A Psalm of Trust in Times of Trouble

Transcript

GRM 923
A Psalm of Trust in Times of Trouble
12/05/2004
Psalm 3
Gil Rugh

We’ve been looking into the book of Psalms together, and I want to direct your attention to the third psalm, Psalm 3. The book of Psalms is right about in the middle of our Bibles, the largest book in the Old Testament, containing 150 chapters or psalms. It’s probably a book that we go most often to when things are difficult or unpleasant. All of us experience times of happiness and joy and times of pain and sorrow and suffering. It’s just a part of life. The book of Job, one of Job’s friends remarked that man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. It is true, trouble and difficulties come to everyone’s life at some time or another. The writer of the book of Ecclesiastes encouraged his readers to enjoy their youth and the strength and health of their youth because more difficult times will come with age. That’s also true. Many of us have found comfort and encouragement in times of pain and distress by going to the Psalms, those times when you sense you’re being overwhelmed, when certain things have happened that seem to crush your spirit, leave you with a sense of hopelessness. Usually in those contexts there is not only that sense of hopelessness, but there is the fear that takes hold of our lives regarding the uncertainty that has come, and then despair. Often, we go to the Psalms and read the Psalms and encourage our spirit, because there we find unfolded by God’s grace through His Spirit using the psalmists. They unfold something of their own experiences, and God makes known how He works, how He strengthens, how He brings comfort, how He cares for those who belong to Him.

Psalm 3 is that kind of psalm. You’ll note the title of the psalm. In my Bible I have a general title, A Morning Prayer of Trust in God. That’s a recent title and each one of the psalms in my Bible has been given a title. Those are recent titles given by some to help us maybe have a grasp of the psalm. But then you’ll note under that general title in small print, A psalm of David when he fled from Absalom, his son. Those titles that appear with many of the psalms are not part of the inspired text, but they are very old, preceding our New Testament. We don’t know how soon after David wrote this that this title was attached to it. But it does give us the setting of the psalm and help us to appreciate some of the content of this psalm.

The background for the psalm is found in a very discouraging, disheartening time in David’s life. A time that comes out of David’s own sinful conduct and behavior. But that’s not mentioned at all in the psalm. I want you to go back to II Samuel, so put a marker in Psalm 3 and go toward the front of your Bible, almost halfway to the front and you’ll find I and II Samuel. We want to go to II Samuel chapter 12. Chapters 11 and 12 of Samuel go together, because II Samuel chapter 11 records the low point in David’s life, for it records his sin with Bathsheba, where this mighty saint and servant of God descended into the depths and mire of an immoral relationship with a married woman. Then in an attempt to cover up his sin he arranged to have her husband murdered. When chapter 11 is over it seems, the king has used his power and position to get away with immorality and murder. But God knows, so chapter 12 opens up with the Lord sending the prophet Nathan to David, and Nathan the prophet confronts David regarding what he has done. He tells David a story and David doesn't see himself in that story and he condemns the guilty party in the story that Nathan tells. Then in verse 7 Nathan said to David, you are the man. You are the guilty one, you have committed such a vile and inexplicable sin. He goes on to tell David in verse 7, thus says the Lord God of Israel, it is I who anointed you king over Israel. It is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul. I also gave you your master’s house, your master’s wives and I gave you the house of Israel. David, all that you are, all that you have is because of my grace bestowed upon you, and with his sin David has despised the Lord who is so gracious to him.

Verse 9, why have you despised the word of the Lord? And to despise the word of the Lord, to reject God’s word, to disobey it is to despise the Lord Himself. Look at verse 10, the middle of the verse, because you have despised me. When you despise the Word of God you despise Him, you treat Him with no regard, you dishonor Him, you treat Him as unworthy of honor. The most serious thing about our sin is the attitude it reflects toward God. David realizes this when he is confronted because down in verse 13, he doesn’t say I have sinned against Bathsheba, I’ve sinned against Uriah. No, he says in verse 13, I have sinned against the Lord. That’s the serious thing about sin. It is always against the Lord. God is continuing to be gracious to David, He is not going to exact the punishment of his life. In verse 13, the last part of the verse, the Lord also has taken away your sin. You shall not die. David is a forgiven man, keep this in mind when we get back to Psalm 3. David does not mention his sin at all in that psalm, even though what is going to take place is a consequence of that. In light of David’s sin, he is forgiven, he will not pay the ultimate price for his sin, but there will be consequences for his sin.

