Psalm 33 – The Lord is our help and our shield
But, to help us do what?

The Psalm says, “We wait in hope for the Lord, He is our help and our shield”. But what does that really mean? The Lord is our help and shield to do what, exactly? What’s the goal? And who/what are we shielded from?

When you read the entire Psalm, it’s obviously praising God. It’s like a worship song.

But, if all we do is read the last few verses, we might not realize that.

We might even be shocked, and disappointed, to find that out.

The adjacent image shows the Israelites about to cross the Red Sea during the exodus. Yes, God was their hope and their shield. God saved His people.

However, do we realize the deeper meaning of what happened back then? Just like, do we realize it now?

Let’s read the entire Psalm and then take a look at some background information. After that, we’ll delve into the deeper topic.

Psalm 33 

Ps 33:1 Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; 
it is fitting for the upright to praise him. 

Ps 33:2 Praise the LORD with the harp; 
make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. 

Ps 33:3 Sing to him a new song; 
play skillfully, and shout for joy. 

Ps 33:4 For the word of the LORD is right and true; 
he is faithful in all he does. 

Ps 33:5 The LORD loves righteousness and justice; 
the earth is full of his unfailing love. 

Ps 33:6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, 
their starry host by the breath of his mouth. 

Ps 33:7 He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; 
he puts the deep into storehouses. 

Ps 33:8 Let all the earth fear the LORD; 
let all the people of the world revere him. 

Ps 33:9 For he spoke, and it came to be; 
he commanded, and it stood firm. 

Ps 33:10 The LORD foils the plans of the nations; 
he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. 

Ps 33:11 But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, 
the purposes of his heart through all generations. 

Ps 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, 
the people he chose for his inheritance. 

Ps 33:13 From heaven the LORD looks down 
and sees all mankind; 

Ps 33:14 from his dwelling place he watches 
all who live on earth— 

Ps 33:15 he who forms the hearts of all, 
who considers everything they do. 

Ps 33:16 No king is saved by the size of his army; 
no warrior escapes by his great strength. 

Ps 33:17 A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; 
despite all its great strength it cannot save. 

Ps 33:18 But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, 
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, 

Ps 33:19 to deliver them from death 
and keep them alive in famine. 

Ps 33:20 We wait in hope for the LORD; 
he is our help and our shield. 

Ps 33:21 In him our hearts rejoice, 
for we trust in his holy name. 

Ps 33:22 May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, 
even as we put our hope in you,

And next, some background.

A Call to Worship

The psalm has a straightforward outline. The first three verses are a call to worship. The last three verses (vv. 20–22) are a conclusion in which the worshipers declare their intention of waiting trustingly on God. In between is the body of the psalm (vv. 4–19), in which the Lord is praised for his word and works, as I have indicated.

As I mentioned, even a simple read of Psalm 33 says it’s a praise and worship Psalm.

Not only is the outline straightforward. The opening call to worship is straightforward too. It contains six imperatives in which the righteous are called upon to “sing joyfully,” “praise,” “make music,” “sing,” “play,” and “shout” their thanks to God. They are to do it loudly, which the last verb specifically commands. And they are to do it with instruments, as if the human voice by itself is not enough. This is the first time in the Psalter that musical instruments are mentioned as being employed in worship, and it shows that the Jews played instruments. In the time of Nehemiah they even had the ancient equivalent of an orchestra (Neh. 12:27). In light of this fact it is hard to believe, as some nevertheless do, that it is improper to use musical instruments in worship. This psalm is actually an endorsement of them.

Yes, some people don’t like instruments during worship.

Although, I can’t help but wonder if that’s necessarily about a prohibition of instruments, or something else. For instance, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t pleased the first time a guitar (acoustic even) was used during a Catholic Mass instead of an organ. Obviously, I wasn’t anti-instrument. It’s just that I was used to an organ.

Somehow, it’s like the organ was more “holy” or something. Then, when you think about it, there weren’t any organs in David’s time. They had some simple wind and string instruments. Not unlike a guitar in the method of playing – old string, pluck string, hear sound.

And so, as this piece will further get into, it’s not God who’s displeased by instruments. It’s us. The Lord is our help and our shield. And while He’s at it, He gave us wind and string instruments. So, who are we to say He doesn’t want them used as part of worship?

I don’t like it when someone tries to tell me how I must worship. My way of singing, praising, etc. is my choice. But at the same time, I also realize that my choice isn’t necessarily God’s. I think what God’s looking for is that we do it, whatever we do for praise and worship, from our hearts and souls – and that we truly mean it.

