“The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.”
~ Psalm 28:7
Hi James and Ellen,
What is the happiest that you have ever been? Do you like being happy? Are you happy when another kid is happy? Are you happy when you do something bad? Is your ma and/or your dad happy when you do something that you are not supposed to do? Do you like attention? Your grandpaa does not like attention. Your grandpaa likes to sit someplace where your grandpaa can watch what other guys, gals and kids are doing. Some kids are not happy unless they are getting attention from their ma and/or from their dad or from . . . these kids would just like to have someone pay attention to them. To get the attention of his or her ma and/or dad – or from any guy, gal or kid who might react to his or her antics, a kid will sometimes do something which is disruptive or disorderly or . . . your grandmaa and grandpaa yesterday went out to lunch at a McDonalds with a ma and dad. This ma and dad have a little boy who is three years old and a little gal who is six months old. The little boy – Zach, kept hitting his dad. Zach wanted his dad’s attention. Zach would hit his dad real hard with his hand. What do you think Zach’s dad did? Zach’s dad did nothing. What do you think Zach’s dad should have done? What do you do when you want to have God’s attention? It can be easy to forget that God is watching every single guy, gal and kid all the time. It can be easy to forget that God knows exactly what every guy, gal and kid is doing all the time. God wants your attention. What will God do to get your attention? God does not lack for ways to get your attention. When you are sick, you ask God for help to make you well again. When you are in danger, you ask God to protect you. When everything is fine, what do you do? Do you stop asking God for help? You are never to stop asking God for help.
You are going to look at another Psalm today. God wants you to sense how Psalmists felt as they wrote songs to Him. The Psalmist who wrote Psalm 28 wanted to get God’s attention. David was the Psalmist who wrote this Psalm to God. God had gotten David’s attention. Do you know how God had gotten David’s attention? David was seeing all the wickedness that was all around him. David did not want to end up being like the guys and gals who were acting wickedly. David saw guys and gal with malice – which means meanness, in their hearts towards other guys and gals. David saw guys and gals who were not being friendly to their neighbors. Do you know what David called God? David called God his Rock. David wanted God to listen to him – to not to be deaf to what he was saying to Him. David wanted to get God’s attention. David was showing respect to God in what he was saying. God wants you to talk to Him just as you would talk to a kid friend who is sitting next to you. Even though God is always with you – as He is through the Holy Spirit, God always wants you to ask Him for help. This Psalm is an example of how you are to pray to God. Something which you are to always ask God for help is that He would keep you from all the evil that is always around you. When Jesus taught His disciples how to pray – which is the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus told and taught His disciple to ask God that He would not allow them to be led into temptation or into doing evil but that God would lead them away from temptation and away from doing evil. You should every day be asking God to lead you away from evil and away from temptation. You should be asking God every day for His mercy and for His help. What did David know that you also now know about God? David – in verse 7, wrote “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.” Happiness and joy are a couple of words which mean about the same thing. When your grandpaa asked you what is the happiest – or the most joyful, that you have ever been, what was your answer? What made David the happiest? David was the happiest when he knew that God had helped him. That should be when you are the happiest, too.
There are a lot of bad guys living in Guatemala. These guys do not care if they hurt other guys and/or gals. These bad guys will stop vehicles to rob the guys and/or gals who are in these vehicles of all their money. These guys will sometimes even shoot a guy who they are robbing – so that the other guys and/or gals who they have stopped would know that they are serious about robbing them. Your grandpaa helped to begin a Bible education program – called Programa de Educación Bíblica in Spanish, in an area in Guatemala called the Ixcan. Because the road into the Ixcan region was not very good, the Programa de Educación Bíblica module teachers would fly in a small plane to the village where they taught in the Ixcan. Your grandpaa decided one day to drive into the Ixcan in his pickup. Your grandpaa wanted to visit the Ixcan Programa de Educación Bíblica graduates. A young guy went with your grandpaa. The young guy had been asked to give some messages to the young guys and gals who are in one of the Ixcan churches. As your grandpaa was driving through a very hilly area, a passenger full of guys and gals stopped your grandpaa. The van’s driver told your grandpaa that he had been stopped about fifteen minutes earlier by some guys who robbed everyone. Your grandpaa wanted to head back home. The young guy with your grandpaa thought that your grandpaa should keep on going. Even though your grandpaa did not want to keep going, your grandpaa kept going. Before your grandpaa started going again, your grandpaa asked God that He would keep the bad guys from robbing him. Because your grandpaa really thought that he would be stopped at any moment to be robbed, your grandpaa has never felt so scared. The bad guys never stopped your grandpaa. God answered your grandpaa’s prayer. God shielded your grandpaa and the young guy who was with your grandpaa from being robbed.
Psalm 28 (74)