Hear My Cry

This psalm really strikes all of the chords of our humanity. It is rooted in our often desperate need for God’s help, but there is in it, too, a bit of our human desire to have justice done to those who have done evil among us.

O Lord, my defender, I call to you. Hear my cry! – Psalm 28:1

This psalm really strikes all of the chords of our humanity. It is rooted in our often desperate need for God’s help, but there is in it, too, a bit of our human desire to have justice done to those who have done evil among us. But the last part of the psalm is a profound expression of thanksgiving for the fact that God truly does hear us when we cry out for his help. There is a clear recognition that God’s profound intention is to protect, to care for, and to shepherd those who are his children, forever.

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Those who tend to do evil, those who are “wicked” in the world, are those who have placed other idols before the One God that David is addressing here in Psalm 28. “In saying no to the One God, we fall prey to a corrupt and corrupting array of false gods, to powers and principalities that tyrannize over the human heart, reducing everything to the anarchy of (mere) appetite[s] grown limitless and depraved.” (from: The Idolatry of Disbelief: an article by Regis Martin in Crisis Magazine) Such as these pass aimlessly from one god to another, submitting to human desires that are fleeting, insubstantial gossamers, untethered from the truth that is found in the One God. They are, indeed, lost!

On the other hand, it is the humility of David, the psalmist, that makes this psalm speak to our deepest hopes here. We have been guilty, like David, of “wickednesses” in our lives. But through the gift of faith we have come to know God’s love and mercy. Because of this we are moved, now, by a deeper desire to turn away from our sins, those things that separate us from God and his protection. When we humbly cry out, like David here in this psalm, “O Lord, my defender, I call to you. Hear my cry,” we believe that God will hear and answer us, that he will, indeed, protect and shepherd us. Thanks be to God! Let us cry out daily, then, with humble confidence, and know that God is God and that he will, indeed, protect us from all that tries to separate us from him. Amen.
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