Psalm 3

Summer in the Psalms   •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented
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Things are not as bad as they seem when God is on your side

Notes
Transcript
Psalm 3 introduces as series of 1st in the book of Psalms. (A heading… “A Psalm of David”)
-First Psalm to identify its author (David)
-First Psalm that states its occasion (David is on the run from his son Absalom)
-First Psalm that uses the Hebrew word “Selah” (sits at the end of the 1st, 2nd & 3rd stanzas)
~”Selah” is a musical notation for an interlude that can result in one of two calls
~Play or sing louder or to stop and think about the words that had just been spoken
-Psalm 3 is the first of a category of Psalms called “Psalms of Lament”
~The writer is allowed to “sing the blues” (lifts his complaints about God in prayer)
*David speaks of his issues but cannot complain too long when he realizes who is on his side
-Things are not as bad as they seem when God is on your side!
*Psalm 3 is broken into 3 stanzas (In stanza 1 David begins to “sing the blues” to God)
O LORD, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God.
*David was telling God about his troubles and the things that his enemies were trying to do to him.
-It is interesting that even though David was complaining, he went to the right place.

Bring your complaints to the Lord

-When we have issues and trials God is the only one who can help us.
-Don’t waste time talking to folks who cannot help you, share your issues with God!
*“Many, Many, Many”
-David tells the Lord about what his enemies are doing.
Many are rising against me
~Friends had turned their backs on him
-David tells the Lord what his enemies were saying
Many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God
~A lot of people had an opinion about David’s condition
(Not even God will get David out of this one…)
~There are times when folks will misdiagnose your condition…
-People knew something about David’s past…(Adultery with Bathsheba & killed Uriah)
-Although David repented & God forgave him, God did not remove all of the consequences
~There are consequences to sin…
Thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house.
(2 Samuel 12:11)
-God kept this promise through Absalom’s revolt.
~People had concluded that God had turned His back on David.
*There is a consequence for sin… (Story of the little boy with the nails on the walls)
-The guilt of sin may be removed but the consequences still remain…
-The wound of sin may be removed but the scars still remain…
*Although people had misdiagnosed David’s condition, God was David’s private doctor
-While folks were talking, David was praying!!
*Elijah Hoffman: “I must tell Jesus all of my trial I cannot bear these burdens alone in my distress He kindly will help me for He ever loves & cares for His own”
*Bring your complaints to the Lord!

Put your Confidence in the Lord

*In the 2nd stanza David shifts His focus from his enemies to His Lord…
-When things get back we must make sure we are looking in the right direction…

Put your confidence in who God is

-When we can see God in His true stature our enemies shrink to manageable proportions!
-David was reminded of who his God is and what God had done for him.
-Remind yourself of what God had done.
But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.
*There is a personal feeling in the text. David remembered his own testimony!
*The Lord is my “Shield”
-When you trust in Him the Lord will be your shield
-A shield is used to protect a soldier from attacks of the enemies.
~ A limited defense because it protected one side but it left another blind side open
-The Lord is a shield all around me, He has my back!!
~“I’m glad that the Lord has my back”!! (I don’t have to worry about my enemies)
*The Lord is my “glory”. God validates my character…
-David’s self-worth was not rooted in what he had but rather in WHO he had!!
*The Lord is the “lifter of my head”
-David ran with his head covered but he was confident that the story was not over…
-Yours story is not over, God can still lift up your head!!
**(Story of the king being the judge)** God will lift up a bowed down head!!!
*Put your confidence in God…

Put your confidence in what God has already done

*How could David trust God the way that he did.
-David had a “faith file” (a record of the things that God had already done…)
-You need to establish a “faith file” (it will remind you that God can bring you out)
*David remembered what the Lord had already done. What has the Lord already done?
I cried aloud to the LORD, and he answered me from his holy hill.
-David does not mention “what” he prayed but rather “how” he prayed
-There is a time for cute, quiet prayers, but there is also a time for “crying aloud”
-When your soul is desperate its time to cry aloud!
*God is still in the business of answering prayer…
-Not only does God answer prayer but also God sustains…
I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me.
*My safety is in God alone! The enemies are trying to kill me but God sustained me!
-Many of us need to go home & trust God and go to sleep.
-The Lord has been good to me too, “I laid down, I went to sleep & I woke up again”
-The Lord sustained me!

God relieves fear

I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.
*David had a lot to be afraid of but yet he still was not afraid…

“Courage is just fear that’s said its prayers” –H.B. Charles, Jr.

-When God is on your side you don’t have anything to be afraid of…
~Psalm 27: “The Lord is my light & my salvation whom shall I fear…”
*Put your confidence in the Lord…

Give your conflict to the Lord

*Psalm 3 is an “instructive prayer”
-David issues a “battle cry” to the Lord “Arise, O LORD”! (Let God arise & His enemies be scattered)
Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God!
*At the beginning people were saying that there was no salvation for David, but that didn’t stop David for praying for God to save him…
-We cannot allow the opinions of people to stop us from believing what God can do for us!
-Others cannot tell you what your God will do for you!!
*Psalm 3 is an “imprecatory” Psalm
-Imprecatory= A prayer for punishment or an announcement of a curse on one’s enemies
~ “Get ‘em Lord” prayer
-David shows confidence in God; he gives his issues to the Lord…
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked.
*David does not pray for God to kill his enemies but to simply “break their teeth”
-When the enemies attack him they can’t hurt him…
Salvation belongs to the LORD; your blessing be on your people!
*David tells us that the same thing that God did for him He will do for all His people…
-“It’s no secret what God can do what He’s done for others He will do for you”
***ILLUSTRATION OF OLD MAN GETTING INTO THE BABY PEN***
-God may not pull you out the pen but He will get in the pen with you to rock you!

IT’S NOT AS BAD AS IT SEEMS

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