God Our Shield

2 Samuel Chapters 15-19 tells the story of the strife that existed in King David’s family that was a result of his sinning against God with Bathsheba. The Bible records in 1 Chronicles 3 that David had seven wives and twenty known children. His oldest son was named Amnon. In 2 Samuel 13, we are told that David had a beautiful daughter named Tamar. Tamar was the half-sister of Amnon. As the story goes, Amnon fell in love with Tamar, who was a virgin at the time. His love for her was so great that the Bible says it made him feel ill. One time, he pretended to be sick and asked King David if he would allow Tamar to bake bread for him. David agreed and ordered Tamar to go to Amnon and care for him. After Tamar finished making the bread for him, Amnon tried to convince her to sleep with him, but she resisted and he ended up raping her. 2 Samuel 13:15 says that after the assault, Amnon “hated [Tamar] very deeply, for the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her.” Because of his hatred for her, Amnon throws Tamar out of the room. Believing she was now disgraced, Tamar flees to her other brother Absalom and lived in his home as a desolate woman. The Bible says that when David received word about what occured, he became angry, but he did not punish Amnon for his actions. Two years pass after the incident, and over time Absalom’s hate for Amnon grew stronger. So he comes up with a plan to seek retribution for his sister by killing his brother Amnon. His plan works to perfection. Following the murder, Absalom flees the kingdom and remains gone for three years. Finally, Absalom returns to Jerusalem. Two years pass before Absalom and David meet up with one another, but when they do, they reconcile or so David thought. Instead, Absalom spends the next four years enduring himself to the people of Israel. 2 Samuel 15:6 says that “Absalom stole the hearts of the people of Israel” and he used that influence to try and take the throne from David.

2 Samuel 15:12-14 say, “Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, the advisor of David, from his city Giloh, while he offered the sacrifices. The conspiracy ⌊grew in strength⌋, and the people were going and ⌊increasing⌋ with Absalom. Then the messenger came to David, saying ‘The hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom.’ Then David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem, ‘Get up and let us flee, for there will be no escape for us from Absalom! Hurry to go, otherwise he will come quickly and overtake us! And he will bring disaster on us and evil! He will attack the city with the edge of the sword.” With those words, David and his remaining faithful followers flee the city.

Having to run from his own son because he was trying to kill him left David in a great state of grief. Psalm 3 is David’s account of the emotional and spiritual turmoil he felt while on the run.

I. David’s Dilemma (3:1-2)

There are two issues that David is facing:

A. His enemies are quickly multiplying against him.

Imagine the grief he had to feel as one of his closest advisors hitched his wagon with Absalom and at how quickly the people turned on him. David was, by all accounts, a good king. Here’s a man who was a living legend among the Israelites. Think about it. It’s hard to imagine that in a culture where spoken stories were the way history was past down from generation to generation that the people in the kingdom didn’t know how their king once defeated the giant Philistine named Goliath with nothing buy a sling shot and a stone. That single feat earned him the reputation as a great warrior. David was a kind and gracious king, even to his enemies. He would often forgive those who betrayed him and welcome them back into his good graces.

Despite these and many other things that made David such a great king, vast amounts of people are turning their backs on him and joining in Absalom’s attempt to steal the throne.

B. His enemies are assaulting his faith.

The second part of David’s dilemma is the fact that his enemies are happily claiming that even God has turned His back on him. The most likely reason for this belief is because David willingly committed adultery with Bathsheba and cunningly arranged the murder of her husband when he found out she was pregnant with his child. Not to mention the fact that the child that was conceived because of the adulterous relationship died just after being born. You see, in those days, whenever some was seen as cursed by God, they just assumed it was because of something they had done. So, it’s possible that David opened himself up to his enemies’ criticism.

2 Samuel 16:5-13 records that while fleeing from Absalom, David and those who remained loyal to him, came across one of Saul’s ancestors named Shimei. When Shemei saw David approaching he ran out to meet him and started cussing him and throwing rocks at him. Verses seven and eight state that “As he cursed, Shimei said, ‘Get out, get out, you murderer, you scoundrel! The Lord has repaid you for all the blood you shed in the household of Saul, in whose place you have reigned. The LORD has given the kingdom into the hands of your son Absalom. You have come to ruin because you are a murderer.’”

