Psalm 3
Clinging to the Promise of God
A psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom.
1 LORD, how many are my foes!
How many rise up against me!
2 Many are saying of me,
‘God will not deliver him.’3 But you, LORD, are a shield around me,
my glory, the One who lifts my head high.
4 I call out to the LORD,
and he answers me from his holy mountain.5 I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, because the LORD sustains me.
6 I will not fear though tens of thousands
assail me on every side.7 Arise, LORD!
Deliver me, my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
break the teeth of the wicked.8 From the LORD comes deliverance.
May your blessing be on your people.
There are Psalms for different times of day and different times of life. Psalms 3&4 are for the night. Those nights where you crawl under the covers of your bed fearful for what awaits in the morning. These Psalms do not hide from the the reality of life in a broken world but most importantly, they invite us into deep-hearted trust in the LORD.
Sometimes when we read the Psalms, they give us an inscription. This is at the beginning and tells us who wrote the Psalm and sometimes the context in which it was written. This Psalm was composed by King David, when his son started a mutiny against him, seeking to usurp the throne from his father (2 Samuel 15-19).
Absalom whispered words of flattery into the ears of the people, turning them against their king, causing them to rise up against his own father. This is where we find David at the beginning of this Psalm. And it’s not just a small cluster grumbling against him. Three times he says that his opposition are “many”, mocking him and the God he serves. Just like his descendant was mocked by the religious elite of his day, when he hung on the cross, “He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him.”
But by the end of the Psalm, we see a total reversal in David. His whole demeanour and outlook have been transformed. What happened in between?
David remembered the promises of God.
Promises impervious to the ridicule of mockers.
Promises more sure than the sun rising each morning.
Promises which David and we cling onto each night.
David reminds himself of the truth. The truth that God is for him. That God protects him and encourages him. That God hears him. David cries to the LORD and look at where he answers from, “his holy hill.” That’s the same “holy hill” of Psalm 2.6, where God announced that he has established his true King, who would rule in justice and grace. As we read, pray and sing this Psalm, we remember Jesus is the true King, who reigns at the right hand of his Father who delivered him from not just the mockery of his enemies by death itself.
And so David could sleep. Night no longer held the deep fear it did. Because the LORD sustained him. The LORD will lift up heads that have been bowed low by the sin of the world. But more than that, he will wake us up. I wonder if v5 points to something even more profound. All those who fall asleep in Christ, will also be raised with him on the new and everlasting day (1 Thessalonians 4.13-18).
So we need not fear the night or anything that creeps around in the darkness, for the promises of God are sure.
And so David remembering this great promise, calls on the LORD to act and intervene.
David calls on God to enact justice. But more than that, it is poetic justice (pun intended). For remember this is a reversal of verses 1&2. David calls on God to arise against those who rose against him. He calls on God to deliver him from those who doubt God’s ability to deliver. And the mouths which mocked will be silenced. Their teeth are knocked out so they will no longer question God or his anointed.
Deliverance belongs to the LORD. Salvation belongs to the LORD. And the same God who delivered Jesus from death is the same God whose Spirit lives in his people, sowing in us the certain promise of deliverance from death and resurrection life.
Glory be to the Father, to whom belongs salvation.
Glory be to the Son, who is our salvation.
Glory be to the Spirit, who guides us into salvation.