Psalm 3

Psalm 3 is a psalm written by David as his world seemed to be falling apart. David has committed adultery with Bathsheba, has sent her husband off to his death and, as a result, David has and will experience the death of his infant son born from Bathsheba. He will also experience the death of his son Amnon, who rapes his own sister and is then killed by his brother Absalom. Then, as a response to Absalom killing Amnon, Absalom is sent off into exile. However, David eventually brings him back, but when he returns Absalom leads a revolt against his own father, King David, which forces David to run for his life into the wilderness.

This is quite a turn of events. At one point, we see David rising to power as the lion, bear and Goliath slaying shepherd boy turned king who God uses to expand Israel’s kingdom. This is David, the one known as the man after God’s own heart and now what do we see? We see an adulterous murderer who’s family falls apart and is now on the run from his own son. David feels like the world has turned against him and he’s not sure if he will live to see another day. This is what causes David’s heart to cry out in verse one, “Lord, how they have increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me!”

As King, David was used to having enemies. However, here there are just too many and they aren’t just disappointed citizens, but are actively rising up against him and at the forefront of it all is his son leading the rebellion. As though this wasn’t enough, David, the one who is anointed by God to serve as King is being told that God has forsaken him and they seem to be right. From what David sees at the moment, his sons are all either dead or hate him, and here he is running for his life.

Have you ever found yourself feeling like this before? Like the whole world is against you, like you can’t do anything right, like God seems to have forgotten all about you? That’s how David felt and if you feel like that today, then I think this Psalm might be an encouragement to you. Tonight, I want us to find two encouragements for when we find ourselves feeling like David did. First, I want you to be reminded that God hears you and then I want us to remember that God helps you.

God Hears You

David might have been told that God has forsaken him, but he isn’t buying it. As a matter of fact, his response to them is that God is is shield, his glory, and the lifter of his head. Now, this is an interesting response. I think that David is saying this because that’s not how things seem to have been. In 2 Samuel 15:30 we read of David fleeing from his son. It says,

2 Samuel 15:30 NKJV

30 So David went up by the Ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered and went barefoot. And all the people who were with him covered their heads and went up, weeping as they went up.

So, David, who went running away so terrified that he didn’t even have a chance to put his shoes on is hiding his face and is weeping. But what does David say here in Psalm 3? Yes, I may have been broken, I may have hidden my face, I may have seemed inglorious. By my God is my shield. The shield that David is referring to was a small circular shield used it battle. To put it simply, David isn’t giving up but is confident that God will protect him in this fight for the throne, that God will restore David, and that God’s faithfulness lifts up David’s once drooping head. Why? Why is David so confident? Because David’s God heard him!

In verse 4, David says that he cried to the Lord and the Lord heard him from His holy hill. In my opinion, this may be the most precious part of the whole psalm because when David cries out to God, he is hiding in the Jordanian Rift. Now the Jordanian Rift is the deepest point on the face of the Earth, but where does God hear him from? The holy hill, which is where the ark of the covenant was back in Israel. The ark symbolized the presence and glory of God. In short, what David is picturing for us here is that although he is at the deepest, darkest, and most terrified point of his whole life, distance makes no difference, God hears David. David may be shamed with his head hanging and in the lowest place on Earth, but God is still seated in His glory and He knows where David is and hasn’t forgotten about him.

If you find yourself feeling alone, don’t let the doubts that Satan throws at you choke out your prayers to God. They might be broken, tear stained and hurt filled prayers, but God isn’t interested in only hearing the prayers of people that have it all together. He is the One who has promised to never leave us nor forsake us and He will hear us when we call out to Him!

What does this do for David? It gives him peace. So much peace that David says he just lays down and goes to sleep. David isn’t enjoying the nice comforts of his palace here. He is asleep in the open wilderness and is in danger, but God’s faithfulness assures him so much that nothing can rob him of the peace he had at this moment. This is a pretty significant picture here in the Ancient world. For instance, one Pharoah wrote to his son and said, “Even when you sleep, guard your heart because no man has adherents on the day of distress.” Or to put it simply, never sleep because no one will stand with you. But in David’s mind, he has peace because God stands with him and when he wakes up, he is refreshed and ready to face the enemy. This leads us to our second point, which is that

God Helps You

Now, although David has peace, the problem isn’t going away so he runs to God in prayer. Before we look at that prayer, I want to make sure to mention that David doesn’t just sit on his hands and pray and do nothing else. As a matter of fact, David prays for God’s blessing and actively works against his enemy trusting that God will bless his work. What David does is sends a ring of spies into Israel and one of them becomes and advisor to Absalom and is able to give Absalom counsel that will prevent him from getting to David, but in this psalm, David wants us to see that he ran to God in prayer.

The first thing that David does is cry out, “Arise, O Lord...” This is a way of calling God to intervene where David is helpless. That word has a history of being used in military scenarios such as Moses’s war cry in Number 10:35. So here, we see that the helpless David is calling on God to fight for him.

The next part is particularly interesting as David says, “Save me, O my God!” This is a prayer that appeals to justice. You see, God makes it clear in the civil law that He gives to Israel that if you hear someone being wronged and they cry out for help, you have to help them. So, in this prayer David is crying out like a helpless victim to who? God Himself! And David is so confident in God’s faithfulness to deliver this suffering man that he finishes his prayer as though God has already wrapped everything up. He doesn’t say, “Please strike!” Instead he speaks in the past tense, “You have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone; you have broken the teeth of the ungodly.”

When David talks about their teeth being broken, he is comparing them to animals, like a wild beast trying to bite and devour his prey. God breaks their teeth which makes them harmless. What I find interesting is that David doesn’t pray for their death, but for them to be neutralized and made harmless. I personally think this is because David knows his son is going to face God’s judgment and prays for God to deal with him gently. I think this is the case because when Absalom ends up dead, David is absolutely gut-wrenched.

Now, at the end of this prayer, David acknowledges that if anything happens it will all be the Lord’s doing and David prays that God would work in such a way that God’s people would live beneath His blessing.

Well, if you are one of my students, I really hope you’re getting ready to ask, “Where is Jesus?” and if you are, that’s a great question.

You see, although David is the anointed one facing the enemy. David’s descendent, the Lord Jesus who sits on David’s throne forever, is the truly anointed One who Himself was betrayed by the whole world and was considered helpless. Remember how they beat him and said, “He delivered others, but his own self he can’t save.” But the Lord had His eyes set on the glory of the Father and, like David in verse 5, Jesus died and laid down and slept in the tomb but rose again from the dead and now, there is no other name given under heaven whereby we must be saved. It is through Jesus’s sufferings and victorious conquering that we are all blessed today. In Luke 24, just before Jesus ascends into Heaven, He lifts His hands and pronounces us as blessed people. Why? Because we have been cleansed by His blood.

So tonight, if you are discouraged and feel like you are alone, remember that God knows where you are, He hears you, and He will help you. Why? Because, in Jesus, you are one of His own and He isn’t going to just forget about someone His own Son died for. Now, your prayer may not be answered in the way you though it would be, but I can promise you a few things. God won’t let your suffering be for no reason, God won’t let the wrong doers get a free pass, and God will walk with you through the dark valleys that you face as His own. So, as you face hardships, keep reminding yourself, “Salvation belongs to the Lord. His blessings are upon me as His people.”