Psalms 28:7
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. 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.
The Lord himself is the believer's strength and shield, giving protection and defense to the one who trusts in him. Whoever trusts him with the heart is helped and need not be overcome. That help leads the heart to greatly rejoice and to praise him with song. This trust gives courage to stand firm and not be overcome in the struggle against sin and in spiritual conflict. Those who serve him are to rely on him for strength amid perplexities and obstacles in their work, and those who give the final warning gain victory as they trust because their strength is not their own.
Strength, Trust, and Praise
The Lord himself is the believer's strength and shield, giving protection and defense to the one who trusts him. Trusting him is a matter of the heart, and that heart-trust brings his help, so that the trusting one is helped and need not be overcome but can stand firm. This help belongs to a life of faith and dependence on God, in which trust gives courage to stand and confidence against being overcome in the struggle against sin and in spiritual conflict.
Receiving his help leads the heart to greatly rejoice and to praise him with song. The joy follows the help, and the praise answers it, as the heart responds to being sustained and protected with rejoicing and singing. In this way gratitude for sustaining help finds voice, including thanksgiving for renewed health and strength amid demanding travel and labor.
The psalm is among those that tell of the rich blessings God bestows on His people and their poor return for all His benefits.
Trust in Conflict and Work
In the struggle against sin the Lord himself is strength and shield to the one who trusts, and that trust brings help so that the believer is not overcome. In spiritual conflict this help gives courage to stand firm, belonging to a life of faith and dependence on God. The trusting heart therefore need not be overcome but is brought to rejoicing and praise. The same confidence holds when people threaten harm, for God is defense to the one who trusts him so that human threats do not make him afraid. So Luther could trust God as his defense and be unafraid even when enemies sought his life.
Those who give the final warning about the Sabbath succeed and gain victory by this trust, because their strength is not their own. Trusting God brings success and victory in that work, while relying on their own strength leads to defeat. Trust in him is to be joined with obedience and faithfulness, and through that he strengthens and blesses people in their undertakings. The household too is to trust God fully and depend on him for strength, prosperity, and blessing in its undertakings, in keeping with obedience and faithfulness.
Those who serve him are to rely on him for strength amid perplexities and obstacles in their work, for the Lord is the strength of those who serve him. Taking hold of his power calls for increased faith while doing the work he gives, and leads to praise, with the Lord as strength in that work. Physicians in particular are to rely on the great Medical Missionary as their strength rather than lean on a human leader. The verse also expresses gratitude for God's sustaining help, fitting thanksgiving for renewed health and strength amid demanding travel and labor, when the heart trusts, is helped, and therefore greatly rejoices and praises him with song.