My strength and shield
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.
Psalm 28:7
This passage tells us that God is the ultimate source of our power and protection. Through this promise, we can rejoice and sing praises to him. Feeling secure brings peace to our hearts and minds. We can rest knowing that God will always take care of us.
When David wrote this psalm, he used the context of being a warrior. He recognized that the Lord enabled him to be strong in the face of his enemy. When he opposed Goliath, he knew he couldn’t defeat the mountain of a man without some help. With God strengthening him, he was able to slay the giant and rally the Israelites to fight their enemies.
It’s the same with us today. Jesus gave us this strength through his death and resurrection. He gives us freedom and salvation from evil through his divine power. That is hope we can believe in. That is the strength we can have faith in. We have giant obstacles that we have to overcome. We have enemies bearing down on us in the form of sin and temptation. When God strengthens us, we can battle those inner demons. He will crush our iniquities and silence our oppressors.
Every time the Lord gives us victory over our enemies, we should be thankful and rejoice. This is what we do on Sundays when we gather to worship. We sing praises to God for the wonderful things he has done. This should motivate us to sing with passion and joy because we know the Lord is always there for us. When God answers our prayers, we should thank him with our whole hearts. Even when he doesn’t answer our prayers, we still know he is there because of what Jesus did on the cross for us.
No matter what we’re going through, we can always trust in the Lord. He is our strength and our shield. He gives us power to conquer our enemies and gives us protection when we feel weak or vulnerable. God did it for David thousands of years ago and he can do it for us today. All we have to do is trust and believe in him and the Lord provides the energy we need to get through the day.
This week, give thanks to God for being your strength and shield. Rejoice in the Lord for his faithfulness and grace.