God Save the King: Help to Have Your Prayers Heard (Ps 28)

Read Psalm 28:

Of David

¹ To you, O LORD, I call; my rock, be not deaf to me, lest, if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit. ² Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy, when I cry to you for help, when I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary.

³ Do not drag me off with the wicked, with the workers of evil, who speak peace with their neighbors while evil is in their hearts. ⁴ Give to them according to their work and according to the evil of their deeds; give to them according to the work of their hands; render them their due reward. ⁵ Because they do not regard the works of the LORD or the work of his hands, he will tear them down and build them up no more.

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.

Understand Psalm 28:

David cries for help while surrounded by his enemies. He fears the Lord has not heard his prayers and laments the apparent silence. Yet Psalm 28 reveals how David turns to the Lord from the edge of the pit.

A. Cry for God’s Help (vv. 1-2)

In times of turmoil, we must cry to God for help: “To you, O LORD, I call; my rock, be not deaf to me, lest, if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit. Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy, when I cry to you for help, when I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary” (vv. 1-2). In desperation, David seeks the covenant God of Israel—not just any other savior. He knows that God alone can answer prayer, so he doesn’t care how foolish he sounds as he dangles over death (30:3). David calls upon the Lord, his rock—his place of refuge—his solid footing and considers his life as good as done if Yahweh does not deliver him. David knows, of course, that God always hears our prayers even before they leave our tongue (139:4). So he lifts his hands like a toddler reaching for his father: “O Lord, I need your help” (see Lam 2:19; 3:41). He stretches out his hands toward the Holy of Holies where Yahweh dwells among his people and when, once a year, the high priest offers sacrifices to atone for Israel’s sin. David cries for help on the basis of the shed blood sprinkled on the mercy seat (Lev 16:11-19).

So also, we cry to our God in times of desperation (e.g., Luke 18:13). He is our Rock as we’re sliding down the pit, our ever-present Father, the Hearer of our prayers, and the Answer to our pain. He is the Judge who demands our holiness, but also the Savior who grants us mercy. He is the Atonement for our sin—no longer through the blood of bulls and goats and not just once a year, but through the everlasting sacrifice of his own beloved Son (Heb 9:11-14). So we turn first to God for our salvation, then time and time again for holiness. As Spurgeon taught, “We stretch out empty hands, for we are beggars; we lift them up, for we seek heavenly supplies; we lift them towards the mercy seat of Jesus, for there our expectation dwells.”^[1]

Too often, we pray with bland routine like checking items off a grocery list. Yet if you were hanging by your fingernails from a cliff, you wouldn’t speak in a soft and gentle whisper, “Is anybody there? When you have the chance, please come and find me.” No, you would cry for help at the top of your lungs! Likewise, a little oomph in our prayers will reflect our desperation. In troubled times, we really learn to pray.

B. Call Out God’s Enemies (vv. 3-5)

As we cry to God for help, we then call his enemies by name. So David beseeches the Lord, “The wicked are guilty of transgression and the workers of evil do unrighteous deeds! Those hypocrites talk of peace, but harbor hatred in their hearts!” (v. 3). Like a spotter in the field of battle, David radios his artillery with the enemy’s precise location. Then, at the center of this psalm (vv. 4-5),[2] David prays for Yahweh to give the wicked what they deserve—to judge them not simply as doers of evil, but also for scorning what God has done. They don’t revere him as Creator and Redeemer, so David prays that God would tear them down like rebellious cities and never build them up again (see Jer 1:10).

The same might be said of us, “for the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23a). Yet in Christ Jesus, we are promised eternal favor instead of judgment. In Christ, we do not receive the wages we deserve, but instead “the free gift of . . . eternal life” (v. 23b). In Christ, we are not dragged off with the wicked or cast into the pit of death. We deserve God’s silence and the scourge of Satan. Therefore, we seek to be rewarded not for our evil deeds, but for the deeds of Christ who formed us at creation and restored us in redemption and promises the hope of our eternal glory. We name our enemies, but we also name the name of Christ as the name above all other names (Eph 1:21; Phil 2:9-11).