After one of his few remaining loyal servants wanted to kill Shimei, David says “Leave him alone; let him curse, for the LORD has told him to. It may be that the LORD will look upon my misery and restore to me his covenant blessing instead of his curse today.” There’s no doubt this event left David feeling more defeated and questioning if his enemies may be right. May be God had abandoned him. Maybe God had truly forsaken him. Maybe God had removed his favor from David.

Charles Spurgeon wrote “Doubtless David felt this infernal suggestion to be staggering to his faith. If all the trials which come from heaven, all the temptations which ascend from hell, and all the crosses which arise from earth, could be mixed and pressed together, they would not make a trial so terrible as that which is contained in this verse. It is the most bitter of all afflictions to be led to fear that there is no help for us in God.”

Have you ever found yourself in such a desperate place that you wondered if God had abandoned you?

Have you ever felt like the world’s walls were closing in on you and you couldn’t find the way to escape?

The amount of fear that someone must feel whenever they begin believing that God is not going to help them out of life’s deepest holes or save them from life’s darkest moments.

II. David’s Confidence (2:3-4)

David doesn’t allow fear or the taunts of his enemies to crush his faith in God. There are three ways that David affirms his trust in the Lord to rescue him.

First he calls God his “shield.” Whenever we imagine a shield, we often think of what a warrior carries in one hand to protect him during sword battles with other warriors. But the Hebrew word that David uses for “shield” means something more than the type of shield we are accustomed to seeing. It actually means the type of protection that surrounds the entirety of the body. In other words, it is not only a shield that physically protects a person’s head, arms, hands, chest, midsection, legs, and feet, it also signifies God’s protection over a person’s spiritual heart.

Here’s the deal, whenever we feel like our world is uncontrollably crashing down over us like never ending waves in the ocean, it is easy for us to believe the lies that Satan throws at us in those moments. Yes, David was being physically threatened and chastised by his enemies. But it was the father of all lies getting in David’s head and causing him to wonder if God really had abandoned him.

Many years later, the Apostle Paul would write about this very thing when he instructs us to always “take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one...” (Eph. 6:16). David and the Apostle Paul understood that only God’s shield could protect them and us whenever Satan attempts to attack our faith, and so should we.

The second statement David makes regarding his confidence in the Lord is he refers to Him as “my glory.” The word glory in its original form means “heavy.” David uses another military term here just as he did when he referred to God as His shield. Whenever warriors went out to battle they usually took their shield and their sword with them. In other words, they went out lightly armed. But when they returned victorious they came back heavy because they returned with the spoils they received from their defeated enemies. Therefore, they brought glory upon themselves and they received glory whenever they returned home victorious. In this case, though, David is saying that God will receive all the glory because He is the one who is going to save David from his current situation.

Finally, David says that God is “the lifter of my head.” Think about the times whenever you had to call you child or grandchild down for doing something wrong. One of the first things they do is lower their heads in shame. For a moment David’s head is lowered in shame. Imagine the humiliation David must’ve felt when he had to flee his kingdom because his own son and a large majority of the people wanted to kill him. Even though David’s head was lowered for a while, God will receive all the glory when He allows David to return to his kingdom in victory. David may have left the kingdom with his head down, but just the opposite will happen when he returns after being saved by God.

"Corrie" ten Boom grew up in a devoutly religious family. During World War II, she and her family harbored hundreds of Jews to protect them from arrest by Nazi authorities. Betrayed by a fellow Dutch citizen, the entire family was imprisoned. Corrie was the only member of her family to survive the German camp and she went on to start a worldwide ministry where she helped rehabilitate Concentration Camp survivors.

Corrie Ten Boom wrote in her book “The Hiding Place”, “There is no pit so deep, that God’s love is not deeper still.”

Talk about understanding how God can sustain you in your darkest of moments! Corrie Ten Boom knew that God’s love was far greater than her current circumstances.

III. David’s Prayer (3:4-6)

Chances are good that David wrote his Psalm the morning after he’d prayed to God. Some scholars believe this to be true because of the fact that David opens the Psalm in despair, but then suddenly he is confident that God is going to rescue him. Why would he think this? Because he was able to sleep through the night. He was only able to wake up because God protected him while he was sleeping. Here are his enemies multiplying by the moment, yet David is able to sleep. David took his waking up as a sign from God that everything was going to be okay.

All the anxiety he was feeling, yet he was able to sleep. But we can’t miss something. The only reason David was able to sleep was because he went to God in prayer with what was happening. He came to the point where he knew there was nothing he could do to solve his problem, so he did the only thing he could do and he cried out to God.

