A Psalm for the Brokenhearted : Psalm 3

Introduction

Introduction

Have you ever felt like the world is against you? Like nothing is going right? Even friends seem far away or even against you? You feel like you are lying on the ground and getting pummeled, unable to get up. You’re not alone. We all go through these seasons in life. When we face such troubles, where do we turn? Do we turn to the media, to friends, to old vices, or to God? 

We know that troubled times come and go. Whether you are in one right now or not, you will have tough seasons. Interestingly, just three psalms into the book of Psalms is a message for the hurting. It is a Psalm of Lament, written by King David in the midst of a difficult season.

I love how the Bible is not afraid of difficult topics, even when we are. This psalm follows the story of King David fleeing from his son Absalom (whose name, ironically, means “Father’s Peace”). The context surrounding David’s words was grim and life-threatening. It was also spiritually deflating because many of his former friends and countrymen rose against him. 

Where would he turn when all else failed? We will see in this psalm that he will turn to the one who will never leave or forsake him, the one who is powerful to save him from the mightiest foe. He turned to God. In God, David found a source of strength and protection. We are offered the same call, to cry out to a God who hears and delivers. The main idea of this psalm is that God is near to the broken, and He will deliver us into His Kingdom, so cry out to Him. 

Cry Out to God When Troubles Surround You.

 1 LORD, how my foes increase! 

      There are many who attack me. 

      2 Many say about me, 

      “There is no help for him in God.” 

This psalm begins with a heading. It is the first to do so. Don’t read over that without considering what it says. The Psalter (the person who collected the psalms) is letting us in on the context. And this psalm’s context helps us understand the words more clearly and powerfully. 

The context is found in 2 Samuel 12-17. Absalom was David's oldest son. Another son, Amnon, raped Absalom’s sister Tamar, the daughter of David. King David, paralyzed by his own sin, did nothing. Absalom sought justice in his own hands by killing Amnon after getting him drunk. Again, David did and said nothing. Years later, he invited Absalom to live at the palace with him. However, Absalom seized the opportunity to discredit David and lead a coup to seize the throne. 

It is here that David writes these words. He is on the run from a son who is trying to kill him. Absalom had won the hearts of the people and turned them against David. His enemies were everywhere. Can you feel the tension? David cries out to God with His problems. So can and should we. 

David fled the throne and the city of Jerusalem, taking with him only close family and some of his mighty men. He had only a few who stood with him. He felt the weight of the moment. It was life or death. His homeland had instantly become enemy territory. People he once loved, still loved, were out to get him. Friendly fire!

People watching him leave were murmuring, “Not even God can help Him now.” It would be easy to feel that way. Some may have wondered whether God should help him. Did he deserve this? Was this God’s judgment? So he records their questions and sneering words and places them at the throne of God. 

We may feel like we have enemies all around us. After all, we are in “enemy territory,” far from our true home. Spiritual enemies truly surround us. Have you ever felt this? Everywhere we look, people are opposing us. Even our own thoughts betray us. Troubles seem like tsunamis on the horizon. No escape, no refuge. In these moments, we are often devoid of peace. 

When these seasons come, we can feel like not even God can or will save us. People may even be telling you, “You deserve this. God is against you. Look at your life.” In these moments, we feel like God has left us to die. That’s harsh and raw. The good news is Psalm 3 has a word for you. 

We can call out to God when we feel surrounded. When the world knocks us down and keeps hitting us, God hears. He has not left. David didn’t hold back what he was seeing and feeling. Part of lamenting is telling God the pain we see and feel. Call out your troubles to God.

Call Out To God In Confidence, For He Hears Us v. 3-4

      3 But you, LORD, are a shield around me, 

      my glory, and the one who lifts up my head. 

      4 I cry aloud to the LORD, 

      and he answers me from his holy mountain.

On the run, in the wilderness, people sneering at his situation, David calls out to God in confidence. He uses the covenant name Yahweh (LORD). The people might sneer, but God has the final word. God is a shield around David. God is his glory and not people or his situation. In his depression, God lifts him. When all seems against him, God hears and answers from a higher throne than Jerusalem. 

Where did David look for help in his troubles? He looked to the Lord. We may be tempted to figure out the problem ourselves, or do nothing and let the problems overwhelm us. However, the first place and the best place is our King. He is our protector. Naming our problems and then calling out to God for protection shows a deep confidence in God. When we name trials and go to the right source, we can truly find refuge even as the hurts of life rain down on us. This doesn’t take away the pain in the immediate, but it takes it to the one who can guard our souls.

 God Our Shield 

God as our shield does not mean we avoid pain; it means pain does not have the final word. Will we experience pain? Yes, but the pain has an expiration date. In the end, God wins. He will guide us safely home to His Kingdom. Oh, faithful church, hang on. Trust in God, for He is the shield that never fails. He guards our identity as His child by His mighty hand.

God our Glory

God is our glory.  We don’t find glory in ourselves, in others, or in what we do. Such counterfeit glory fades and fails us. When God is our glory, it is backed by His infinite power. When we cling to the glory of God, not even being hunted and surrounded will take that glory away. 

Again, consider the fact that David writes this on the run. He has been completely shamed. His position and past victories did nothing to cover his shame. And yet, from this moment of shame, David hopes in the reality that God is His glory. God puts shame to death.

Look no further than the cross of Jesus. Shamed, beaten, and by all appearances, defeated, Jesus destroyed sin, shame, and even death by taking it on directly. Therefore, for God’s children, we can say God is our glory forever and ever. Even if we are betrayed, surrounded, and shamed. It will simply not outlast God’s glory. 