Verse 3 encourages us to sing a “new song” to God. This is an unusual thing to say, and there have been various explanations of what the author meant by “new.” At one point Alexander Maclaren suggested that it might be a reference to this being the first psalm like this in the Psalter. Others suggest that the psalm is a new telling of Genesis 1 and Exodus 15, which are echoed in the psalm’s main section. It is more likely, however, that “new song” simply means that every praise song should emerge from a fresh awareness of God’s grace. H. C. Leupold says that a new song is “one which springs freshly from a thankful and rejoicing heart.” P. C. Craigie calls it “the ever-new freshness of the praise of God.”4 Alexander Maclaren adds, “There is always room for a fresh voice to praise the old gospel, the old creation, the old providence.”

So here are three important qualities of worship: freshness, skill (because of the instruments), and fervor. We need to make use of all three.  ¹Boice, J. M. (2005). Psalms 1–41: An Expositional Commentary (pp. 285–286). Baker Books.

Again, I think this one’s up to us to decide our preference. God will accept all of them, as long as it’s genuine and heartfelt.

The thing is, whether we sing old hymns or new style songs, what are we thinking of? Why are we praising God? Is it always the same thing, or nothing, with little to no effort behind it as to why we’re praising God?

And, more specifically on topic, are we praising God because He did the things we wanted Him to do? Or is it because we’re doing the things He desires for us to do, and through that our life is improving because we become closer to Him? And as we do that, we have more joy and God receives more glory.

Is The Lord our help and our shield?

So, is The Lord our help and our shield? And if so, why?

I mean, it’s easy to say we look to God for help and protection. But then, do we only have certain things we’re looking for? And then we hope God will leave us alone for everything we don’t want from Him? Or things we do want, but don’t want Him to know about?

Those are some of the things I thought about when reading this Psalm.

In a way, it’s about trust. If we love God, then we should trust Him. That is, we should trust that He wants the best for us. Even when His best doesn’t line up with our idea of best. So, let’s go through the last six verses, with that in mind.

We are people, not horses

Ps 33:17 A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
despite all its great strength it cannot save.

I know some people like to think we’re just animals, descended from other animals. Maybe even descended, ultimately, from an amoeba or some other organism that isn’t even an animal and doesn’t have a brain.

But we are people. Not only that, but we are also people descended from Adam, the first to have the breath of life given by God Himself. We are special. And if we can’t come to grips with that, can’t or don’t want to accept it, then we probably won’t see the point of what follows. That’s sad.

You see, as this verse says, the horse, if it could hope for deliverance the way God’s people can, then that hope is in vain. That is for people, and people only. Even only for those who choose to accept God’s offer of salvation.

As this verse points out, the strength of a horse cannot bring about deliverance. So what hope do we have with our strength, which is so much less?

Fear of the Lord and hope go together with our help and our shield

Ps 33:18 But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,

Fear of the Lord. That’s a scary thought, isn’t it? Pun intended. Actually, it’s only a scary thing for those who don’t fear the Lord. Really. That’s because fear of the Lord isn’t about being scared. Not in the way we normally think of fear.

Instead, fear of the Lord is about awe and reverence. Imagine meeting your favorite sports, TV, movie, or other famous person. You’re probably not literally scared of them. And yet, there’s a certain amount of intimidation that we feel, whether it’s justified or not. It’s there because of the way we imagine ourselves in relation to them.

Of course, in God’s case, the difference between Him and us is well, infinite. With a famous person, the feeling of awe or whatever may or may not be justified. But with God, it is.

The difference between fear of the Lord and fear of someone else is this. Fear of a person is a fear of what they can do to us physically. There’s a feeling that they can do something to us. But with God, if we have the proper “fear”, as in awe, respect, reverence, and the like, then we have nothing to “fear” related to Him hurting or killing us. In fact, when we have the proper fear of the Lord, He helps us.

What we see then is this. Yes, God sees everything. Bus He pays special attention, in some way, to those who “fear Him”, as described above.

Furthermore, when it comes to the idea of the Lord is our help and our shield, it gets a mention is there as well. This verse shows the relationship between fear of the Lord and those whose hope is in his unfailing love,

The Lord is our help and our shield – and will keep us alive and fed?

Ps 33:19 to deliver them from death
and keep them alive in famine.

Does this verse really say that when the Lord is our help and our shield – and will keep us alive and fed?

I guess the best way to answer that is, it depends. Yes, sometimes it does mean exactly that. And yet, sometimes it doesn’t. Truth be told, it’s the times it doesn’t mean that when it’s most important.

Consider it this way. For those that “fear the Lord” in the way we looked at above. what if God knows, and we don’t know, that the best thing for us is to, as we call it, go home? To die. In this life. Then what happens? We go to live with Jesus forever.

Of course, that does leave some difficulties. Such as the people we leave behind. They’ll miss us. (Hopefully.) I mean, it’s natural. It’s how we’re made. We have emotions. And we miss friends and loved ones when they’re gone. And yet, if they’re also believers, among those who fear God and have God as their help and shield, then they will come to realize what Job summed up so nicely after being told his possessions were wiped out and his children were all dead.

Job’s First Test

…

Job 1:20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised.”

