Psalm 28
The Right Hand of God
This is a Psalm about hands.
Not the most promising opening to the weekly devotion I know.
But what we see in this song is the soul-deep solace in knowing whose hands hold us in response to the cries of our hearts.
Of David.
1 To you, LORD, I call;
you are my Rock,
do not turn a deaf ear to me.
For if you remain silent,
I shall be like those who go down to the pit.
2 Hear my cry for mercy
as I call to you for help,
as I lift up my hands
towards your Most Holy Place.3 Do not drag me away with the wicked,
with those who do evil,
who speak cordially with their neighbours
but harbour malice in their hearts.
4 Repay them for their deeds
and for their evil work;
repay them for what their hands have done
and bring back on them what they deserve.5 Because they have no regard for the deeds of the LORD
and what his hands have done,
he will tear them down
and never build them up again.6 Praise be to the LORD,
for he has heard my cry for mercy.
7 The LORD is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.
My heart leaps for joy,
and with my song I praise him.8 The LORD is the strength of his people,
a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.
9 Save your people and bless your inheritance;
be their shepherd and carry them for ever.
In the opening verses of this Psalm, David gives us a picture of himself. He is the one lifting up his hands towards the Most Holy Place. This refers to the Temple, the place where God promised to dwell and rule among his people. And so he thrusts his hands and heart toward the promise making and keeping God.
There is something troubling his heart. The King does not articulate the causes of his anxiety but he records the desperate cries he makes to the LORD. Here he acknowledges that only God can deal with what ails him.
Therefore, his hands aren’t searching his wallet for money to buy his way out. They aren’t reaching out for tools to fix the situation himself. They aren’t trying to shake hands of the influential, seeking to strike deals. His hands are reaching out to God. Empty.
Think of the baby who holds out her hands for her Father to lift her up, to take her away from what stresses her and bring her in close to safety.
David has this same crystal clear and child like clarity on where his hope lies. It is in God and God alone. God is our Rock. In a world of turbulent change, God is the one fixed reality. He is immutable and immovable. He will never change and he is always there for those seeking refuge.
He sets this in striking terms. If God is silent to his cries, he has no hope. He will tumble into the pit which he cannot escape by himself. But we know the Son of God who descended into the darkest depths of the pit and did escape. And because of him, God hears our cries. And Jesus himself is the Word, the fullest answer from God to our prayers.
The prayer continues into 3-5. David prays that he would not be left adrift in the pit with those who deserve to be there. We are judged by what our hands do, and the wicked are judged for their handiwork. The wicked are those who flash the pearly whites and flatter with promises to your face while crossing their fingers behind their backs. They are ultimately defined by their refusal to consider and acknowledge the work of God’s hands.
We are judged by what our hands do, and so in this Psalm, David lifts his hands to God. He asks that God’s hand would judge the unjust and flatten the flatterer’s sandcastles. The same mighty hand which defeated Pharaoh and his army (Exodus 15.6) is the same hand he appeals to here.
And it is this mighty hand, which delivers God’s people that he celebrates in 6-7. v6 is the answer to the prayer in v2. And because God’s mighty hand answered the prayers of the King’s outstretched hands, David’s heart rejoices. He was right to trust in God as his strength and his only hope. He has been vindicated. He is victorious over his enemies. Because God is his strength and shield.
He will sing his praise and makes a final prayer (9). The King is never just concerned for himself. God protects his anointed, his Messiah from death. But all those who take refuge in the anointed King, are safe and secure. The true and everlasting King prays for his people too. Just like Jesus prayed for Peter that his faith would not ultimately fail and his would not fall fully for Satan’s ploys.
The King prays for God to save and shepherd his people. For here is the good news we remember and the promise we cling onto by faith. God lifts us up out of death and raises us with his mighty hand to sit with Christ (Ephesians 2.4-6). An once we are in the hands of the Father and the Son, we cannot be snatched, but belong wholly to the Lord our God (John 10.28-29).
Praise be to the LORD!
Glory be to God the Father, whose right hand delivers justice, purging the world of evil.
Glory be to God the Son, who is at the right hand of God interceding for us.
Glory be to God the Spirit, who shepherds us along the path of life and righteousness.
Ever three and ever One.