Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 28:7

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 28:7. The Lord is my strength — I have the fullest persuasion that he hears, will answer, and will save me.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 26-28 Living uprightly

David appeals to God to support him against those who plot evil against him. God has done a work of grace in his life, and this causes him to hate the company of worthless people and make every effort to live the sort of life that pleases God (26:1-5). He desires righteousness, delights in worship, loves to spend hours in the house of God and enjoys telling others about God (6-8). He therefore asks that he will not suffer the same end as the wicked (9-10). Though determined to do right, he knows that he will not succeed without God’s help (11-12).
The psalmist is fully confident in the power of God and in God’s willingness to protect him (27:1-3). His desire is to live his life as if he is in the presence of God continually. Thereby he will have protection, and his life will be one of constant strength and joy (4-6). He prays that God will hear his prayers and never turn away from him. Others might reject him, but he is confident that God’s care of him will never fail (7-10). In view of the persecution he suffers, he asks that God will teach him more about the way he should live (11-12). He remains confident in God and this gives him patience. Whatever may happen, he knows that he can always depend on God’s help (13-14).
In the next psalm David again is in great distress and cries out to God to save his life. He does not want to die like the wicked, for whom an early death is a fitting punishment (28:1-3). His prayer to God to punish the wicked is not because of personal bitterness or the desire for revenge. It is because they are the enemies of God and they disregard all that he has done (4-5). David knows that God will answer his prayer and thereby strengthen David’s trust in him (6-7). This will also strengthen the faith of the people, who will have a better understanding of God as their defender and shepherd (8-9).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"Blessed is Jehovah, Because he hath heard the voice of my supplications. Jehovah is my strength and my shield; My heart hath trusted in him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; And with my song will I praise him."

"He hath heard the voice of my supplications" (Psalms 28:6). This man, when he stood praying, believed that he had what he asked, and, so, believing, had it. There was no change in circumstances, but he was changed. Now there was no fear of going down into the pit, and the dread of the evil-doers disappeared.Alexander Maclaren, Vol. 1, p. 2 71.

We may receive Maclaren's comment here as a valid deduction from what Jesus said, "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive" (Matthew 21:22).

"I am helped… will greatly rejoice .., and will praise him" (Psalms 28:7). The expression of such confidence begins with the statement that, "Jehovah is my strength," of which Adam Clarke declared the meaning to be, "I have the fullest persuasion that God hears, will answer, and will save me."Adam Clarke, Vol. III, p. 311.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

The Lord is my strength - See the notes at Psalms 18:1.

And my shield - See the notes at Psalms 3:3. Compare Psalms 33:20; Psalms 59:11; Psalms 84:9; Psalms 89:18; Genesis 15:1.

My heart trusted in him - I trusted or confided in him. See Psalms 13:5.

And I am helped - I have found the assistance which I desired.

Therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth - I greatly rejoice. I am happy. He had found the assurance of the divine favor which he desired, and his heart was glad.

And with my song will I praise him - I will sing praises to Him. Compare Psalms 22:25.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 28:1-9

Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent, I become like those that have gone down into the pit. Hear my voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle ( Psalms 28:1-2 ).

So David in his prayer had those times when he lifted up his hands towards God.

Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbors, but mischief is in their hearts. Give to them according to their deeds, according to their wickedness in their endeavors: give them after the work of their hands; render them their just desserts. Because they did not regard the works of the LORD, nor the operation of your hands, you will destroy them and not build them up. Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my prayers. 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 will I praise him. The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed. Save thy people, and bless your inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever ( Psalms 28:3-9 ). "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 28

This psalm is similar to Psalms 26, except that in this one, David’s distress was imminent. He believed God would not punish him with the wicked, and he asked Him to save and shepherd His people. The combination of confidence in Yahweh and prayer to Yahweh, that appears in Psalms 27, appears again here but in reverse order. Psalms 28:1-5 are lament, and Psalms 28:6-9 are thanksgiving.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

2. Confident praise for deliverance 28:5-8

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Consequently, David praised the Lord. He believed God had heard his prayer because the Lord had promised to hear the prayers of the godly. The Lord was David’s source of strength and defense, so he knew his attackers would fail. Furthermore, Yahweh consistently saved and defended His people and His anointed king.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

The Lord [is] my strength,.... That is, the author both of natural and spiritual strength; that gave him strength of body, and fortitude of mind, to bear up under all the exercises he was tried with; the strength of his life, spiritual and temporal, and of his salvation; the strength of his heart under present distresses, and who he knew would be so in the hour of death, when his heart and strength would fail;

and my shield; to protect and defend him; as were the love, power, and faithfulness of God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, his power and fulness, his blood, righteousness, and salvation;

my heart trusted in him; in the Lord as his strength and shield; not in any creature, nor in his own strength and righteousness; but in the Lord God, in whom are righteousness and strength: and it is plain he did not trust in his own heart, since his heart trusted in the Lord; and which shows that his trust was an hearty one, his faith was a faith unfeigned, he believed with the heart unto righteousness;

and I am helped: this was the fruit of his trust, even a gracious experience of divine assistance: saints are helpless in themselves, and are also as to the help of man; God is the only helper of them; he helps them out of all their troubles; in whatsoever he calls them unto, and to what they want; and the help he affords is sometimes quick, and always seasonable; and sometimes by means, and sometimes without them;

therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; that is, in the Lord, the ground of which was the help he had from him; and this joy was very great, a joy unspeakable, and full of glory; it was not carnal, but spiritual, a heart joy, joy in the Holy Ghost;

and with my song will I praise him; praise is due to God, what glorifies him, and is acceptable to him; it becomes the saints, is comely for them, and it is pleasant work to them, when grace is in exercise; see Psalms 69:30; this may be understood of one of his songs, and one of the best of them, and of one better than this, as a Jewish writer u observes.

u R. Moseh in Aben Ezra in loc.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      6 Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications.   7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.   8 The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.   9 Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever.