Psalm 28 then points to Christ: the perfect God-man who alone could cry out to his Father, “Do not judge me with the wicked, nor cast me in the pit.” Publicly, his enemies called him evil and possessed by demons (Mark 3:22); a friend of tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners (Luke 7:34-39). They accused him falsely of speaking blasphemy against the Romans, against the Lord, and against the house of God (Matt 26:65). They came at him with swords and clubs as if he were a robber (v. 55), then crucified him on a Roman cross between two criminals (Deut 21:23; see Gal 3:13). From that cross, our Savior also cried, “‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ Why do you not hear my cry for help? Why torment me with silence?” (Matt 27:46). Yet even from the cross, our greater David did not call down judgment on the wicked nor saddle them with the debt of sin. Instead, he cried on their behalf, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34a). In death, he made the payment for our evil deeds. In death, he was dragged away to take the wages we deserved. In death, he made atonement for our sins as he heard our pleas for mercy. But then, from death, he rose again in victory.

Therefore, call out God’s enemies by name.

Name the fleshly passions which reveal our sin: pride, idolatry, addiction, ingratitude (Eph 2:2-3).
Name the worldly ideologies which pervade our culture (4:14).
Name the oppressors who seek to do us harm.
Name the Devil and his deceptions (6:11-13).
Name the final enemy of death and any sicknesses that lead to death (1 Cor 15:26).

Name them in your prayers and call the Lord to give what they deserve: “Let evildoers meet with evil and hypocrites be exposed. Let all the enemies of God fall down before him. Let sin be either paid for at the cross or at the final judgment.” These are right and proper prayers against a fallen world and the consequences of human sin. Battlefield prayers are made in earnest.

C. Count on God’s Answer (vv. 6-7)

As we pray, we count on God to answer. Thus, David turns his plea to praise with anticipatory faith: “Blessed be the LORD! For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy. 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” (Ps 28:6-7). Instead of growing anxious about all the possible outcomes, David trusts that God will do his work and combats his worry with anticipatory faith.

First, he trusts in “God my Strength”—our pillar of support, a firm foundation, a refuge in the storm, and a mighty fortress. God is strong when we are weak (2 Cor 12:9-10).
David also trusts in “God my Shield”—our protection in the battle and a defender from enemy blows. He goes before us as a shield around us (Ps 3:3).
Then he trusts in “God my Song,” for we sing God’s praises as an act of war against our fears. We sing thanksgiving: “Blessed be the LORD!” as our hearts exult in him. David trusts the Lord not only as his firm foundation, but also as the platform from which he leaps in faith like an ibex bounding along a sheer rock face. The rocks which threaten to slip beneath his feet become a launching point of faith.

So also, we rejoice in God even when we can’t rejoice in circumstances (Phil 4:4, 12). We trust him as our Strength in times of weakness, our Shield when we’re afraid, and our eternal Song when we are tempted to grumble and complain (2:14). With anticipatory faith, we count on God to answer.

D. Covenant with God’s People (vv. 8-9)

Finally, we covenant with God’s people as David intercedes for Israel and, in some marvelous way, for us as well: “The LORD is the strength of his people; he is the saving refuge of his anointed. Oh, save your people and bless your heritage! Be their shepherd and carry them forever” (vv. 8-9). This “anointed” one is more than just a human king, but a “forever” King saved by God to serve as Savior of his people. He would receive them as his royal inheritance (94:14), for God’s people, who belonged to God alone, could not be claimed by any other than the Son of God himself. David points to Jesus, the Messiah, who would save God’s people as his blessed heritage. Likewise, our inclusion in the covenant is a gift bestowed from God the Father to his Son. Out of all the treasures in his inheritance, God chose you to be his priceless heirloom passed down through generations (Eph 2:10).

David also delights in Yahweh as the Shepherd who carries Israel like his sheep: “He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young” (Isa 40:11). He guides his people through the wilderness into the land of promise (Deut 1:31), protects them in the valley of death (Ps 23:4), and delivers them from enemies. He leads them beside still waters and makes them lie down in green pastures (v. 2). He carries them not just in salvation, but forever and always.

Compare our God with the idols of this world who must themselves be carried and do nothing more than weigh us down. Even when we’re taken captive, they cannot save us (Isa 46:1-2). How much better is the one true God who carries us from womb to tomb—from birth to our old age (vv. 3-4). We are humbled by our weakness, our dependence, and our inability to save ourselves. Yet we are also humbled by God’s mercy and his sacrifice on our behalf. So do not insist he puts you down. Rather, trust the Lord to be your Salvation and your Shepherd.

