The LORD is My Strength and Shield

March 9, 2019

Worship in WORD:

Ps 28:6-29:1 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 I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song. 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. A psalm of David. NIV

Ps 28:6-9 6 Praise the Lord! For he has heard my cry for mercy. 7 The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving. 8 The Lord gives his people strength. He is a safe fortress for his anointed king. 9 Save your people! Bless Israel, your special possession. Lead them like a shepherd, and carry them in your arms forever. Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

Ps 28:6-9 6 Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications. 7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him. 8 The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed. 9 Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever. KJV

Ps 28:6-9 6 Blessed be the Lord! For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy. 7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him. 8 The Lord is the strength of his people; he is the saving refuge of his anointed. 9 Oh, save your people and bless your heritage!  Be their shepherd and carry them forever. ESV

I.  Minor Key: vv. 1-5

            A. Pleas (vv. 1- 3)

1.     Hear Me! - v. 1  

2.     Have Mercy! – v. 2a

3.     Help! – v. 2b

            B. Imprecation (vv. 4-5)

II. Major Key: vv. 6-9

            A. Praise (vv. 6-8)

            B. Supplication (v. 9)

In my last study, I spoke of the exuberance of David’s response to his hope in the God who answers prayer. But how did David maintain that enthusiasm* when circumstances that surrounded him should lead him to despair? I touched on this a few “Worship in Word” entries back. There I spoke of “God wrought faith” (see my blog for Feb. 9, 2019). Here in verse 7, David identifies explicitly the source of his ability to persevere in faith and hope in spite of his predicaments.

The LORD is my strength...

The word for “strength” used here is the word “oz” – not to be confused with a fictitious land somewhere over the rainbow😊.

The TWOT defines the word this way:

 ‎±œz‎. Strength, power. (ASV, RSV are similar.) This word is used primarily of deity, particularly in the Psalms. Synonyms are:  ‎µayil ‎meaning (physical) strength, efficiency, army; ‎kœaµ ‎meaning strength, power; and ‎g®bûrâ‎, meaning strength, might, particularly of warriors.
Wordbook of the Old Testament. Copyright © 1980 by The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

It goes on to say:

Primarily this word is related to God. Strength is an essential attribute of God (Ps 62:11; Ps 63:2 ...God bestows strength on man: the king (1 Sam 2:10), his people (Ps 29:11; Ps 68:35, and on Zion (Isa 52:1). But not only is strength a quality given by God, he himself is that strength. Frequently the personal possessive pronouns are attached to strength in the Psalms to show this (Ps 28:7; Ps 81:1; Ps 118:14). In seeking his presence, strength is found (Ps 105:4 = 1 Chron 16:11).
Wordbook of the Old Testament. Copyright © 1980 by The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

So, David’s power source for perseverance is the LORD Himself. But strength is only one aspect of David’s steadfastness. The mightiest of men can be felled by one little stone. David needed protection as well.

and my shield...

David saw the Lord not only as his source of strength but also of his security. The strength of God should suffice, but how often we begin to think we are invincible and are brought down by a “fiery” dart of the devil (see Eph 6:16). We see this in the life of Elijah. He had faced and defeated the prophets of Baal in the power of the Lord. He prophesied to King Ahab the return of rain to the drought-stricken land. We take up what follows in 1 Kings 18:46.

1 Kings 18:46-19:5

⁴⁶ The power of the Lord came upon Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.

19 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. ² So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them."

³ Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, ⁴ while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, Lord," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors."

NIV

Note the phrase “power of the Lord came upon Elijah” in 18:46. In this power, Elijah was able to run ahead of Ahab and beat him to Jezreel.  I believe that in all the exhilarating milieu of miracles, Elijah may have not only ran ahead of Ahab, but he may have also run “ahead” of the protection of God, and we see the results in the following chapter.   There we see Elijah feeling defeated by the lack of repentance in the king and his wife, Queen Jezebel.  The fiery dart of rejection brought him down, and he now runs away to mope and wish he were dead. This experience, which I call the “Elijah syndrome,” is not unique to the prophet, but a malady that befalls many a believer after they experience some sort of spiritual conquest or high. We let our guard down and fail to wield God’s shield of faith (see Eph 6:16) to protect us from the flaming projectiles (i.e., pride, fear, rejection, etc.) thrown by the wicked enemy of our soul.

With the strength of the LORD in him, and His shield before him, David was able to remain steadfast in prayer and praise and utter the words:

... my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.

My heart leaps for joy

and I will give thanks to him in song. ESV

* Origin of the word enthusiasm: [Late Latin enthūsiasmus, from Greek enthousiasmos, from enthousiazein, to be inspired by a god, from entheos, possessed: en-, in; see en-2 + theos, god

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/enthusiasm

Worship in Witness:

Many say, “I can worship God at home,” but do they? They say, “I can catch the sermon online,” but have they? “I can sing worship songs in my house or car,” but will they?

I was musing on this recently when someone near and dear to me said they were not going to church because they just felt lazy and did not want to go. They said they would just watch it online. After all, they only go to church for the message and not the fellowship. “I have social anxiety and don’t like to be around crowds,” was their defense for not going. I challenged them on this, “are you really going to watch it?”  I then asked them about worshipping in song. They replied they could listen to and sing along with worship songs at home and in the car. I again questioned whether they would actually do this? Their response was a sheepish grin.

 Some refuse to go because they don’t want to attend a place that is full of hypocrites. I can worship at home. That’s when I must insist on asking them the questions I have stated above.

      After all what is the difference between the hypocrite            that goes to church and the hypocrite that stays home?

Worship in Song: Strength & Shield by Yancey

Here is a peppy little VBS song that I thought was appropriate to capture the jubilant fever exhibited by David in these verses.

The Lord is my strength and my shield

And I will trust Him

Through anything

He's my helper

The Lord is my strength and my shield

And I will trust Him

Through anything

He's my helper

I'm never, never alone

God goes with me

As time marches on

I'm jump, jump, jumping for joy

I'm shout, shout, shouting thank You

I'm sing, sing, singing my love

I'm giving all my praise to You, You, You, You, You

God, it's all for You, You, You, You, You

Give my praise to You, You, You, You, You

God, it's all for You, You, You, You, You

The Lord is my strength and my shield

And I will trust Him

Through anything

He's my helper

The Lord is my strength and my shield

And I will trust Him

Through anything

He's my helper

I'm never, never alone

God goes with me

As time marches on (1, 2, 3, 4)

I'm jump, jump, jumping for joy

I'm shout, shout, shouting thank You

I'm sing, sing, singing my love

I'm giving all my praise to You, You, You, You, You

God, it's all for You, You, You, You, You

Give my praise to You, You, You, You, You

God, it's all for You, You, You, You, You

You're my strength, my shield, my help

You're my strength, my shield, my heart will sing

Jump, jump, jumping for joy

I'm shout, shout, shouting thank You

I'm sing, sing, singing my love

I'm giving all my praise

I'm jump, jump, jumping for joy

I'm shout, shout, shouting thank You

I'm sing, sing, singing my love

I'm giving all my praise to You, You, You, You, You

God, it's all for You, You, You, You, You

Give my praise to You, You, You, You, You

God, it's all for You, You, You, You

Lyrics: http://www.songlyrics.com/yancy/strength-shield-lyrics/

Video: https://youtu.be/om7k003O0k4