      In these verses,

      I. David gives God thanks for the audience of his prayers as affectionately as a few verses before he had begged it: Blessed be the Lord,Psalms 28:6; Psalms 28:6. How soon are the saints' sorrows turned into songs and their prayers into praises! It was in faith that David prayed (Psalms 28:2; Psalms 28:2), Hear the voice of my supplications; and by the same faith he gives thanks (Psalms 28:6; Psalms 28:6) that God has heard the voice of his supplications. Note, 1. Those that pray in faith may rejoice in hope. "He hath heard me (graciously accepted me) and I am as sure of a real answer as if I had it already." 2. What we win by prayer we must wear by praise. Has God heard our supplications? Let us then bless his name.

      II. He encourages himself to hope in God for the perfecting of every thing that concerned him. Having given to God the glory of his grace (Psalms 28:6; Psalms 28:6), he is humbly bold to take the comfort of it, Psalms 28:7; Psalms 28:7. This is the method of attaining peace: let us begin with praise that is attainable. Let us first bless God and then bless ourselves. Observe, 1. His dependence upon God: "The Lord is my strength, to support me, and carry me on, through all my services and sufferings. He is my shield, to protect me from all the malicious designs of my enemies against me. I have chosen him to be so, I have always found him so, and I expect he will still be so." 2. His experience of the benefits of that dependence: "My heart trusted in him, and in his power and promise; and it has not been in vain to do so, for I am helped, I have been often helped; not only God has given to me, in his due time, the help I trusted to him for, but my very trusting in him has helped me, in the mean time, and kept me from fainting." Psalms 27:13. The very actings of faith are present aids to a dropping spirit, and often help it at a dead lift. 3. His improvement of this experience. (1.) He had the pleasure of it: Therefore my heart greatly rejoices. The joy of a believer is seated in the heart, while, in the laughter of the fool, the heart is sorrowful. It is great joy, joy unspeakable and full of glory. The heart that truly believes shall in due time greatly rejoice; it is joy and peace in believing that we are to expect. (2.) God shall have the praise of it: when my heart greatly rejoices, with my song will I praise him. This must we express our gratitude; it is the least we can do; and others will hereby be invited and encouraged to trust in him too.

      III. He pleases himself with the interest which all good people, through Christ, have in God (Psalms 28:8; Psalms 28:8): "The Lord is their strength; not mine only, but the strength of every believer." Note, The saints rejoice in their friends' comforts as well as their own; for, as we have not the less benefit from the light of the sun, so neither from the light of Gods' countenance, for others' sharing therein; for we are sure there is enough for all and enough for each. This is our communion with all saints, that God is their strength and ours, Christ their Lord and ours, 1 Corinthians 1:2. He is their strength, the strength of all Israel, because he is the saving strength of his anointed, that is, 1. Of David in the type. God, in strengthening him that was their king and fought their battles, strengthened the whole kingdom. He calls himself God's anointed because it was the unction he had received that exposed him to the envy of his enemies, and therefore entitled him to the divine protection. 2. Of Christ, his anointed, his Messiah, in the anti-type. God was his saving strength, qualified him for his undertaking and carried him through it; see Psalms 89:21; Isaiah 49:5; Isaiah 50:7; Isaiah 50:9. And so he becomes their strength, the strength of all the saints; he strengthened him that is the church's head, and from him diffuses strength to all the members, has commanded his strength, and so strengthens what he has wrought for us;Psalms 68:28; Psalms 68:80; Psalms 68:17; Psalms 68:18.

      IV. He concludes with a short but comprehensive prayer for the church of God, Psalms 28:9; Psalms 28:9. He prays for Israel, not as his people ("save my people, and bless my inheritance"), though they were so, but, "thine." God's interest in them lay nearer his heart than his own. We are thy people is a good plea, Isaiah 64:9; Isaiah 63:19. I am thine, save me. God's people are his inheritance, dear to him, and precious in his eyes; what little glory he has from this world he has from them. The Lord's portion is his people. That which he begs of God for them is, 1. That he would save them from their enemies and the dangers they were exposed to. 2. That he would bless them with all good, flowing from his favour, in performance of his promise, and amounting to a happiness for them. 3. That he would feed them, bless them with plenty, and especially the plenty of his ordinances, which are food to the soul. Rule them; so the margin. "Direct their counsels and actions aright, and overrule their affairs for good. Feed them, and rule them; sets pastors, set rulers, over them, that shall do their office with wisdom and understanding." 4. That he would lift them up for ever, lift them up out of their troubles and distresses, and do this, not only for those of that age, but for his people in every age to come, even to the end. "Lift them up into thy glorious kingdom, lift them up as high as heaven." There, and there only, will the saints be lifted up for ever, never more to sink or be depressed. Observe, Those, and those only, whom God feeds and rules, who are willing to be taught, and guided, and governed, by him, shall be saved, and blessed, and lifted up for ever.