God our Lifter

David is down, depressed. He has lost everything. Trials bring us here to a place of depression. God lifted David’s head when sorrows were too heavy. Beloved, God lifts us when we are in the dark valleys of life. It’s like God placing His loving hand under our chin and lifting our heads to see Him. When we are brought low by the circumstances, let it be God, in our time with Him, that we are lifted to see His face. Only there will we find soul-satisfying, pain-defying hope. 

So when we find ourselves, like King David, down, depressed, let us look to God, for only He can lift our heads to see above the pain to His wondrous grace!

God our King

Why does David cry out to God? Because God hears and answers. David had an unshakable confidence that God hears the brokenhearted and answers them from His mighty throne. He could approach the King of Kings. So, in the shame of running and the fear of death, David calls out to God in praise because God will listen. 

Beloved, no matter what we are going through, let us call out to our Mighty King. He hears us. He is near us. Go to His throne with the confidence of a beloved child approaching a loving parent. When we feel broken down, we cry out to God! The ear of the King awaits your cries of pain and praises alike.

Call Out To God As Your Protector v. 5-8

  5 I lie down and sleep; 

      I wake again because the LORD sustains me. 

      6 I will not be afraid of thousands of people 

      who have taken their stand against me on every side. 

      7 Rise up, LORD! 

      Save me, my God! 

      You strike all my enemies on the cheek; 

      you break the teeth of the wicked. 

      8 Salvation belongs to the LORD; 

      may your blessing be on your people.

David now does something unthinkable. He sleeps. This hits hard for me. I have been in a prolonged season of conflict and troubles. Sleep has been hard to find. Everyone here knows that when times get stressful, sleep is the first thing to go. Restless nights and tossing and turning become your unwelcome guests. So how could David, fleeing people trying to kill him, sleep? 

He understood deeply that God was His protector. He couldn’t protect himself. That’s why he had to run. But God will be his shield; so he slept while on the run. As isolated as he seemed to be in the first few verses, by the end, he is not alone at all. God is with him, watching over him. What would it look like for us to rest in the midst of our troubles? To sleep when we are stressed?

It would have to come from a heart that understands we must call out to God for protection and trust in Him. Sleeping in troubled times is thus the fruit of a heart that is fully, truly relying on God. It is not easy or natural. But when we truly place our troubles in the hands of the One who made all things, we can rest knowing He has got this. No trouble can sneak past Him or overtake Him in the night. 

Jesus perfectly models this. He took on the enemy of the world: sin, shame, and death. Then he slept for three days (in the grave). On the third day, Jesus rose or awoke victorious. Our rest comes from Him, knowing that He has defeated the only enemies who can truly hurt us. We can now endure the temporary pains of this life, knowing that Jesus will carry us to the arms of the Father. In this world of pain, we long for the day when pain cries, and death dies. Beloved, rest in Jesus today. He sustains you in the day of trouble. 

Thousands are after him, but God is watching over him. More importantly, David draws his strength from God. Neither David’s friends nor his tactics could sustain him in his plight. However, God is mighty to sustain him through this season of wilderness. 

Beloved, what would it look like for us to draw our strength from God and not ourselves? We serve an infinite God who sustains His people. Stop searching for strength in anything else. When we do, we carry a burden we were never meant to carry. Instead, be strengthened by God through prayer and reading His word. Spend time with the one whose strength will carry us through our season of troubles. 

David awoke in the wilderness, alive. In verse 7, he switches to prayer. He prays for God to rescue him and for justice to be done. The people rose against him, and now David runs to God to rise against them. He calls for God’s deliverance from his hardship and for God to take care of those who seek his life. 

If you follow the story of Absalom, God answers this. Absalom gets stuck in a tree and is killed by David’s men. After this, the rebel army disbands, and David marches back into Jerusalem. This psalm likely takes place before this happens. So he is crying for deliverance, trusting in God as his deliverer and sustainer. 

When we feel beaten down and betrayed, we cry out to the Lord. Don’t be silent and suffer alone. Go to the One who hears, and the One who acts. God doesn’t just hear and sit idly by. He answers through action. God’s action may take time to see, or may take a different direction than we were thinking. David, he didn’t want his son to die. He mourned when he heard Absalom was dead, and yet that was God’s deliverance. 

God will deliver us into His kingdom. Hold on, crying out to our God for His sustaining power and righteousness. David ends this psalm with a reminder that deliverance (salvation) belongs only to God and nowhere else. May God bless His people with His deliverance. 

Conclusion

Seasons of life can be hard. They can hurt deeply. They can rob us of peace and sleep. But Beloved, this psalm challenges us to find our deepest confidence and hope in a God who hears, sustains, lifts, and acts to redeem us. In these seasons, go to God. Cling to Him and rest in His deliverance, even when it seems far away. 

Let us look to the cross in our troubles. We don’t serve a God who is far away. He entered into our pain. Jesus endured hardships, pain, betrayal, and death. He entered into our story.

Then he rested and rose again victorious. In Jesus, we can rest in a weary world, for He has overcome the world. His blood covers our shame, and on our shoulders he bestows His name. We are his! Let us call out our troubles, run to the Father with confidence, and rest in His protection. Let us lead others alone in a weary world to the arms of our King, too. 

Prayer:

“Father, in seasons of brokenness, let us run to You. Be a shield around. When we are down and depressed, lift our souls. Be our glory. Father, sustain us with Your mighty hand. Answer our cries from Your mighty throne. Let us confidently run to Your arms. Bless this church, bless Your people. Be our salvation, Amen.”