Psalm 3 — A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.
Here’s some background to today’s passage…David wrote this Psalm during one of the darkest times of his life…it’s a prayer for God to deliver him from his many enemies…Psalm 3 was written as David fled from Absalom his son…Absalom was David’s third son. Ammon was David’s first son who raped his half-sister, Tamar.
In an elaborate scheme to get revenge [2 Samuel 13:1-22] …two years later, Absalom murders Ammon [2 Samuel 13:23-30] …fearing punishment from his father David…he went in hiding for three years…then returns…but even on his return the two did not speak for another 2 years [2 Sam. 14:24].
Absalom then plots to take over David’s throne by seeking favor with the citizens [2 Samuel 15:1-6] by portraying himself as someone who cared more about the people than David does…sounds like modern day politics …so Absalom steals the hearts of the people of Israel (2 Samuel 15:6b).
For David things go from bad to worse and the longer Absalom is in charge the more David’s enemies increase.
Once Absalom has the will of the people behind him, he gets an army and marches against his father making himself king and forcing David to flee Jerusalem. [Psalm 3:1-5]
1 O Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me
2 many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God.
3 But you, O Lord, are a shield about me…the lifter of my head.
4 I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from His holy hill.
5 I lay down and slept; I woke…for the Lord sustained me.
Note the word ‘many’ is used three times in two verses:
—many are my foes
—many people are rising up against me…and
—many are saying all is lost.
At times we can identify with David…many are my troubles…in David’s case he had gone from being a king on a throne to being a criminal on the run.
But You, O Lord
Immediately David is going to tell us where his confidence is.
When reading this short phrase, it causes us to ask, is my life truly centered on the Lord the way it should be?
Is my confidence solely in God and is my trust in His sovereign ability or is my confidence in myself and my ability to work out life’s situations on my own?
A lot of people have troubles…probably not to the extent of having an army chasing after you…but I want us this morning to think about everyday life situations…can we truly say like David…I have a shield about me?
A shield about me
The image of God as a shield appears 11 times in the Psalms and seven times in the rest of the Bible…here’s the importance of that shield.
We’re in a war…Something I expound on frequently…the first thing we need to understand about this verse is just like David, we’re in a war…not in a physical battle like David…but one that is just as intense.
You’re in a war right now. You’re in a battle for your spiritual life…the devil is your enemy…there are going to be times in your life—maybe you’re in the middle of it now—when he will muster everything he can against you.
This is surely how David felt when so many people he thought were his friends and allies had gone over to the side of Absalom.
What makes it so tough to rely on God in the middle of life’s battles is because we don’t bring ourselves to rely solely on God for our security.
We tend to rely on the “not-gods,” (Carl Henry) to provide for our security… joy …and peace…what might some of these ‘not-gods’ be…I think most of the time the things that we tend to rely on for security are:
- Circumstances—things going our way, economy’s good
- People—the approval of even those who have power over us.
- Ourselves—in our own strength and self-sufficiency.
Our response to life’s circumstances reveal how we think about God.
Whether it’s falling down a flight of stairs…rather extreme…getting a promotion…or discovering that your child has a learning disability…how you view God matters.
J.I. Packer in his book Knowing God writes:
“Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumbling through life blindfolded…with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you…it is in this way that you can waste your life and lose your soul.”
Let’s talk about God’s character for a moment…but in doing so we need to tread carefully…God cannot be fully known…He is qualitatively different than you or I.
In every aspect God is infinite because He is without limits… and although He cannot be fully known we can to some degree know Him.
No way the Bible teaches us everything about God’s character…not in a life time…and certainly not in one sermon.
Within the pages of Scripture God has chosen to reveal Himself…the Bible is God pulling back the curtain so we can better see Him and know Him and ultimately trust Him.
God’s attributes or His character has been thought of as being in two categories.
The most common way to look at this is to see where we differentiate…what characteristics God shares with us as humans…and those characteristics which cannot be shared with us.
The attributes God shares with us are called communicable attributes…if something is communicable it’s able to be transmitted to others…Covid-19.
I’m referring primarily to God’s moral attributes such as justice…love… wisdom…goodness…these are the traits God shares with us because we bear God’s image but not to the degree that God possesses them.
Two examples:
1) One is justice…there are two kinds of justice…worldly justice…and godly justice.
Worldly justice is a kind of justice – but it’s a false justice…it advocates that punishment should be given based on the severity of the sin.
Scripture clearly reveals that there is no severity in how sin is ranked… one sin is not more severe than another…the Ten Commandments are not listed in order of severity…they all equal in seriousness.
That goes against those who would seek to blame people who are perceived to be the cause…people should be punished based on the severity of the crime they’ve committed…the more serious the sin…the more serious the punishment…and they think somehow, they’re justified in making that assessment.
That getting even is paramount…and if God is truly ‘fair’ the more heinous crimes should be punished more severely…but not when it comes to me.
There are consequences regarding that thinking…unless we forgive, we should not expect God to forgive us…God judging us as we judge others is not what you want.
Godly justice is true justice – it’s kind…peaceable…perfect…impartial…and has no revenge or hypocrisy.
Here’s how God sees our sins…our transgressions to God are like words on His computer screen…but as soon as He reads our email asking for His forgiveness (1 John 1:9) …He hits the delete key and everything is erased.