Three consequences are mentioned here. We take note of them because one or two are the background for our psalm. First consequence is in verse 10, now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, the sword shall never depart from your house. Your own family is going to be a battleground, one of his sons will murder the other son. The rebellion that David is going to experience when his own son, Absalom, attempts to overthrow him. Part of this consequence. The second consequence of his sin, verse 11. Behold I will raise up evil against you from your own household. That’s the direct background for what is going to take place. Absalom, David’s own son, is going to rally the nation Israel to overthrow David as king, to kill him and have Absalom appointed king. The third consequence is the child that was going to be born from that immoral relationship will die, in verse 14.

The consequences begin very quickly, and we want to come over to chapter 15 where we get into Absalom’s conspiracy against David. Chapters 15-18 are the direct background for the psalm we’re going to look at, Psalm 3, the psalm written by David when he had to flee from Absalom, his son. What has happened is Absalom, his son, a very handsome man, a man with a tremendous personality works among the people of Israel to get them to love him and begin to think that he would be a better king than David. Something of his actions are described in the first part of chapter 15, the result being at the end of verse 6 of chapter 15, so Absalom stole away the hearts of the men of Israel. After a period of years Absalom is ready to make his move to dethrone his own father, kill him and establish himself as king. He’s very effective. Verse 12 tells us, the end of verse 12, and the conspiracy was strong, for the people increased continually with Absalom. Now I want you to remember this when we come to Psalm 3. We won’t come back here, but we’re reminded that this is a conspiracy that not only has a number of people in it, but it is growing, spreading through the nation as more and more people join against David, even some of those closest David. If you’re in verse 12 and you read that Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor. This man had been a trusted counselor of David.

Over in chapter 16 verse 21, Ahithophel will now give counsel to Absalom and his counsel will be, here’s what you can do so that there will be no hope of reconciliation with your father. You know one of the dangers when one person attempts to overthrow another is perhaps the two that are at war against each other will make peace. So those who might be tempted to follow Absalom might think well look he might make up with his father. Now we’ll be the enemies of David and we will suffer the consequences. So, what Ahithophel will tell Absalom is the way that you can make yourself odious to your father and there will be no hope of reconciliation, is you can sleep with your father’s concubines and do it in a public way. We’ll set up a tent on the roof where everybody can see what you’re doing. Then these women will come, and you’ll have relations with them and you will have so dishonored our father that there can be no reconciliation. This is the kind of counsel that this man who had been a faithful, trusted counselor of David is now giving to his son. You see what a turn there has been, and the situation is so serious David is in danger of being crushed very quickly.

Back in chapter 15 verse 13, a messenger came to David saying the hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom. David, the men of Israel have gone over to Absalom. David said to his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, arise let us flee, otherwise none of us will escape from Absalom. Go in haste or he will overtake us quickly, bring down calamity on us, strike the city with the edge of the sword. David says we have to get out of Jerusalem immediately. And he does. If he doesn’t, they won’t survive.

As he flees problems builds upon problems. In chapter 16 a man named Shimei follows along, and he curses David and says this is the judgment of God on you for replacing the house of Saul and becoming king yourself. He throws stones at him and throws dirt at him. Some of the men with David, let us go over and kill this man. David is in such despair, he says, let him alone. Maybe he is speaking for God. David’s world has crushed upon him. Just at the time there was peace in the kingdom, things seem to be going well, now his own son turns against him, and the revolt is so great that David’s life is in danger. Now you have this man cursing David and declaring that God is against him and punishing him. David, as you might imagine, has to be discouraged. He tells his men maybe he is bringing a message from God, let him alone. His world has caved in upon him.

