We turn our thoughts this week to a study of Psalm 28.  This is another prayer of David in a time of national disaster.  This is one of David’s songs in the night.  Some has called it an imprecatory Psalm.  This implies the idea of praying judgment upon our enemies.  Let us look at verses 1-2 where David says, “Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.”

We are confronted here with two great truths that have their roots in prayer.  He deals with the truth of a ‘cry’ and the truth of ‘conviction’.

The word ‘cry’ used in verse 1 is a word of nausea or to spew forth vomit.  It is a word of deep sorrow that brings upon us great sickness.  I was extremely interested in ‘The Direction Of This Cry’.  David said, “Unto thee…” Oh, what a direction to aim our cry.  Let us not waste our groans or sorrow on the world around us by directing them at the arm of human help.  They have no way whereby to give lasting eternal help.

We see also ‘The Dependency Of The Cry’.  In David’s dependency he calls on the “…LORD my rock;” The word ‘LORD’ is the word Jehovah or the great ‘I AM’.  John Phillips said the title means, “The becoming One.”  He himself will become what we need.  For David He has become a rock.  He is a solid rock upon which we can find a sure footing in our dark night of sorrows.  We also are confronted with ‘The Desire Of This Cry’.  David desires that God would not be silent.  Spurgeon said this about the silence of God. “Mere formalists may be content without answers to their prayers, but genuine supplicants cannot; they are not satisfied with the results of prayer itself in calming the mind and subduing the will; they must go further and obtain actual replies from heaven or they cannot rest: and those replies they long to receive at once if possible. They dread even a little of God’s silence.”  David said if God be silent, he would feel as those who go down into the pit of hell.  Oh, let us who pray be satisfied until God answers.

In verse 2 David deals with some strong thoughts about ‘The Convictions Of Prayer’.  There is first of all ‘A Conviction About His Hearing’.  David is very concerned that the LORD ‘hear’ his supplications.  Why is there such a strong conviction for David to be assured that God has heard his prayer?  Let me answer it with verses from I John 5:14-15, “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us: and if we know that He hears us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petition that we desired of Him.”  The LORD does not have to answer immediately but if we could sense that he has heard, we can rest that the petition is granted.

There is also ‘A Conviction About Our Hands’.  David has lifted up his hands.  It speaks of holiness and purity of the heart.  “Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling.”  There is also ‘A Conviction About Holiness’.  He lifts his hands toward the holy oracle.  This speaks of the holy of holies, the dwelling place or throne room of God.  David is, because of some national disaster, away from the holy temple.  He doesn’t desire his throne but the throne of God.  Oh, let our cries of prayer be focused not on the things of this world but upon the things and God of the world to come.