A Sacred Solo
“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.” -Psalm 28:7
We have here A SURE POSSESSION - With a double grip he takes hold of the divine covenant. He gets a two-handed grasp on the God of salvation. A touch of the hem of the Saviour’s garment will heal; what divine virtue, then, must stream into a man who can hold with both hands — not merely the garment’s hem, nor even the garment itself, but the Lord Himself.
Notice what it is that David lays hold upon with his two hands. “The Lord is my strength and my shield”: it is not the Lord’s promised grace, nor is it the bounties of providence, which he has bestowed on me, which I regard as my strength and my shield. It is not even the Lord’s work in my soul, neither is it the assurance of my faith, nor yet the ardour of my love, that has become my strength and my shield. It is not the Lord’s book even, though its inspired oracles can enlighten the eyes, fortify the heart, and refresh the spirit. It is not the Lord’s attributes of power and faithfulness and watchfulness; but it is JEHOVAH Himself who is strength and shield to me. Now, he who lays hold on God has done a daring deed, at which even “the man greatly beloved” might stand aghast, were it not written, “Let him take hold of my strength.” Oh, to say, “My God!” There is more eloquence in those two words than in all the orations of Demosthenes or Cicero. All the genius, learning, and penetration of the heathen world could never teach us how to claim the Deity and take possession of the God of the whole earth. What can we discover in the philosophy of Pythagoras, Aristotle, or Socrates that will compare with this? The man who can truly say, “The Lord is mine,” has an inheritance which death cannot wither, which space cannot encompass, which time cannot limit, which eternity cannot explore. He may be poor in pocket money, as I suppose the owners of large estates occasionally are; but he is infinitely rich, for he has real property, and an absolutely valid title to it. He may feel distressingly weak, but he is infinitely strong. He may consider himself to be empty, but he has all things and abounds, he, I mean, who can say, “The Lord is mine.”
Come, my brother, be bold enough to look into your privilege. Think of it! What if you could say, “The world is mine?” It will be consumed by fire. What if you could say, “Heaven is mine?” Yet if the God of heaven were not there, it would be a wilderness. Oh, beloved! if you can say, “God is mine — Father, Son, and Spirit are mine,” what more do you want to gratify your eager quest for unspeakable joy? Come, can you conceive satisfaction more substantial than to know of a surety that God is your Father, your Redeemer, your Sustainer, your All, — your All in all? Do you wish for a better song than this? -CH Spurgeon
1. Spurgeon emphasizes the personal pronoun ‘my’. How would the force and comfort of the text change if you remove the word ‘my’?
2. How can believers cultivate a life that ‘greatly rejoices’ despite perhaps enduring difficult circumstances?
3. How does viewing God’s help in the present tense (‘I am helped’ now) enable you to cope in the struggles of life? In what way does faith in God help us to persevere?