In chapter 17 David gets to the Jordan and a message comes from some people faithful and loyal to him that says don’t stop, you’ve got to get across the Jordan, because if you don’t get across the Jordan there is no hope for you, chapter 17 verses 21-22. David takes that counsel; he has to keep going. He’s tired, he’s had to gather those who were loyal to him and whatever he could take and his family and leave and he can’t even pause for a rest. He has to get across the Jordan. Absalom is serious, he’s going to destroy his father. The nation has gone after Absalom.

It is at this time that David writes Psalm 3. Come back to Psalm 3. I’ve called it a psalm of trust in times of trouble, a psalm of trust in times of trouble. The title of it is a Psalm of David. I mentioned to you previously the word translated psalm, when it’s used as a verb it means to play a musical instrument. When it’s used as a noun it means to sing a song or sing a poem accompanied by a musical instrument. The Hebrew word for psalm is mizmor. When the Bible was translated into Greek a couple hundred years before Christ, the Greek word for psalm was psalmas and so we’ve just carried it over, psalms. Psalm is a poem, a song sung to the accompaniment of musical instrument. Look down at Psalm 4 and you’ll note the title given. It’s for the choir director on stringed instruments, a psalm of David. David wrote this psalm, this poem to be sung to the accompaniment of stringed instruments. You have different kinds of musical notations through the psalms.

In this psalm the title tells us the setting, but there is no reference to Absalom in the psalm. If it weren’t for that title, we wouldn’t have known when this situation happened. I think that’s part of the Spirit’s direction in having David write this. He leaves some of the details general enough that it might be an encouragement and help to the people of God as they experience various overwhelming difficulties and trials and learn how David had to deal with them and respond to them.

Let’s look at some of the details of this. Series of stanzas here, the first two verses form the first stanza, and it talks about David’s opponents. Oh Lord how my adversaries have increased, many are rising up against me, many are saying of my soul there is no deliverance for him in God. The word many is really used three times in these opening two verses. We have the first line, oh Lord how my adversaries have increased. Literally you could translate that oh how my many adversaries are increasing, because the word many is used there. Oh, how my many adversaries are increasing. Many are rising up against me, many are saying of my soul. This is not just a few, just Absalom and a handful of his friends. As David was warned, all the men of Israel are going after Absalom. You have little, almost no support left. You have to run for your life, you can’t stay and fight at this time.

You know the enemies build their following, not by denying the God of David, but by denying that the God of David still supports David. The enemies are saying, at the end of verse 2, there is no deliverance, there is no salvation for him in God. God is done with David. The reasons aren’t told here. Shimei cursed him and said he was under the judgment of God because he had replaced the line of Saul. Some may have referred to his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah, we’re not told. But these people opposing David are confident that God is done with David. We are the ones on the Lord’s side and the Lord is on our side. There is no deliverance for God in him. Charles Haddon Spurgeon wrote, it is the most bitter of all afflictions to be led to fear that there is no help for us in God. And often that’s the case. Again, when you have people attack you, they want you to know that God is on their side. Doesn’t matter what God has done in your life in the past, now God won’t rescue you, God won’t support you. You think well you could make a case—David, you committed gross immorality; David, you committed murder to cover up your immorality. What makes you think God still supports you? David doesn’t even go into that; he doesn’t mention it. You don’t find David sitting down, having a pity party here. Oh, woe is me. If I only hadn’t sinned with Bathsheba, if I only hadn’t done what I did to Uriah, if only I had not …………… It’s not there. David is aware of his sin and in some Psalms, he’ll refer to that sin. But that’s not the issue here.