Job 1:22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

Yes, it’s hard to deal with. But, eventually, we do remember God’s faithfulness. And His knowledge of what’s best. And our promise to follow Him and bring glory to Him. We do things in this life for other people. Even people who use us in the worst sense of the word. So why are so many people so much against the idea that if God decides the best thing for His overall plan is for us to return to Him, then we’re not only OK with it but in support of it?

Our loved ones, as long as they’re also believers, will join us soon enough. We all know that. We just don’t all come to the realization of it at the same speed after something happens to a loved one. But we do eventually remember that, in time, we all be together again in the best possible place. And, we’ll all be our best possible selves. What could be better?

Then, we come to realize/remember that the references to death and famine have two meanings.

One, for some people, in this life.

But the deeper meaning, the spiritual meaning, is for all believers in the next life. Although, the benefits of the confidence we have in God’s faithfulness to fulfill His promises does lead to this life being better.

Even in the midst of the troubles of this life.

For me, that includes being diagnosed with prostate cancer and being a cancer survivor for almost six years as of this writing.

We wait in hope for the Lord to be our help and our shield

Ps 33:20 We wait in hope for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield.

Seriously? We wait in hope? Hope? That’s all we have? Some hope?

Uh – no, not really.

You see, Christian hope isn’t like a little kid hoping they’ll get a pony for Christmas when they live in a high-rise building in the middle of a city.

I think a lot of Christians don’t even know what the word “hope” really should mean to us.

I know it took me a long time to understand it. And then to trust that this Christian hope thing really can/does change our lives now.

Paul wrote something about our temporary bodies, and our eternal bodies. Also about what we fix our eyes on, as God has His eyes on us, as believers. At the end, he writes about the hope we have. What we know, in spite of the fact that it’s unseen, until the next life.

Treasures in Jars of Clay

2Co 4:1 Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

2Co 4:13 It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

2Co 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

As the passage alludes to, this makes sense to believers. We “know” it’s true. We look forward to the time when it comes. It is our “hope”. But then, to non-believers, it makes no sense at all.

But this is what our “hope” is about. Jesus was crucified to pay for our sins. He rose from the dead, showing that He could and did conquer death. And then Jesus returned to Heaven, where He has prepared a place for us.

We rejoice and trust in God

Ps 33:21 In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.

Ps 33:22 May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD,
even as we put our hope in you,

The last two verses, by now, should be self-explanatory. Should be. But maybe aren’t.

This life is full of pain.

I don’t know anyone who would disagree with that feeling.

We certainly won’t all agree on what exactly constitutes pain. But we all hope for something better. Even those who hope for life to just terminate with nothing afterwards hope that nothing is better than their current life.

But no one, I repeat no one, has anything better to “hope for” than Christians. Christianity is the only religion where we actually get to be the best of ourselves. Forever.

Conclusion – The Lord is our help and our shield

Think about it. We have the Creator of everything. He has His eye on His followers. And sent His Son to save us. By the way, in the process, also showed us that He could do the same for us. Given all the things this Creator did throughout the Bible, from start to finish (just short of Revelation), we have no reason to expect anything other than all of the remaining promises, including those in Revelation, will also be fulfilled.

What’s not to rejoice about?

Well, I’ll tell you the answers.

First, we have to be able to understand all that. In order to understand, we need to have faith In Him. Trust Him.

The other issue is being willing to follow Him, when so many in the world don’t and won’t. Plus, non-believers are getting ever more flagrant in the ways they want to force us to stop believing in God. Unfortunately, some of that’s due to the way some self-proclaimed believers are also becoming more politically flagrant and ignoring what Jesus taught and expects of His followers.

So really, it comes down to trust. Do we trust God enough to stick with Him in this life? Jesus warned us about this in so many ways. One of the ways is becoming more and more obvious. Unless we choose to ignore it.

The Narrow and Wide Gates – Matthew

Mt 7:13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

As even previously mainstream Christian churches stray from Jesus’ teachings, the path to destruction is being taken by more and more people. Including people who may very well honestly believe they’re on the right path.

We tend to forget, God is God and we’re His creation. He told us what to do. He told us what is OK and what’s not OK. He gave us the path to salvation.

But if we choose not to take it, that’s on us.

However, if we choose to take the correct path, but still not enjoy the fruits of being a true child of God, well, that’s also on us.

The Psalmist here has the right idea. But how many of us don’t take it?

Even I waited for what seems far too long.

But now, there’s no going back.

I’m all in for:

Ps 33:18 But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,

Ps 33:19 to deliver them from death
and keep them alive in famine.

Ps 33:20 We wait in hope for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield.

Ps 33:21 In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.

Ps 33:22 May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD,
even as we put our hope in you,

How about you?

Where is your hope?

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Topic image by MS Designer based on my description

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Footnotes

• 1
  Boice, J. M. (2005). Psalms 1–41: An Expositional Commentary (pp. 285–286). Baker Books.