Psalms 28:1-9: a reflection

1To you, LORD, I call. My rock, don’t be deaf to me, lest, if you are silent to me, I would become like those who go down into the pit. 2Hear the voice of my petitions, when I cry to you, when I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place. 3Don’t draw me away with the wicked, with the workers of iniquity who speak peace with their neighbors, but mischief is in their hearts. 4Give them according to their work, and according to the wickedness of their doings. Give them according to the operation of their hands. Bring back on them what they deserve. 5Because they don’t respect the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he will break them down and not build them up. 6Blessed be the LORD, because he has heard the voice of my petitions. 7The LORD is my strength and my shield. My heart has trusted in him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart greatly rejoices. With my song I will thank him. 8The LORD is their strength. He is a stronghold of salvation to his anointed. 9Save your people, and bless your inheritance. Be their shepherd also, and bear them up forever.

This psalm moves from urgent pleading to confident joy. It begins with a cry: To you, LORD, I call; do not be deaf to me. The psalmist is in distress, pleading with God to hear, and to distinguish him from the wicked. And then, as if the prayer has been heard even as it is prayed, the tone turns: Blessed be the LORD, for he has heard the voice of my pleas. The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.

Notice the movement of the psalm, from crying out to confident thanksgiving. The psalmist begins by pleading with God to hear him in his distress; and by the end he is rejoicing, confident that God has heard, and declaring the LORD his strength and shield. The turn comes as he trusts: my heart trusts in him, and I am helped; therefore my heart exults. Trust in God turned his pleading into praise.

That movement is one our own prayers can follow. We often come to God in distress, pleading with him to hear us, and rightly so. But as we entrust our need to him and rest in his help, our pleading can turn to confidence and even to joy, as we trust that the God who is our strength and shield has heard. When you cry out to God in distress, do not stay only in the pleading; go on, as this psalm does, to trust that God has heard, and let that trust turn your pleading into thanksgiving. The LORD is your strength and shield; entrust your need to him, and let your heart, trusting, move from crying out to the confident joy of one who knows he is heard and helped.

Lord, this psalm moves from urgent pleading, do not be deaf to me, to confident joy, blessed be the LORD, for he has heard; the LORD is my strength and my shield, my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. Let my prayers follow that movement. I often come to you in distress, pleading with you to hear me, and rightly so. But as I entrust my need to you and rest in your help, let my pleading turn to confidence and even to joy, as I trust that you, my strength and shield, have heard. When I cry out to you in distress, keep me from staying only in the pleading; help me go on, as this psalm does, to trust that you have heard, and let that trust turn my pleading into thanksgiving. You are my strength and shield; help me entrust my need to you, and let my heart, trusting, move from crying out to the confident joy of one who knows he is heard and helped. Turn my pleading into praise, Lord, as I trust you.