Topic: Fear
Focus: Trusting and praising
Psalm 28:7 (NKJV) 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 Lord wouldn’t have had to be both strength and a shield to David, the Psalmist, unless David was a target. Do you feel like you’re a target sometimes, too? It’s mentally and physically exhausting to be a target. Do you sometimes feel like you’re running out of strength? Does it sometimes seem like the enemy is closing in on you and there’s no where to turn?
When it’s clear that someone is out to get you—you need strength, and you need a shield.
When you trust in the Lord with all your heart, He will become your strength and shield in every area of your life. But having complete support and protection comes from truly making God Lord of your life.
You can be capable of believing there is a God, without making Him ‘Lord’ of your life.
When you aren’t putting your complete trust in God, He is not Lord of your life. When you say He is Lord of your life, yet you constantly confess you are ‘tired and afraid’, something is wrong. There is a trust issue that needs to be resolved.
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When you don’t completely trust God, you put yourself in a position of having to try to find your own protection because you don’t trust Him to provide it for you. When you have to work at keeping track of where your enemy is—or where he might strike next—you will be tired and afraid.
David says in Psalm 28:7 that because he trusted in the Lord, he was helped by the Lord. Because of the help David received from the Lord, his heart greatly rejoiced, to the point that David sang and/or played a song on a musical instrument to show his praise to God for the help he received from Him.
David was humble enough to recognize that his help came from the Lord. When he received deliverance from danger, he didn’t exclaim with relief, “Well, that was lucky.” Not at all! David was fully aware that without the strength and protection of the Lord—he wouldn’t be able to live. He never claimed it was ‘luck’, he always gave God the credit.
When David had a victory, he didn’t focus the attention on his own contribution—once again, he gave all the glory to the Lord, God.
David knew that most of the time he was in conflict, he was out-numbered by enemies—yet God always fought for him and won his battles. David was faced with ruthless foes over and over in his life—yet God was always David’s strength and shield. God put Himself between David and his adversaries—so they were not able to harm him.
Many times, David was surrounded on all sides. From a practical perspective, there was no hope for him. But, no matter how many people were against him and no matter what his circumstances were—David gave God praise, and the Lord fought his battles. Of all the wars David fought in throughout his life—and there were many—he didn’t die in battle. He wasn’t killed by his enemies. David lived a long life and he died of old age.
You may be surrounded by enemies. You may be out-numbered. From a practical standpoint—there may be no way out of your circumstances. But, if you will trust in God and praise Him as the Lord of your life—He will fight for you. He will win your battle and you will have the victory.
David didn’t trust in the Lord after the battle was over and there was nothing to worry about anymore. He trusted in the Lord in the heat of the conflict. Are you doing that? When a trial comes your way do you fuss and fear—or do you trust and praise? We all need to get better at trusting and praising instead of fussing and fearing. When we trust and praise—God’s power is magnified in our behalf.
When you step on the accelerator in an automobile—it goes faster. When we choose to trust and praise, it’s like ‘stepping on the accelerator’. When we are all caught up with fussing and fearing—it’s like sitting still, or going in reverse, or just going nowhere.
Declaration: I will find new strength by truly trusting in the Lord with all my heart. I will choose trusting and praising instead of fussing and fearing.
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