Pray to...

As we work our way slowly through the Psalms in our series: “Psummer in the Psalms”, we come this morning to Psalm 28. Next week is Psalm 29, if you couldn’t guess.

Psalm 28 is what some call “A Royal Prayer”. This psalm is a prayer of David who is, almost certainly, at this moment the king of Israel.

As with any psalm, if the occasion isn’t mentioned for us, we can’t place the psalm at any one particular moment in the psalmists life. We simply know who wrote it. We can imagine these words—this prayer—coming from David at a number of different points in his life.

At whatever moment or occasion this was, this is what David prays:

If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to the book of Psalms. Turn to Psalm 28 and keep your Bible open there as we eavesdrop on David’s prayer.

Psalm 28:1–2 NIV

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.

One of David’s fears—possibly his main fear—is that the LORD would turn a deaf ear to him. David couldn’t deal with silence from God. Unresponsiveness from the LORD is something David dreads.

We’re probably all right there with David. We spoke about prayer on Wednesday night while studying a parable about prayer. To think that God has turned a deaf ear or that He might simply not respond at all—that would be deflating at best. I would struggle greatly if I thought the LORD didn’t listen to us.

If the LORD Yahweh—the covenant God—doesn’t hear, what then? David uses a pretty bleak metaphor for this scenario: For if you remain silent, I will be like those who go down to the pit.

The “pit” is sometimes the same thing as Sheol (the realm of the dead. Sometimes “pit” is synonymous with death itself.

Allen Ross explains what this means:

“Those going down to the pit are not just dying, but dying without hope. In this simile, David is comparing himself to the ungodly: if his prayer goes unanswered, he will not appear to be different [from them]. He will die as they die, without any reprieve from the LORD.”

While David is pleading with the LORD, to make sure He listens, there is some encouragement.

David refers to the LORD as “my Rock.”

That the LORD is known throughout the Old Testament as “the Rock” brings to mind security and stability—strong, steady, dependable, able to hold you up.

There’s likely even more to the image of the LORD as Rock.

Do you remember when the LORD told Moses to strike the rock at Horeb when the Israelites were grumbling and complaining about being thirsty?

The LORD had Moses strike the rock, and the rock became the source of life-giving water (the LORD standing there before Moses by the rock at Horeb).

Rock may not be simply security and stability, but provision and sufficiency. The term— “My Rock” — is loaded with truth. It’s to HIM that David prays.

Do you see the posture David takes in prayer (at the end of verse 2)?

David lifts his hands. This was the characteristic stance of prayer for the Hebrew people. Standing, hands raised, palms up, reaching toward heaven.

The kneeling, folding hands, eyes closed was an innovation from medieval times.

David’s praying, hands raised, facing the LORD’s Most Holy Place, the place in the temple that housed the ark of the covenant, where the glory of the LORD dwelled between the two cherubim.

Only the High Priest could enter there, and then, only one day a year—Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

David couldn’t go into that place—into the Most Holy Place—but he trusted his prayers could. And they did, because we pray to

The One Who Hears

If the LORD doesn’t hear our prayers, it’s all over. David knew that. I think we know that, but sometimes, if we’re not careful with our words, it could start to sound like we believe the power is in the prayer and not with the One who hears.

To say a prayer is nothing, to speak a prayer is nothing, prayer on its own is nothing—NOTHING if it isn’t directed toward and trusting the God who hears.

If the LORD is silent, or deaf, if the LORD doesn’t hear, well…that’s the ballgame.

If the LORD doesn’t hear, there is no hope. Not for David. Not for you. Not for me. No hope for anyone if the hearing LORD is not there.

My best friend in college worked across the street from campus at a 24-hour gas station. Kwik-Shop in Manhattan, Kansas holds a lot of memories for me (odd as that sounds). Many a night spent hanging out there, eating the old hot dogs they were about to throw away, drinking endless free refills of Dr. Pepper. During my Junior and Senior year of college, I logged hundreds of hours in that Kwik Shop.

If you happened to walk into Kwik Shop early in the morning during those years, you might have decided there was no employee working, only a few hungry college kids eating Cheddarwursts and downing free soda.