Even though these are consequences for David’s sin God is using the sinful desires of Absalom and his followers to mete out discipline on David. That doesn’t change the fact, David is a forgiven man, David does not go back to mire down in the sin of his past. We’re not minimizing the seriousness of sin. He dealt with it and in a couple of the psalms in particular he pours out his heart to God in grief for his sin. But that doesn’t mean that the rest of David’s life is lived in yesterday. These who are attempting to kill David are sinning against God. Now that sin is part of God’s chastening, but God is simply using their sinful desires to chasten His servant. But that does not mean God is done with David, and we need to remember that. Sometimes we think we have to do penance in a Protestant sort of way, continue to bemoan and bemoan and bemoan in despair because we sinned. Sin is grievous, it’s terrible, it’s to despise the Lord. But all I can do is acknowledge that and go on, and that’s what David does.

There is no deliverance for God in him, so that’s where David’s opponents are. You have a note at the end of that verse, you have selah. Some of you will have it out in the margin of your Bible like it doesn’t belong, but it’s part of the inspired text. Three times it appears, it appears again at the end of verse 4 and again at the end of verse 8. Interesting thing, as often as this term appears through the Psalms, we don’t know for sure what it really means. There is a general agreement that it is some kind of musical notation. I have that at the beginning of my version on the Psalms, it may mean pause, crescendo, or musical interlude. Another person picked up on that and said it apparently indicated a pause, a crescendo, or an interlude, inviting the read to stop and consider carefully the magnitude of what was being said. Remember this is really a song that is will be accompanied by musical instruments, and so like we do there may be a pause, there may be a crescendo, an interlude to reinforce something, to draw our attention. So that musical notation is here and invites our consideration, but the actual details of how it was carried out, no one is for sure at this time.

The second stanza in verses 3-4 talks about David’s defender. We move from David’s opponent to David’s defender. Note the confidence of David in the face of overwhelming opposition and rejection. The contrast—but you. We see what his opposers and opponents say. But you oh Lord are a shield about me, my glory and the one who lifts up my head. David has a settled confidence, and his confidence is not in himself, not in the mighty military man that he is. I am the man who defeated Goliath, I am the man who has led Israel to victory over her enemies and I’m not about to be intimidated by my son and those who would follow him in revolt. That doesn’t appear here at all. It’s you, oh Lord, who is my protector. Any hope for deliverance, any protection, any restoration comes from you. Pictured very graphically. You, oh Lord, are a shield about me. Does not say you’ll put a shield about me. Lord, you are my shield and you’re all around me. You’re my glory, any glory I would have comes from you. To lift up the head was to give public dignity and honor to someone, like someone would come and bow and put their face down in the dirt before a king and the king would reach down and lift them up. They give them honor and dignity. So, David is confident in his relationship with God. You know if he had mired down in his past, it would be an indication of failing to trust God. God had said your sin has been put away, you’re forgiven. Now if David would mire down and say oh I don’t think the Lord will ever honor me, I don’t think He’ll ever restore me, lift me up again. What would he be doing? He’d be refusing to trust the Lord. Again, I realize we need to walk the line, not taking sin lightly with the idea well God will forgive me, I’ll go on. It was never the way it was. The misery David’s going through is a consequence of his sin, but by the same token David is not mired down there. God is still who He is. David has brought trouble on himself, but in that trouble, God is his protector, the one to bring honor and restore David. Remarkable confidence on David’s part when everything and everyone is against him.

Verse 4, I was crying to the Lord with my voice, and He answered me from His holy mountain. Selah. David did not take God’s action on his behalf for granted. It was not a just sit back, if God wants to protect me, He’ll protect me. I’m in God’s hands, He’ll just do what He will. David got up and fled from Jerusalem. David got up and fled across the Jordan River. When we get to chapter 18 David will marshal the army that he can put together with those who have come out to follow him to do battle with Absalom. It’s not a hands-off approach that I just don’t do anything because He’s my protector, He’s the one who will do it. If He doesn’t do it nothing will happen. That’s true. If God doesn’t do it nothing will happen. That does not mean David does not have responsibility before the Lord. He cries out to the Lord in prayer. I was crying to the Lord with my voice, and He answered me from His holy mountain. David doesn’t take God for granted, he doesn’t have a passive, indifferent attitude. He is crying out to God. Now note he is not crying out to God for forgiveness for the sin he’s already been forgiven for. Some of us would be stuck here still praying about the Bathsheba incident. David’s praying about the immediate situation. I cried to the Lord, and you know what He answered me. Selah. It’s another musical interlude here. What a God we have. What a contrast. The many attempting to overthrow David and their numbers are increasing, and they’re convinced that God will not be David’s deliverer and David has turned to the Lord. But you oh Lord are a shield around me. I was crying to the Lord, literally, I cried to the Lord and He answered me.

