Psalm 28

David’s Submission

David calls out to the Lord for help. When he says, “I call” it can also mean to call forth. For what purpose is David calling God forth? The phrase “my rock” is in reference to a particular attribute of God’s nature. A rock in Hebrew literature is representative of protection (see Moses in Exodus 33:18 - 23). David is calling forth Elohim Shomri - or the God of my protection. He is calling forth a particular attribute of God that he needs.

David’s need is a desperate one. He says that if God does not act he will be like those who go down to the pit, literally to death. On Wednesday morning, I had a really strange dream where I was out shopping with Rachel, Eoin, and Lydia and we had just left a particular shop and we were walking down the road to the car when a flash flood suddenly swept down the road. I was in a rush and was therefore ahead of my three children, but when I turned back to see what was happening, I saw Eoin washed down into some reeds close to me. But Rachel and Lydia were helplessly being washed down the road and out of sight. So I grabbed Eoin and shoved him into the car in the most undignifiend manner and in a panic I was preparing to drive after the girls.... and that is when my alarm went off. I woke up with a feeling of heaviness, uneasiness and turmoil within me. I knew that it was a dream, but it felt so real.

It is this feeling of heaviness, uneasiness and turmoil that David is feeling. He is saying, “God of my protection, if you do not act here, I will die”. This may not be a physical death, it may be a spiritual death - something he refers in verse 3.

He then pleads for Mercy from the Lord in verse 2.

While verse 3 gives us an insight into what was happening in David’s life at this time, it is also an insight into his struggle with temptation. He prays that he would not be like his enemies. David’s enemies sought to kill him, and it would have been easier for David to retaliate and to seek to kill his enemies first than to hold back and trust the Lord to take vengeance. A desire for vengeance is very much part of the human condition and David had a number of opportunities to exact vengeance, particularly on Saul (see 1 Samuel 26 & 28).

In verse 4, David pleads for the Lord to judge his enemies in accordance with the evil that they have done.

David’s Salvation

Elohim Yeshua - The God of my Salvation.

Some time must have passed between David starting this prayer and David ending it. There is a stark change of tone and intent in David’s prayer from verse 6. He praises God for answering his prayer in a passionate and emotive manner. He again testifies to the faithfulness of the Lord, and reiterates his dependance upon the Lord in verse 7.

David’s phrasing is very similar to what we read from Paul in Roman 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

“Is God for you?”

The message of this Psalm and of the the book of 1 Samuel is that God determines what is right and wrong, he determines how he ought to be worshiped and when. God is not at my mercy, I am at his mercy. God does not fit into my plans for life, I fit into his. I cannot save myself, he must save me.

Do you see this? Do you like David, see the depravity in your own heart and the vileness of your sin. Do you see the hopelessness of your current position and therefore cry out to God like David does,

Hear me, oh God. Do not be silent or I will die. Please hear my prayers for mercy. Do not let me be dragged off with the wicked, but save me from myself and from your justice. Hear my prayers, oh God.

If that is your prayer and you accept Jesus Christ as your substitute, then the promises at the end of the psalm can be yours, like they were David’s.

David’s Strength