Psalm 5:11-12 - January 31, 2009

Ps 5:11-12 “But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them that those who love your name may rejoice in you. 12 For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.” NIV

The Apostle Paul said, “… our life is now hidden with Christ in God.” Those who accept the Lord have a place of refuge beyond any other. What is there to be happy about in this life? I am with Christ! I am hidden from Satan’s accusations. God’s desire is that the knowledge of this place of safety brings forth praise in our lives. What a precious gift the Father has given us, to be hidden in Him. God spreads his protection over those who love His name so that we will rejoice in Him. He desires to be our joy, our source.
The psalmist declares that the Father surrounds the righteous with favor as a shield. God has placed a protective shield around your life to keep you and to secure his purposes in you. This shield is called the favor of the Lord. When we live a life that is pleasing to God he has committed to making our way for us. The very means of protecting your destiny is that God places favor on you. It was said of both John the Baptist and the Lord himself in the verses related to the youth that they “grew in favor with both God and man.” This is the shield of the Lord.
When others are going through economic shaking those who are hidden in the Lord can lean on this promise of favor being on our lives. When the enemy seems to be gaining ground in the culture and it is harder and harder for the righteous to live in this age God can place favor on his saints. Both Daniel and Joseph walked in the favor of the Lord. Each was righteous in the midst of an unrighteous culture and the Lord set them apart with such favor that it protected them even in a foreign land and caused them to rise to the top in the midst of their trials. They lived under the blessing of Deut 28:13 “The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.”