The next stanza, verses 5-6, David has peace. There is tranquility in David’s life. I lay down and slept, I awoke, for the Lord sustains me. I will not be afraid if ten thousands of people have set themselves against me round about. David’s many enemies haven’t gone away, he’s in the process of fleeing from Absalom. The outcome is not sure from the human perspective. David’s still on the run, he’s still greatly outnumbered by his opponents. He has a good night’s rest; he knows the Lord sustains him. Now be careful of this. Jonah was running from the Lord and in the midst of the storm on the sea you know what Jonah did? He went down into the heart of the ship and went to sleep. Everybody else was in a panic and Jonah was in a deep sleep. Because he trusted the Lord? No. So, we want to be careful. Some people, they sin, and they say well I don’t think it’s so serious, I had a good night’s rest. Don’t trust that. Sometimes, we all know what it’s like, we have energy and vigor, and we want to get to bed and get up in the morning and we’re ready to go. Things come into our lives, and we get discouraged, we get depressed. What happens? I can’t get enough sleep; I don’t even want to get out of bed in the morning and I can roll over and go back to sleep again and again. That’s because you’re trusting the Lord? No, it’s probably because I’m trying to avoid having to deal with and face the situations before me.

But David’s sleep here is not a sleep of avoiding his responsibility. His is asleep that comes with a tranquility of heart of one who is trusting in the Lord. If the Lord indeed is his shield, if the Lord indeed is the one who sustains him, why stay awake worrying about it? David has responsibility, he’ll carry that out. He’s been fleeing, he’ll make the adjustments to get ready to do the battle between the armies that he has to do. But he knows he needs sleep, so he just rests secure, that’s the point. The outcome is in God’s hands. I will do all I can, but I’ve turned this over to the Lord, I’ve recognized that it’s in his hands, I leave it with Him. David acknowledged this when he left Jerusalem. When he was leaving Jerusalem some of the priests who were faithful to him brought the ark of the covenant, the visible indication of God’s presence, and they were going to take that with them as they went with David. David said take it back to the temple mount. It’s in God’s hands whether He will choose to bring me back to this place or not. At the beginning David realized this is in God’s hands. He’s going to flee; he’s not going to just sit there and wait and see if Absalom kills him or God intervenes. He’s going to use the good sense God gave him and run. But in it all he realizes the outcome is in God’s hands and that’s where I placed him. I’ve called upon my God to intervene on my behalf, to protect me and ultimately rescue me. So, I rest peacefully in His ability. I lay down and slept, I awoke, for the Lord sustains me.

