Psalms 28
Psalms 28:1-9 (NLT)
1 A psalm of David. I pray to you, O LORD, my rock. Do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you are silent, I might as well give up and die.
2 Listen to my prayer for mercy as I cry out to you for help, as I lift my hands toward your holy sanctuary.
3 Do not drag me away with the wicked—with those who do evil—those who speak friendly words to their neighbors while planning evil in their hearts.
4 Give them the punishment they so richly deserve! Measure it out in proportion to their wickedness. Pay them back for all their evil deeds! Give them a taste of what they have done to others.
5 They care nothing for what the LORD has done or for what his hands have made. So he will tear them down, and they will never be rebuilt!
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.
The Passion Translation of verse 9, touched me this morning. It says, “Save your people whom you love, and bless your chosen ones. Be our shepherd leading us forward, forever carrying us in your arms!”
Psalms 28:9 TPT
David’s prized goat named Ears, had babies last week. This was a much prayed over and anticipated kidding, that gave us perfect twins, a boy and a girl. While both are adorable, the little girl is the chosen one. She will be David’s next generation of show goats, one that he planned for, prayed for and now will keep and protect because she is his.
Since all of this breed of his goats have song names, she has been named, Sweet Caroline, and when you go into the pen it isn’t enough to just watch her figure out how to jump and hop. You’re not satisfied with not touching her (or her brother hehe), there is something about Caroline that makes us want to be a close to her as possible.
That means when I go in their pen I might watch her for a second, but ultimately I have a need to scoop her up in my arms. It’s in this place that I can kiss her cheeks, talk sweetly to her, run my fingers in her hair and dream about her future.
This is the picture that I saw when I read verse 9. It isn’t enough for God to just watch us from afar, His desire is to be close enough that He can scoop us up into His arms, where He can dote over us, speak to us and over us, where He can keep us safe and usher us toward what we have been created to do. I love this picture of God. I love the truth of our great Shepherd, who loves and wars for our souls. It’s precious to me.
It’s not that David is so perfect that he is separated from the wicked and evil ones destined for judgment. It’s also not that God somehow needs to be persuaded to withhold His judgment. What is powerful in David’s words is how they access the nature of God, which is already positioned to forgive and restore to relationship and safety the heart that comes to Him for mercy. There is so much in this amazing relationship that only needs acknowledgment. With each declaration of God’s nature and a personal embrace of that nature, who God is becomes accessed and experienced. He doesn’t become that in the declaration but is simply accessed in its praise. Even in the statements regarding those who will receive the consequences of their wrong choices is a distancing from them with the identity of a heart after God. By declaring their perilous status, David disassociates himself from anything related to that identity as by his words, he sees himself forgiven, restored, and embraced in the Father’s presence.
By recognizing the need and calling out for mercy, declaring the nature and goodness of God, and claiming the identity of one who has made Him their only source of strength and safety, access is gained to something that has been there all along. Though God remains positioned to be all of this and so much more, it is in the embrace of revealed glimpses of Him by our words that those very things become magnified to effective application in our lives. They somehow come alive when they are mentioned. Our right standing in His presence, our walk in the Light that is free from condemnation, and our expectation of empowered and productive living are received and demonstrated not just because they’ve been provided through our union with Him but because their declaration unwraps and engages them in the reality of our lives. How essential and effective are the simple words that will make the amazing nature of God our identity and abode.