The Conviction of a Worshipper / Thank You For Lifting Me - Psalm 3:1-8

Introduction

This morning we find our sermonic spotlight in the Hebrew hymn book of Psalms. If you were ever to take a journey through the Psalms you would discover there are several types of Psalms. There is the Psalm of praise of which needs no introduction. One of the most familiar is Psalm 150 that ends “let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.” There are royal Psalms that have a strong focus on kingship whether the kingship of a mortal man or God as king.

There are wisdom psalms that focus upon those who may be considered wise or those who follow the straight and narrow way that leads to God. Psalm 1 would be an example that opens the book “blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the the ungoldy, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate night and day. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringing forth his fruit in his season; his leaf shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. (Thank God for my Bible readers in church this morning.)

Then there is the imprecatory Psalm. The imprecatory Psalm is a Psalm that asks for God’s judgment upon one’s enemy. In other words, an imprecatory psalm is when you start praying Lord get em prayers. The imprecatory psalm doesn’t say Lord get em because I hate them or because I dislike them… but it says Lord get em in a matter of justice.

I do not have the time to come through all the Psalms but the last one of which we find in our text today is both a Psalm of Lament and an imprecatory psalm. A Psalm of Lament is a sad song in which the author pours out from the trouble he is experiencing and begs of God to do something.

The Hebrew hymn book of Psalms is filled with all kinds of Psalms teaching us that you don’t have to sing the same song in every season. You might be sad in one season and pull up some Psalms of lament. In other seasons, you might be extraordinarily grateful that it pours out in Psalms of praise or thanksgiving. But the main goal is that no matter what season you are in that you never stop singing. No matter how tough life gets, no matter how bad life hits you with its best shot; you’ve got to keep singing. But the Psalms more specifically point to the fact that in every season of your life you must not stop singing and specifically to God. God being the object of your worship.

In other words through every victory and every dilemma in your life you can’t stop singing.

Of the many 150 Psalms in this sacred hymn book there are many writers. It is often mistaken that David wrote all of the Psalms. But Moses wrote, Solomon wrote, Nathan wrote, Asaph wrote, and more. Of the 150, David is considered the other of 73 Psalms. There are some Psalms that you will see in your Bible reveal David as the author in the title. Yet there are others attributed to David that are not so listed that the setting and context of the specific Psalter that grant us clues and inklings based on what is expressed of belonging to David.

This particular Psalm of Psalm 3 is one of such that we need not deduce to David… The heading in our Bibles lets us know that it is David who is responsible. The setting of which David writes Psalm 3 is on the hills of being exiled at his own son who is seeking to usurp his throne.

You know the story. It begins in 2 Samuel Chapter 13, Amnon, the half brother of Absalom raped Absalom’s sister Tamar. Absalom has a wicked plan for revenge to kill his half brother Amnon for what he has done to his sister. Absalom then flees for fear of king David who is grief stricken over his son’s death. Joab in 2 Samuel Chapter 14 plots a scheme for Absalom to return home. Absalom returns home in 2 Samuel 14 but David won’t see him. He told Joab to have him return to Jerusalem but to go to his own house because the king did not want to look at him. Little did David know he had a problem on his hands. 2 Samuel 14:25 tells us that Absalom was good looking, he was growing in popularity. He had a great public image. For 4 years, Absalom put on a charade for the people that expressed his deep resentment against his father but David didn’t take it seriously and the Bible says that Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. Now Absalom has got such a great following he is now ready to steal the throne from his father. Umm hmmm… some times you’ve got to watch out even for your family.

David did not take Absalom’s behavior seriously and so David had to flee because Absalom had now captured the hearts of the people over David. One of David’s most trusted and loyal advisors, Ahithophel joined with Absalom to conspire against the king.

It is to this of which David writes “Lord how are they increased that trouble me! Many are they that rise up against me.” David who has killed his tens of thousands to include Goliath. David who had wisdom to such degree that nothing could get passed him. David, the man after God’s own heart is now lamenting because in all of his political prowess and charismatic character he could not see what his own son was doing.

Explanation

The text indicates that you’ve got to have a planned strategy when it comes to how to deal with your enemies. Because if you do not have a planned strategy as to how to deal with your enemies - your enemies will exercise power over you by controlling your emotions which will then dictate your reactions. 9 times out of 10 your reactions will be counter to Christ like behavior because Christ wasn’t the planned strategy in the first place. You need a strategy to deal with your enemies. David called that strategy when he turned away from his enemies and turned to his God.

What I have learned about life is at times in life you’ve got to deal with some hot water situations. If I were to take an egg and put it in hot water it would get hard. If I were to take another pot and put beans in it the beans would get soft. If I were to put some chitterlings in another pot the aroma would fill the house.

If you put some folk in hot water they get hard - they get hateful and nasty. If you put some folk in hot water they’ll get soft - they sit in a corner and begin to feel sorry for themselves. But if you put some folk in hot water an aroma will flow out of them that fills the house that says I woke up this morning with a mind to praise God and bad english and all I ain’t gon let nobody or no thing steal my joy. David’s strategy was to sing to God regarding his enemies. Don’t you let your enemies take you out of character… That’s why you need a strategy - a means or way that you have pre-determined that you will respond so that even when you’re cut off guard by something it is your innate nature to respond according to your strategy.

David’s strategy was His to turn to His God. You can’t go off on your enemies. You can’t seek revenge of your enemies because vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. You’ve got to take your problems concerning your enemies to the Lord! I must tell Jesus all of my struggles - I cannot bear these burdens alone!