Several times, I know that’s exactly what it looked like to customers who came in. My friend, Richard, would be in the back working on something and Nathan and Cory and I would just be standing there eating our free hot dogs and drinking our free sody-pwop.

Customers would come in and stand at the register for a bit, waiting for someone to help them. Eventually, they’d look around and find one of us. They’d ask:

“Do you guys work here?”

“Nope. Wanna a hot dog?”

The confusion on their faces was priceless. They had come to a 24-hour gas station and no one was there to run the place.

So with David’s prayer. If the LORD is not there to help, if HE is silent, then David’s prayer is a non-starter.

But here, as with other psalms, the LORD is the One who hears. In Psalm 65:2 for instance, David addresses the LORD by saying “You who answer prayer…”

We pray to the One who hears.

Psalm 28:3–5 NIV

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.

These verses are David’s main petition, especially verse 4. David is praying to the One who hears and to the One who works justice, because there are wicked, evil, malicious people.

David isn’t necessarily thinking about other nations, but those within Israel who hate and oppose him and his reign as king.

He’s dealing with two-faced people: they wave kindly at their neighbors and talk to them over the fence, but inwardly, they’re full of hate, and they turn and gossip about them behind their backs. They make a good show, but their intention is to harm.

David’s enemies couldn’t care less about what the LORD has done.

It seems they might have known who the LORD was, but they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking grew futile and their foolish hearts were darkened (Romans 1:21).

Because of their behavior, David prays against them—and prays to

The One Who Works Justice

David wants God’s retribution— “Repay them for their deeds…repay them for what their hands have done.”

As much as David probably wanted to pay them back, to get back at them, to take revenge upon his enemies, he knows that the LORD will exact justice.

Vengeance is the LORD’s. Not ours. Not ever. We don’t take revenge; rather, we pray for the LORD to avenge.

Commit vengeance to the LORD. Pray that God will do it. Pray, like David, for God to take them out.

At times, we might start to think that there is “nothing we can do” about the evildoers and wicked people among and around us.

But Psalm 28 says we can do something. We can pray. We can pray against them. We can pray God will punish them. We can pray God will take them out.

You see, our God is the One who hears and the One who works justice. We leave that to Him, for He is just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

What the LORD does is always right. He will come and set the world at rights. He will right every wrong. He is just.

And—praise the LORD—He is the One who justifies, the One who makes us right with Himself through the death of His Son, Jesus.

Just and the Justifier. That’s the God to whom we pray.

Psalm 28:6–8 NIV

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.

This prayer is multi-faceted, but it makes perfect sense.

Consider the logic: David’s conviction is that the LORD is not silent and will not turn a deaf ear toward him. So he prays, asking the LORD to deal with what David cannot handle. And now, when the LORD answers that prayer, David sings his praise, praying to

The One We Praise

The LORD has answered the pray-er’s prayer, and so praise is in order: Praise be to the LORD—Yahweh, the covenant keeping God.

David’s heart leaps for joy at the LORD who has heard his cry (He truly is the One who hears). David’s heart is glad in the One who has helped him time and again.

He is David’s strength and shield and song—his heart leaps for joy at the thought of the LORD and what the LORD has done for him in the immediate.

In the movie Patch Adams, Robin Williams’ character is on trial for his odd method of administering medicine.

Patch’s overall philosophy of medicine and his overly-joyful personality rubbed the Dean of Medicine the wrong way. So the Dean calls for Patch’s dismissal from medical school. A panel hears his case and ultimately decides in Patch’s favor.

In the ruling, the head of the panel, tells the crusty, old Dean: “In the future, I think matters like this could best be solved if you yourself would practice a little..."excessive happiness."

Excessive happiness. We need a little more excessive happiness, hearts that leap for joy at what the LORD has done, at the mere thought of the LORD hearing our prayers and working justice for us.

David doubles-down on his commitment to praise the LORD. With my song I praise Him. It’s all directed to Him—David’s prayer and His praise. The LORD hears both.

There’s joy in David’s praise, and also a good helping of confidence. David speaks the truth about the LORD, reassuring himself and those who might read this psalm.