Too often prayer is our last option whenever we are facing a difficult season when it should be the first thing we do!

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us” (1 John 5:14).

“Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you” (Jer. 29:12).

“Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray…”(James 5:13a).

Remember earlier when I read you a couple of quotes from Corrie Ten Boom? This is another excerpt from her book.

Side by side, in the sanctuary of God’s fleas (they were in a flea-infested barracks in Ravensbruck at the time), Betsie and I ministered the Word of God to all in the room. We sat by deathbeds that became doorways of heaven. We watched women who had lost everything grow rich in hope. The knitters of Barracks 28 became the praying heart of the vast diseased body that was Ravensbruck, interceding for all in the camp – guards, under Betsie’s prodding, as well as prisoners. We prayed beyond the concrete walls for the healing of Germany, of Europe, of the world.

Whenever we are faced with trials, whenever we are faced with suffering, whenever we are faced with anything, we must go to God in prayer. And why wouldn’t we go to Him? He is the all-knowing, all-powerful, omni-present, Almighty Creator. There is nothing in this world that He does not control. David did! Corrie Ten Boom did! The Apostle Paul did! In fact, Paul believed so strongly in prayer that he tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to “pray continually.”

David found comfort when he lifted up his prayer to God. David found peace when he lifted up his prayer to God. David found rest when he lifted up his prayer to God. And so will we!

IV. David’s Salvation (2:7-8)

David was much more concerned that his enemies were mocking him by saying that God had abandoned him. So, when he cries out to God “Arise” he is saying two things. (1) He doesn’t believe his enemies and (2) He is saying that he believes all God has to do to put an end to his time of suffering is stand up. “Stand up, Lord! Save me! Because you are the only One who can.” David knew his men couldn’t defeat the multitude that was rising up against him. He knew he couldn’t prove to his enemies that God had not abandoned him. Only God had the power to do it, and so David cries out to Him by saying "Arise.”

And what does David ask God to do when He stands up? He asks him to break their jaws and their teeth. Most likely, David uses this description of his enemies because he is comparing them to wild beasts. The cheek bone and teeth symbolize the bone in which the teeth are placed. If the cheek bone is smashed and teeth are broken, then a wild beast becomes nothing more than a harmless animal. Essentially, David is asking God to shut down his enemies.

Finally, in verse eight, David admits and recognizes that his salvation is out of his hands because it “belongs to the LORD...” No human being and no human knowledge could save David. Only God.

Martin Luther said, “ A most beautiful conclusion this, and, as it were, the sum of all the feelings spoken of. The sense is, it is the Lord alone that saves and blesses: and even though the whole mass of all evils should be gathered together in one against a man, still, it is the Lord who saves: salvation and blessing are in his hands.”

Why was David able to sleep through the night despite the fact his enemies were closing in on him? Because he knew salvation belonged to God.

Paul writes in Romans 8:31, “If God be for us, who can be against us?”

Psalm 27:1 says, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

Psalm 46:1 says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains crumble into the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.”

Here’s the entire point of this morning’s message and what it means to us today. Simply put, When life falls apart, we can experience God’s peace whenever we place our faith in Him and believe in His promises.

It is truly that simple. There are going to be seasons in life when it is going to seem like our world is absolutely falling apart. We have two options. We can either try to endure the season on our own and spend our time worrying about what’s to come, or we can demonstrate our faith in the Lord by turning to Him, laying everything into His hands, and finding His peace and His rest. Whenever we choose the latter, we will experience joy instead of sorrow, and hope instead of fear.

So, what happened to Absalom and his followers? 2 Samuel 18 tells us that David gathered his remaining loyal men around him and sent them out to wage war against Absalom and his followers. Verse 6 tells us that the battle took place in the forest of Ephraim and verse 7 says that David’s men won the day as they killed twenty thousand of Absalom’s followers. One thing that must be noted though, is that in verse 8 the writer records the following words, “The battle spread over the face of all the country, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword.” As for Absalom, his hair was caught on the branch of a tree that overlooked a cliff. The mule he was riding on fell to its death while Absalom hung, defenseless in the tree. David’s men saw him hanging there and killed him.

God answered David’s prayer and rose up! He answered David’s prayer and broke the cheek and teeth of his enemies.

What do you need to lay into God’s hands this morning? Are you unable to sleep because you are worried about some situation at work or in your marriage? What is it that you need to cry out to God and ask Him to rise up and bring you comfort?