David’s own son has turned against him but the number of them that stand against him continues to increase with people who David loved and trusted. And it would be one thing if they were seeking just the kingship but his own son with a large conglomerate of Israel and David’s top leaders are not only seeking the throne for Absalom but they are seeking David’s very life. David sees that he is overwhelmed by his enemies even to the degree that he cannot truly tell who is with or for him.

He moves in verse 2 to say that this group of folk who are following his own son against him the word on the street is that God can’t even help him. Signifying that sometimes some folk are going to try and back us into a corner to the degree that we begin to feel can’t nobody help me. David said the word on the street is that there is no help for him in God. This probably being according to the words of Shimei in 2 Samuel 16 who cursed the king and threw rocks at the king and told him that all that was befalling him was because of the evil he had done.

David said God they are saying nobody not even you can help me. But I like what he said, he said, Selah. Selah in the Hebrew hymn book of Psalms is a musical term that means to pause or to contemplate. In other words when you’re having a little talk with Jesus about what you’re going through… you’ve got to learn to pause at some point in your song or prayer and turn from your situation to your God.

David quickly shifts his focus from whats happening to him to his confidence in God. In this season of your life you’ve got to rely on who God is. He says but thou, O Lord art a shield for me. Oh does anybody want to thank Him for being a shield. If you look closely at your Bible you will see a number by that preposition for. Because “for” is not really the best translation of what David is saying here. If you consider a shield as in going to battle a shield will only cover what you are able to cover with it… leaving other parts of you exposed and vulnerable for the opposer to attack you. But the word that should be here is about me or around me. Because when God shields you, He shields you to the degree that can’t nothing harm you. He’s got literally a wall around you that when it looks like in your life that your enemies are surrounding you… you are surrounded but not by your enemies. You are surrounded by God, you are surrounded by an army of angels who have been assigned to your life!

Not only a shield but David says you’re my glory. In other words, David’s glory was rooted in his throne, his kingdom, or his accomplishments therein. David found out here that being in politics is fickle. One minute they like you and the next minute they don’t. But my character, my honor was never in the throne because You Lord, are my glory. I don’t identify with what I have or who I am. But identify with and whom is with me! You can try and take my crown, my throne, my prestige, scandalize my name… but there’s one thing you can’t take from me you can’t take my God!

He’s not only my shield and my glory but He’s my lifter. Oh thank God for the lifter. In 2 Samuel 15:30 we see the detail of David’s grief. He went up Mount Olivet barefoot, and crying, with his head covered. He had a bowed down head as a result of what he was facing. But David had confidence in his God that God lifts. Meaning that my present predicament is only temporary. Meaning that this trouble that I face won’t last always not because of who I am but because of who God is. And I’ve got a question this morning… has God ever lifted your head? You were sad, frustrated and confused but God lifted your head!

David went on to say I cried unto the Lord. And sometimes you’ve got to cry. Sometimes even to the point that your eyes are red and puffy, ladies your eyelashes are coming out. Sometimes the silent little prayer won’t quite do it. Because when your hurt hurts sometimes you just want to holler!

David said I cried unto the Lord and He heard me. That signifies David has relationship with God. And your enemies better be careful messing with you! Because you’ve got God on your side who hears and answers when you pray!

As a result of his prayers David went to sleep. And I don’t know about you but I want such a confidence in God that I can sleep when somebody is after me. I can sleep when they’ve said all manner of evil against me! David had favor with God in the means that when He prayed God responded… so why in the world would he stay up?

Some of us are trying to go to sleep before we pray and that’s why we can’t sleep. The recipe for sleeping amid all you might be facing is to cry out to God and then you can sleep knowing He heard you. David went to sleep and then he said I woke up because the Lord sustained me. In other words, God kept me! In other words, God didn’t let my enemies triumph over me. The old folk use to say it this way oh to be kept by Jesus!

David now boasting in His God. He went to sleep because God heard him, He woke up and said God kept me. Now He’s got a little pep in His step. God is lifting His head even as he sings. He began in the first stanza talking about his enemies but God has lifted his head as sang. And for some of us that’s a word that God will lift you as you praise Him. There’s Bible for that Isaiah 61:3 said He would give us the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

He gains confidence with what he has seen God do and he says I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have surrounded me. He spoke of his enemies as an army of them. My Lord. Sometimes it’s difficult to fathom that you’ve got more against you that for you. It would seem like you had to do something wrong. But David was a righteous man. A man after God’s own heart. He had a repentant heart toward God. But David said I will not be afraid.

So Arise, O Lord; save me! This is a common theme throughout Scripture and the Psalms there is always the statement before battle “Arise of God and let your enemies be scattered.” In other words David by saying Arise lifted up God, he exalted Him and just said God do what you do, how you do it. He remembered all of what God did he said he has broken the teeth of the ungodly. Meaning God has removed the sting so the attack of the enemy can’t harm you.

Because the weapon may form but it won’t prosper. What shall we then say unto these things… if God before me WHO can be against me.

Closing

I’ve got to go but David responded to those who said there was no help for him. He said salvation belongeth unto the Lord. In other words you can’t tell me about my God because I know Him for myself.

As the hymn writer would say I’m saved by His power divine, saved to new life sublime, life now is sweet and my joy is complete… I’m saved, saved, saved!

You can’t tell me what God can’t do! But it’s not a secret. What He’s done for others He’ll do the same for you.

Look at your neighbor and say neighbor.... He keeps on saving me from my enemies because I’m blessed. I don’t know why Jesus loved me. I don’t know why He cared. I don’t know why He sacrificed His life.... oh but I’m so glad He did.

And I rose to tell somebody fret not thyself because of unbelievers. You hang on in there until God makes you enemies your footstool. But don’t just wait for the stool but get ready to sit down at the table.