I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me round about. Incidentally, verse 5, I lay down and slept, I awoke, that’s why some of your Bibles this is titled a morning prayer of trust. Because they build the psalm around this is what David did in the morning, he awoke refreshed after committing himself to the Lord. That may be so, I’m not going to develop it that way, but you understand why it is called a morning psalm. Psalm 4 will be called an evening psalm because of a similar reference to the evening. But David says in verse 6 the fact that his adversaries are many as he mentioned repeatedly in verses 1-2 doesn’t change anything. If the Lord is your shield, if the Lord is your deliverer, if the Lord is the one who sustains you, does it really matter whether those against you number 1 or 1 million? Do I have to sit down and say now I think the Lord will be able to protect me, the Lord will be able to deliver me and sustain me as long as the numbers against me don’t get above 1,000. As though we would imply there is some limit to the Lord’s ability. Yet I do that all the time. I’m not going to confess specifics, just a generality. What do we do? We’re sure when smaller things come up and we pray about them the Lord will take care of it. When the things that come into our lives seem of overwhelming nature, all of a sudden, my faith in God is shaken. Why? He’s the God who can handle the small problems, but not the big ones? I’ve shared with you, when I was a seminary student, I had a professor who, what he counseled us troubled me greatly. He would say you need to be able to help people with their problems and sins from the Word of God and you also need to know when their problems are too serious for you to help and recommend them to a professional. That’s not the kind of God that I represent. He’ll handle the small problems that come into people’s lives and then there are people who will be able to handle the big ones he can’t handle. We say oh that’s a terrible thing. Well, that’s what David is saying. I will not be afraid of ten thousand, literally, of myriads. It doesn’t matter if there are thousands and thousands who surround me, I’m not going to be afraid. Because it’s not the magnitude, the numbers of the people opposing me. It’s not the magnitude or size of my problem. It’s the God who acts on my behalf that makes the difference. He is either able to protect me and sustain me, or He is not. We say well it’s a non-issue. It is a non-issue.

We come to verses 7-8. Arise oh Lord, the last stanza, David’s salvation. Arise oh Lord, save me oh my God. For you have smitten all my enemies on the cheek, you have shattered the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessings be upon your people. Here is the song of David’s salvation and the cry for that salvation. Remember the end of verse 2, the enemy said there is no salvation. Same basic word as we have down in verse 7 and verse 8, meaning there is no deliverance. God will not intervene and rescue David. David now cries out and says, arise oh Lord and save me oh my God. The enemy said there is no salvation for him in the Lord. David says, Lord now intervene on my behalf, arise oh Lord.

In Numbers chapter 10 verses 33-36, when Israel was in the wilderness and Moses was leading them. When they would take the ark of the covenant up and Israel was to move to a new location, Moses would say, rise up oh Lord and let your enemies be scattered and let those who hate you flee before you. That movement of the ark representing the movement of God and His people and the movement of God to destroy all who would oppose His people, to be the protector of His people. Now David, arise oh Lord. That expression used repeatedly in the Old Testament, an anthropomorphism. God doesn’t have to get up out of a chair, obviously, but that picture of God now acting to intervene on behalf of David. Save me oh my God, and David has experienced the hand of the Lord operating on his behalf before. David is sure that He will do it again. You have smitten all my enemies on the cheek. That is a sign of humiliating the enemy. It’s like a defeated foe being brought before a victorious king or general, and that king or general reaches out and slaps that defeated enemy across the face. It’s an indication of his humiliation, because there is nothing he can do. He has been totally subjugated. You have smitten my enemies on the cheek, you’ve slapped them across the jaw, they are totally humiliated, they are totally defeated. Some of these expressions in the Psalms take us back.
You have shattered the teeth of the wicked. Some of you remember, maybe they don’t talk this way anymore, but when I was in grade school, and you got in an argument with someone you said I’m going to knock your teeth out. Not very nice, but both of you were hoping you didn’t have to either one do anything. But that’s sounded awfully tough, I’ll knock your teeth out. Well, the picture here of God shattering the teeth, probably taken from the picture, and it’s repeated throughout the Old Testament, wild animals like lions. Some of the prophets use this picture. If you remove their teeth, they are powerless, they are defeated. I mean picture a lion, how long is a lion going to survive if he has to gum it? You shatter the teeth of that lion, and he becomes powerless, you’ve destroyed him. That’s the picture. You’ve shattered the teeth of my enemy, they’re powerless, they’re like wild animals ready to devour me, but you’ve rendered them powerless.

Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessings be upon your people. David recognized salvation would come from the Lord, that’s where his deliverance would come. David would win a military victory, but before he ever entered into that conflict, he knew that the battle belonged to the Lord. His deliverance and salvation would come from God. Doesn’t matter about the numbers. That’s why the issue is not we have ten thousand surrounding me, are my opponents outnumbering me a thousand to one. All of that doesn’t matter because salvation belongs to the Lord, and you cannot overwhelm the Lord. Remember Psalm 2 when the kings of the earth rose to overthrow the Lord’s anointed? What’s the Lord do? Get in a panic? He laughs. I mean that they should rise up against the Lord, woe to those who argue with their creator. David realized He’s acting on my behalf, salvation belongs to the Lord.

Your blessing be upon your people. David realizes this is not just limited to himself, so you see the psalm expands out to the deliverance we’re talking about is for God’s people. We need to experience the blessings that God intends for us in this kind of passage.

I want to draw some principles out of this psalm for our own encouragement. You know Romans chapter 15 verse 4 says this, for whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. Psalm 3 was not written just to tell us of David’s experience, but so that the Spirit of God might encourage us through the experience of David for the situations that we have to deal with, and that we might develop perseverance and encouragement from these kinds of portions of the Word. Certain general principles here:

1. Sometimes the problems and difficulties in our lives can be many and overwhelming. David had specific physical opponents attacking him, sometimes we have that. Perhaps at work, perhaps some have conspired together, and you lose a good job and there is an antagonism because they know you are a believer and that grates on them. Not saying you didn’t do a good job, or you acted inappropriately in using company time to give your testimony; people just didn’t like the fact that you were this kind of person. Sometimes the problems aren’t from physical people. They are difficulties and trials that come into our lives. They do overwhelm us sometimes and we say Lord I just can’t take anything else. Like David, you know--if anybody else joins Absalom I’ll become hopeless. I have to realize it’s not the size of the problem, it’s not the number of opponents. It’s who is on my side. We all deal with this kind of situation where the problems in our lives can be many and overwhelming.

2. It may seem to some that the Lord has abandoned you and will not deliver you. There are always those people who want to say you know they may point out where you’ve sinned, where you’ve failed and that’s a reason for them to say now God won’t act on your behalf. Now if you’re persisting in sin and rebelling against God, you can be sure you have set yourself against God and His hand will be heavy upon you. But where you’ve turned from your sin, dealt with it, then the situation is different. David’s sin was behind many of his trials, but God hadn’t abandoned David.

3. In overwhelming trials we must remember that it is the Lord who protects us, verse 3, He is the one who gives us honor and glory. That puts things in perspective for me. What am I going to do in this trial? It seems like I am powerless, but God is not powerless. Who is my protector? My strength, my resources, or my God?

4. We must earnestly seek our help from the Lord who will answer our prayer, in verse 4. I cried to the Lord with my voice, He answered me from His holy mountain. Holy mountain refers to the temple mount as it is so familiarly known today. That’s where the ark of the covenant was, where God manifested His presence. I cried to the Lord. You know one of the blessings of trials is they drive you to the Lord. We all know that. Our days get so busy, prayer just seems to get pushed further and further back. Then some overwhelming situation comes into our lives, and we don’t know what to do. All of a sudden, we find time for prayer. Seems my days were so busy, but now I find time to cry out to the Lord and seek Him. That’s good for me because the busyness of my life when things are going well sometimes, I forget how dependent on Him I am. Sometimes I forget that all my best efforts, all my brilliance won’t accomplish what needs to be done. Only God can bring me success and victory.

