Surrounded with favour

But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You;

Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them;

Let those also who love Your name

Be joyful in You.

For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous;

With favour You will surround him as with a shield. – Psalm 5.11-12

How are we supposed to go from day to day with all the nonsense going on around us? As David writes Psalm 5 he is in a place that was not uncommon – surrounded by enemies.

And that is a place where more and more we are going to find ourselves. For decades or even centuries believers in the west have enjoyed society which generally supports us, or at least respects us.

But that is changing before our eyes. Our culture is turning against us. We are not yet to the point where there is widespread persecution, but we are finding opposition growing.

So now we have the context for the text above.

We can find joy as we put our trust in the Lord

We can shout for joy in the midst of opposition because He defends us

We can find our joy in loving Him

We can trust that God will bless His own

And then we read these wonderful words – ‘with favour You will surround him as with a shield.’

Isn’t that beautiful? We are surrounded with God’s favour no matter what else is out there and we can find peace and comfort in His favour.