Apply Psalm 28:

In what way are wages a good metaphor for justice (Rom 6:23a)? How are these wages redistributed in our salvation (v. 23b)?
Compare how idolaters must carry their own gods (Isa 45:20; 46:1, 7; Jer 10:5) instead of trusting the one true God to carry them (Isa 40:11; 46:3-4; 63:9).
Should we still pray today with the posture of hands lifted high (Ps 28:2)? Why or why not?
How does naming the name of Christ uphold your faith (Eph 1:21; Phil 2:9-11)? Name the specific enemies you face in the following categories: Fleshly passions; Human oppressors; Worldly ideologies; Spiritual enemies; Physical sickness and death.
Imagine your life if you were a paraplegic completely dependent on others for your mobility. Does it comfort you or humble you to know that the Lord will carry you forever (Ps 28:9b)?
The Lord also promises to save you as his blessed heritage (v. 29a). How does it transform your identity to be the precious inheritance of Christ himself?
Meditate on the character of the God to whom you pray:

God my Rock (Ps 28:1a)
My God who grants mercy (v. 2a)
My trustworthy God who helps me (vv. 2b, 7b)
My holy God who atones for sin (v. 2c)
My God who judges justly (vv. 3-5)
My God who hears (v. 6b)
My God who keeps his promises (vv. 1a, 6a, 7a, 8a)
God my Strength (vv. 7a, 8a)
God my Shield (v. 7a)
God my Song in whom my heart exults (v. 7b-c)
God my Salvation (vv. 8b-9a)
God my Shepherd (v. 9b; 23:1)

Counsel Psalm 28:

Every believer may wonder at times if God really hears our prayers. So direct your counselees to the God who answers from the silence as our Strength, our Shield, our Song, our Savior, and our Shepherd. For further help, read David Powlison, Safe & Sound: Standing Firm in Spiritual Battles (Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press, 2019), 55-60.

Projects for Growth (Psalm 28)

Describe a time when it felt like God was not answering your prayers. How do you know he can hear you and why do you believe he will surely answer?
How does naming the name of Christ uphold your faith (Eph 1:21; Phil 2:9-11)? Name the specific enemies you face in the following categories: Fleshly passions; Human oppressors; Worldly ideologies; Spiritual enemies; Physical sickness and death.
What idols have you been tempted to carry around with you (Isa 45:20; 46:1, 7; Jer 10:5)? What does it look like to trust the one true God to carry you instead (Isa 40:11; 46:3-4; 63:9)?
Many of us believe ourselves to be good people. What does the Bible say you deserve for your sin (Rom 6:23a) and why should you pray for mercy instead of justice (v. 23b)?
What did the posture of hands lifted high mean for David (Ps 28:2)? How do we cultivate the same attitude in prayer today?
Imagine your life if you were a paraplegic completely dependent on others for your mobility. Does it comfort you or humble you to know that the Lord will carry you forever (Ps 28:9b)?
The Lord also promises to save you as his blessed heritage (v. 29a). How does it transform your identity to be the precious inheritance of Christ himself?
Meditate on the character of the God to whom you pray:

God my Rock (Ps 28:1a)
My God who grants mercy (v. 2a)
My trustworthy God who helps me (vv. 2b, 7b)
My holy God who atones for sin (v. 2c)
My God who judges justly (vv. 3-5)
My God who hears (v. 6b)
My God who keeps his promises (vv. 1a, 6a, 7a, 8a)
God my Strength (vv. 7a, 8a)
God my Shield (v. 7a)
God my Song in whom my heart exults (v. 7b-c)
God my Salvation (vv. 8b-9a)
God my Shepherd (v. 9b; 23:1)

Pray Psalm 28:

O Lord, hear my cry for help (vv. 1-2).
Don’t judge me like an unbeliever, but instead show me mercy (vv. 3-5).
I praise you, Father, with anticipatory faith (v. 6).
I trust in you, my Strength, my Shield, my Song of thanks (v. 7).
Jesus, save your people and shepherd them forever (vv. 8-9).

^[1] C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, vol. 1b, Psalms 27–57 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1968), 21.

[2] The psalm’s 2-3-2-2 structure identifies verses 3-5 as the central portion with a chiastic focus on God’s justice against evildoers in verse 4.

A Lord, hear my pleas for mercy (vv. 1-2)

B Judge the wicked instead of me (v. 3)

C Give the wicked what they deserve (v. 4)

B’ Judge the wicked for disregarding you (v. 5)

A’ Blessed be the Lord who has heard my pleas for mercy (vv. 6-9)