continue to work in their lives until he brought what he was doing to completion on the day of Christ. SLIDE 15 And he wrote to the Romans of the confidence he had that God works through everything we face for our good. God gives strength to those who trust him. He empowers them to persevere through any trial.

SLIDE 16 I like the way the NIV words verse 7:

My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him. (Psalm 28:7b)

Has your heart ever leapt for joy because of what God has done for you? Shouldn’t it, when we consider all that God has done? David is so filled with joy that he can’t help but sing God’s praise.

I read that and it reminds me of a musical. Musicals just don’t make sense. Who just bursts out in song in the middle of the street? And how does everyone seem to know the words to a song they’ve never heard before? I don’t know that David actually began singing, but he did write down the words to this song and sang them later. His joy had to be expressed in some way.

David ends the psalm as he did Psalm 25, praying for the nation. For those who trust in God, God is their strength. He is better than any fortress. He is a refuge providing salvation for his people. David asks that God would save and bless his people.

Even as he described God as his shepherd in Psalm 23, God is a shepherd to the nation. They too need his guidance and care.

David is not just praying for the people though, he is encouraging them to look to God even as he does. He wants them to turn to God in prayer and trust him because God hears the prayers of his people and answers.

William Gurnall wrote about prayer saying:

Never was a faithful prayer lost. Some prayers have a longer voyage than others, but then they return with their richer lading at last, so that the praying soul is a gainer by waiting for an answer.

As a child, Annie Clayton and her sister Vanie took a long walk one Saturday morning to collect some scraps of wood as fuel for heating their family’s home. As they returned, Vanie collapsed from the lingering effects of cholera and was unable to proceed.

Annie, who was only five years old, was helpless and they sat beside the road not knowing what to do. Finally Vanie said, “You know, Annie, that a good while ago mother told us that if we ever got into trouble, we should pray, and God would help us. Now you help me get down upon my knees, and hold me up, and we will pray.” So there on the sidewalk, the two sisters prayed earnestly for someone to come along to help them. Then they resumed sitting on the curb waiting to see how God would answer their prayers.

Far down the street, they spotted a man who walked out of a factory and looked curiously up the street, and the girls thought perhaps he was the one God would send. But the man went back into the factory. A minute later he came out again, looked up the street again, and reentered the factory. Then the man walked out of the factory a third time wearing his hat and walking toward them.

Approaching the children, the man said in a broken German accent, “O children, what is the matter?” When they explained the situation to him, the man hoisted Vanie up in his arms and carried her all the way home.

Once the girls were safely delivered, the gentleman told his story. He was the proprietor of an ink factory, and he had been working hard on payroll checks for his men. Suddenly as he was pouring over his books his eyes had clouded up and his vision had blurred. He had a plain impression that someone on the street wanted to see him, so he stepped outside and tried to focus his eyes up and down the street. Seeing no one, he returned to his desk and tried to work.

The darkness in his vision was even worse, and the impression was even greater. So he walked outside again, puzzled. Then he returned to his work again, but his fingers would not grasp the pen. He found himself unable to write a word; moreover the impression on his mind was urgent. So he grabbed his hat and walked up the street in bewilderment until he saw the girls who had prayed earnestly for someone to come along and help them.

God always hears your prayers and he always answers. You can trust him.