6 I praise you, Lord, for answering my prayers.
7 You are my strong shield, and I trust you completely.
You have helped me, and I will celebrate and thank you in song.
8 You give strength to your people, Lord,
and you save and protect your chosen ones.
9 Come save us and bless us.
Be our shepherd and always carry us in your arms.
Psalm 28:6-9 Contemporary English Version (CEV)
It was tradition, at my nursing school, to assign each incoming class a verse from the Bible. A committee was then tasked to turn that verse into a class song. My class was given Psalm 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. Psalm 28:7 King James Version (KJV)
When sang our song at our 50th Reunion last October, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.
But when I reread Psalm 28 for this post I realized that the school may have given us verse 7, but God had gone on to give us the other verses, too.
Some of the comments in the memory book include:
“God has been so good to me…”
“God has been faithful in providing…”
“We serve a wonderful Savior!”
“Resting in His arms…”
“I am one of the most blessed people I know…”
“Without the Lord’s strength and faithfulness life can be overwhelming. With the Lord I can take courage and choose to walk in the light…”
“Thank God for His grace and mercy over all these years…”
“Our lives have been blessed…”
“God is good all the time and all the time God is good.”
After 50 years, 45 different people – on different paths, in different places and with different strengths, stories and experiences – report a lifetime of answered prayer, of strengthening, protecting and blessing despite the hardships and sorrows each one endured. Everyone mentioned hardships and sorrows, yet each affirmed feeling loved and carried in the Shepherd’s arms.
What are the odds? Well, I’d say 100%. Amazing to look back, isn’t it, and see that God has always had everything under control? For each one of us, everywhere, all the time?
It takes some of us a lifetime to learn that Christ,
our Good Shepherd, knows exactly what He is doing with us.
He understands us perfectly. W. Phillip Keller