Psalm 28:8 NIV

8 The Lord is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.

This is a double confidence. He is the strength of both His people and His anointed one, for King David and the people of Israel. The two are tied together.

As goes the king, so go the people. If the king is victorious, the people are secure.

Now think about it: if our King has died, risen, ascended, if He sits at the right hand of God interceding for us (Romans 8:34), who can condemn us? Who can stand against us?

As goes the King, so go the people.

David’s praise is joyful and confident and perfectly logical.

David asked, the LORD heard, the LORD answered, and so praise is the only logical response.

The LORD’s answer to our prayers place a claim on us. There is something desperately wrong if the LORD’s hearing and answering doesn’t elicit praise from us.

If when He hears and answers we don’t give Him praise, it shows that we expect Him to function like some cosmic vending machine, giving us what we want when we want it.

We pray. He answers. We praise Him. This is the only logical order; this is only proper.

Sadly, I’m not sure praise follows prayer as often as it should.

Take the story of the 10 lepers who were healed by Jesus.

Luke 17:11–19 NIV

11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” 14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. 15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. 17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

I wonder if praise follows our prayers more than 10% of the time. What do you think? Sometimes, maybe?

David joyfully, confidently, and logically praises the One to whom we pray.

And he ends by adding this prayer for the people:

Psalm 28:9 NIV

9 Save your people and bless your inheritance; be their shepherd and carry them forever.

I could preach for an hour on this verse alone. I could, but I won’t. You’re welcome.

David is asking for the LORD to do what the LORD does, to keep on doing what He’s doing, and to be who He is.

David prays to:

The One Who Sustains

There’s no image quite as weighty as that of Shepherd. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” is one of the greatest phrases ever written.

David prays to the LORD (Psalm 28:9): “be their shepherd and carry them forever.”

This is the ongoing need of the people in David’s little kingdom. And it’s our ongoing need.

The truth is, that silly “Footprints in the Sand” poem doesn’t get it. That end of that poem goes:

“The times when you have seen only one set of footprints, is when I carried you.”

If we’re speaking the truth, Jared Wilson’s version the right one. He makes an important correction to the poem, saying:

"My child, there's only ever been one set of footprints in the sand, because your sorry butt has always needed to be carried."

The LORD must be our shepherd, or we’d scatter, wander headlong into danger, be devoured by wolves.

The LORD must carry us along. We are helpless apart from Him. We haven’t the legs to walk alone. It’s as Jesus said, “Apart from me, you can do nothing.”

He is our Shepherd. He carries us.

This is incredibly good news, on a number of levels—He carries us.

Our God is not some burden we have to support and carry. The pagans had to tote around the images of their “gods” and set up their statues when they fell over.

The LORD Yahweh doesn’t not need us to prop Him up or carry Him around; He is the One who always carries His people.

Deut 1:31 “and in the wilderness. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”

Isaiah 46:1-4 “Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low; their idols are borne by beasts of burden. The images that are carried about are burdensome, a burden for the weary. They stoop and bow down together; unable to rescue the burden, they themselves go off into captivity. “Listen to me, you descendants of Jacob, all the remnant of the people of Israel, you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born. 4 Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”

Isaiah 63:9 “In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.”

We pray to the One who sustains us—saving us from our sins, blessing us, shepherding us (that is, protecting us, feeding us, watching over us), and carrying us.

We pray to the One who sustains us. It’s good to remind ourselves of these truths. Don’t we need Him to carry us? To be our shepherd?

Just this week, our church family has dealt with loss, surgeries, and health scares. There are many of you who have had to work outside in the miserable heat. Some of you are navigating family drama and financial issues. Every day is something. And in a gathering of 100 people, I bet there are 500 problems/struggles/issues at a time.

Listen to what the LORD says:

Isaiah 46:4 NIV

4 Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

As the covenant king of Israel, David prays for his people here at the end of his prayer. He prays, trusting the LORD hears, trusting the LORD to work justice, praising Him for hearing and working and answering.

Here, friends is the really Good News: One greater than David, a King who came from the line of David, is always interceding for His people. He’s praying for us!

There’s no way—even in the darkest, most difficult places—there’s no way we fail to make it, for He is our Rock, our Strength, our Shepherd.

To Him we pray.