Psalms 28:7

Watch the tenses move across this one verse, because the whole psalm turns inside it.

Yahweh is my strength and my shield — present, a statement about what is permanently true. My heart has trusted in him — past, something already done. And I am helped — the result, also settled. Therefore my heart greatly rejoices. With my song I will thank him — future, the only thing still outstanding.

So the sequence is: a fact, a decision made in the past on the basis of it, help that followed, and gratitude still being paid out. Joy arrives fourth on that list. It is not the engine. It is the exhaust.

That ordering is quietly useful for anyone waiting to feel something before they act. David's heart does not rejoice first and trust afterwards. It trusts, receives help, and then cannot help rejoicing.

The two images at the start are also a pair, and they do different jobs. Strength is what lets you act; shield is what stops something reaching you. One is for going forward, one is for standing still under fire. Most days need one of the two, and the psalm does not make you choose.

And the last clause commits him to something ongoing. Thanks with a song is thanks that has to be repeated, out loud, in front of other people.