The Fruit of Praise – Psalm 28:7

Psalm 28:7: The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, And with my song I will praise Him.

The Psalms are full of praise for the Lord. The word, or some form of it, “praise” shows up 164 times in the 150 Psalms. Today’s verse offers a couple of stepping-stones of truth to help us become more comfortable in living a life that is spent following Jesus Christ. King David begins this verse with a proclamation of who God is to him – the Lord is his strength and his shield. This is an extraordinary confession of a man who was a pretty tough guy in his own right. He had slayed a lion in his youth. He had defeated Goliath in a battle. He led numerous battles where literally tens of thousands of the enemy were slain. Yet, David makes this remarkable statement of a central truth about God. He recognized that all his victories were not because of what He did, but what God did through him.

David’s next statement is important because he is personally responding to his proclamation that the Lord is his strength and shield. As a result of him fully believing his statement, his heart trusted him. That is the proper progression in a relationship with God. Once you believe in a central truth of God’s character, it should yield personal growth or “fruit”. That proper progression from a statement of truth is greater faith. Then watch what happens when David acknowledges that his heart trusts the Lord – he is helped. Unshakable faith in God helps us. In a world that claims to offer help through more things, better drugs, bigger homes, or anything else, everyone of them end up not helping. These things that are supposed to help us actually end up hurting us because what they are seeking to help is our flesh. Our flesh is insatiable – it is incapable of being satisfied for very long. Therefore, the “help” the world offers is really just feeding the beast of the flesh that always wants more. The only end to fleshly pursuit is destruction.

True faith in God ministers to the soul and spirit, and this is the only place that can received lasting peace. David acknowledges there is a deeper fruit from his trusting in the Lord. The fact that he is helped now produces rejoicing in his heart. When you are under an attack via a lost job, a troubled relationship, or bad health, what happens to your heart? It becomes fearful and incapable of finding rest. David is telling us that as long as he believes that the Lord is his strength and his shield, the Lord will see him through the attacks. He then properly concludes that through trusting in that provision of eventual deliverance, the heart that was once in fear is now helped and can even rejoice. There is an important point to see in this verse. Do you see any demonstration of total removal of the circumstances David is facing? – No. What glorious point he is making that even in the midst of an attack, his trust in the Lord being his shield and strength helps him to the point that the fleshly response of fear is overwhelmed so much by his confidence that his heart can rejoice.

The final fruit of David’s progressive statements is that he can sing praises to the Lord. What word is found within the word ‘praise’? – Raise. The help that God provides to your soul and spirit in the midst of your trials, if you chooses to believe, is He raises you above the fear-driving circumstances to demonstrate His assuring protective presence. You find a complete safety when you are in God’s hands that provides a perfect peace that defies fleshly understanding. This is infectious because those that see this kind of strength and peace amidst a terrifying time marvel at how such a confidence is possible. In your praise for the Lord, He will raise you up to Him where nothing formed against you will prosper. All of this is possible, but you have to believe. Will you?

Isaiah 60:1

Oh, LORD, what darkness surrounds me.
How it oozes and seeps into my pores.
Then it slithers and threatens my mind
With the dread there will be much more.

My heart begins to quake and tremble -
Leaving me paralyzed with fading hope.
How could such a doom break through?
As if I’ve arrived at the end of my rope.

Suddenly a voice from heaven thunders
Tearing a hole in hopelessness’s roof.
Darkness’s lies crumble to their knees
Giving way to the Light and the truth.

“Arise, My child, for your light is here!
Why have you forgotten My presence?
Don’t you recall upon your confession?
That I instilled in you My holy essence.”

“The darkness and its grave were beaten
By My beloved Son’s death at Calvary.
When I resurrected Him with My power.
The Light of the World won the victory!”

“As for My unbelieving and lost creation -
The ones drowning in darkness and tears,
If they could only see what you believe,
My perfect love will cast out their fears.”

“So, don’t forget, My beloved possession.
You can arise and shine for I have come.
My glory will forever rise upon you
With the same power that raised My Son.”

“Shine My Spirit’s light who dwells inside
That will testify that My Word is true.
For light will always defeat the darkness
When they’ll see that it did so for you.”

Why Jesus Was Sent

God takes no pleasure in the death of any.
He wants all of His creation to repent.
To prove the truth of this passionate desire,
His only begotten Son to us was sent.

He looked at each of our worst moments
And our rejection of His holy existence.
From a heart of mercy and compassion,
He chose to take our sin death’s sentence.

Yet we still believe the deceits and the lies.
If He exists, He’s an unfair and angry judge.
When we reject the necessity of the cross.
We’re missing His greatest display of love.

What more powerful proof can we find?
For another to willingly lay down one’s life.
The only way to be reconciled to our Creator,
Was for His Son Jesus to be our sacrifice.

The fear of death was given a mortal blow.
His resurrection proving love never fails.
Imagine the guilt and shame of our past
Are forgiven and left on His cross’ nails.

Why won’t we choose to believe this truth?
Receive the free gift of His amazing grace.
If this is the only life that we have to live,
Does it feel anything like a heavenly place?

If there is more to live after our last breath,
Perhaps the cross makes a lot more sense.
To be given the promise of an eternal peace,
We’ll start to believe why Jesus was sent.

That God loves every life that He creates.
You’re no evolved ape, you’re no accident.
If you’ll take Jesus’ nail-pierced hands,
You’ll become a reason why He was sent.