5. Fears and uncertainty are replaced by peace and confidence when we rest in the Lord, verses 5-6. The result of recognizing that God is our protector, God is our sustainer of crying out to Him and seeking from Him the necessary strength and victory. That brings peace. I don’t have to lie awake at night trying to count the number of my opponents. I can rest when I should be resting. I don’t take that as an excuse to be sleeping through the day when you should be working. David didn’t go to sleep and fail to run; David didn’t go to sleep and fail to marshal his armies. But David had a tranquility of heart, even in the most crushing of circumstances. How will I ever recover from this, this can never get better, my own son that I love so deeply has turned against me and desires my death. He has humiliated me by sleeping with my own concubines in a public display of humiliation. There is no outcome to this. David is not in that kind of despair. The outcome is not what he wants, Absalom will be dead, and David will grieve deeply. He takes it a day at a time, he cries to God for his deliverance, he rests confident God will do what is necessary. When I try to determine the outcome of this I’m back to my despair because sometimes I can’t see any way out, I can’t see any good that will come out of it, I can’t see any way when it’s all said and done. Whatever is the outcome it won’t be awful. Who’s in charge? I rest secure and I have tranquility. Listen to what Peter wrote in I Peter chapter 5 verses 6-7, therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you at the proper time. Casting all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. I just humble myself under the hand of God. He’s, my deliverer. Lord, only you can do it. These are my anxieties, I cry out to the Lord, He cares for me.

6. Salvation and blessing comes from the Lord. He’ll deal with my enemies, He’ll deal with the trials, He’ll bring us blessing, verses 7-8. He’s the one who saves me. Salvation belongs to Him; deliverance comes from Him.

Jesus comforted His disciples on the brink of His crucifixion. knowing what a crushing blow this would be to them, by saying in John 16:33, these things I have spoken to you so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. In Him there is victory, there is deliverance, there is peace in the worst of situations.

That’s why the Psalms can be such a comfort to us. They reveal something of the heart of the servant of God. They reveal something of the working of God in the life of a servant who is so crushed. You might get the idea as you read Psalm 3 that David didn’t despair, but we can read the account in II Samuel, that even when one curses him and throws rocks at him and dirt at him David has to say, maybe he’s speaking for the Lord. There are low times, and my own son would seek to destroy me. How bad can it get? But David’s focus is adjusted, the Lord is still my God, He is still my protector, He is still my sustainer, He is still my Savior and deliverer. No matter how bad it gets in your life, whatever you are going through, the hopelessness of it—is He your God? Is He the one you are looking to, to be your protector, your sustainer? First you have to belong to Him. Those who were attacking David had no hope. They were going to have trials and misery in their life, but there was no deliverer for them. This is just not a common promise to anyone who wants to claim it. He is the protector, sustainer, provider, deliverer, Savior for those who trust in Him, for those who have turned from their sin and cast themselves upon the mercy of God believing in Jesus Christ and the work He has done for them. They experience forgiveness, and even when they do fall, when they do sin there is forgiveness. God will never fail to be my protector, my sustainer, even in my most grievous sin. Now be careful, that doesn’t mean there may not be awful consequences for sin, but I cannot mire down, I cannot change yesterday. David could not undo what happened with Bathsheba, he could not change what he did to Uriah, but he could go on with the Lord and trust the Lord, even in dealing with the consequences that he had brought upon himself.

Whatever our situation, I may have to say this is a result of my own doing, but I can still say that He is my protector, He is my Savior, my deliverer, the one who will sustain me. That’s how great His grace is. When things come into my life that I haven’t directly brought upon myself, He is still my protector, sustainer, deliverer. Psalm 3 ought to be a great comfort to us. We don’t know what we’re going through, others may not know, but the Lord does. That is sufficient, it’s in His hands. Salvation belongs to the Lord. Your blessing will be upon your people.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your great blessing. You are our Savior, our deliverer. Lord, the Savior and deliverer from our sin by providing a Savior in your Son, Jesus Christ. But Lord, as your children, we are often like David. We have been unfaithful, we have sinned, we have despised your Word, we have despised you. How terrible it is to have to say we have sinned against the Lord. But Lord your salvation is so great, your forgiveness so complete we have the comfort to know you are our protector. You are the one who sustains us, you are the one who will deliver us. Lord, I pray for those here who are going through difficult and trying times, overwhelming circumstances and situations. Lord, may they find in you that comfort, tranquility and peace that will enable them to be at rest, take away any fear, even in the face of overwhelming enemies. Thank you that salvation belongs to you and your blessings are upon your people. We praise you in Christ’s name. Amen.