As a result, …Earthly justice and divine justice are incomparable.
Since the world does not know God nor have the love of God, it knows nothing of true justice, but only worldly justice…for those, divine justice makes no sense from a strictly rationale point of view.
2) God is love (1 John 4:8)…humans can love, but we do so imperfectly.
Three unique things about God’s love:
God’s love for us is unconditional—God does not love us based on merit. You’ll never be good enough to earn God’s favor, nor bad enough to lose it.
God’s love for us is sacrificial—God loves us so much that he sent his Son to die on our behalf (John 3:16).
God’s love is enduring—No matter what happens, nothing can separate us from God’s love.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Romans 8:38-39]
People get this love thing all mixed up…when Christians talk about love, they’re thinking about natural human love…trying to compare divine love with natural human love…you can’t compare human love with divine love.
There is one similarity between God’s love and human love…the love we have for someone is for who the person is and not what they can do for us.
Then there’s the attributes God is unable to share with us…these are the attributes that are exclusive to God that humans cannot share in…called incommunicable attributes; the qualities that make God different.
Omnipotence — having unlimited power
Omniscience — having unlimited knowledge…knowing everything
Omnipresence — God is everywhere at the same time.
Immutability — God never changes
So, in essence…God is beyond the capabilities of our finite minds.
Turning back to [Psalm 3] I read a few moments ago…the 3rd Psalm is a unique Psalm in a couple respects…1) it is the first time the word ‘Psalm’ occurs…and 2) while most Scripture speaks to us…the Psalms speak for us.
3 But you, O Lord, are a shield about me
The words ‘about me’ are the same words that were spoken of Job:
Have You not made a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? (Job 1:10).
The word in the original signifies a shield that totally encloses someone…it means a protection which surrounds a man entirely…above…beneath… and around.
David has fled from his son Absalom, who had conspired to take both his kingdom and his life.
Only God can be your shield…this is the hard part…this is what makes it so tough to rely on God in the middle of life’s battles—because we can’t bring ourselves to rely solely on him to be our security… our joy…and peace.
Where is your confidence? A good way to test that is when you pray to the Lord for His help and strength…are you daily depending on Him…do you feel a need for Jesus in your life every day?
Or are you falling back on the ‘not-gods’ …trusting in
Circumstances—things going our way
People—the approval of even those who have power over us.
Ourselves—in our own strength and self-sufficiency.
Not only does it seem as if the whole world is against David at this point, but he also feels the taunts of his enemies saying, “There is no help for him in God” …but David believed God had not abandoned him.
Lord you are the lifter of my head [3].
Could be translated “raises my head high” …David felt dejection when he looked at his circumstances…it’s easy to become dejected when looking at the issues in life…don’t need an army chasing you to know that.
PROBLEM…too often we tend to let our joy and peace come from false gods that we rely on for security and glory…go back to relying on the “not-gods,” for our security.
Here’s the danger…when we allow circumstances, people, and our personal feelings to determine success and happiness, we’re making idols out of those things…taking glory away from the only One who can ultimately provide us with joy and peace.
SO, is it possible to be a Christian and still worship idols? …How do I know if I have an idol in my life?
When anything other than God is needed for your happiness, you essentially have an idol…let me give you examples of idols people don’t think about.
For many our idols are our family…our youth…our health…our spouse… our children’s academic or athletic accomplishments. These are all ‘counterfeit gods.’
Can you be happy without God…with these as your idols?…you can … there are a lot of people in the world who if they read in the headlines today that God was dead, they would go home and sleep like a baby…but if they got a phone call that they lost their job, they would be on the brink of hysteria.
For the Lord sustains me.
God the Sustainer who sustains and upholds everything in existence…last week I made mention of the earth revolving around the sun…it’s God who sustains the earth through space.
Without the sustainer there would be no earth…without God’s sustaining power this planet would have disintegrated long ago…without God’s sustaining power in creation there would be a no oxygen atmosphere.
You woke up this morning for one reason: The Lord sustained you
…you would not have woken up if the Lord had not sustained you
…you wouldn’t have life today if God hadn’t sustained you through the night
…you couldn’t breathe apart from God who sustains us.
…it is God who sustains the lives and world He created.
I find it humorous when I hear unbelievers say, “Religion is just a crutch for weak people.”
Well, I wouldn’t call my relationship with the Lord a crutch…but I will admit my weakness…I will gladly confess how frail and feeble I am…but rather than saying the Lord is a “crutch”, I prefer David’s description in Psalm 18:2:
The LORD is my rock…my fortress…and my deliverer in whom I take refuge (He is) my shield, and the horn of my salvation.
Earlier I said you’re in a war…in a battle for your spiritual life…the devil is your enemy.
But like David the Lord is a shield around us who sustains us…see how God works…it has nothing to do with [Romans 8:28] that God’s causing all things to work together for your good…because He’s not… terribly misused verse.
Romans 8:28 is about God’s goodness and our confidence that His plan will work out as He sees fit since His plans are always good…as a result Christians can take confidence in knowing that no matter what our circumstances God is active and will conclude all things according to His good and wise design.
God’s Sustaining Grace is the power to keep you going even when you feel like giving up…do you ever feel like throwing in the towel? …do you feel like quitting? …do you ever say, “I’ve had enough?”
God’s Sustaining Grace is the power that helps you endure even when you don’t think you can.