Psalm 3 (ESV) — A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son. 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.” Selah 3 But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. 4 I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah 5 I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. 6 I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. 7 Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked. 8 Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people! Selah
When I was a boy, my grandfather, for Christmas one year, gave me a talking alarm clock. It would wake me with a set of beeps followed by an electronic voice reading out the time: "The time is 7-15-A-M." It was cool at first, but like all alarm sounds, it soon became my least favorite sound.
What does your morning alarm sound like? We have so many options these days. Your phone has a hundred different jingles you can select. You could choose a favorite song. You could go with the standard beep. And, for homesteaders, roosters are always an option.
Our psalm today is a morning song. In it, the author, David, goes from a natural state of anxiety to abundant confidence and blessing. The song is like a helmet of salvation protecting the mind from the rigors of the day. It's a journey each of us should take every day.
David's Situation
The beginning of the psalm sets the stage, starting with a superscription informing us of the occasion that caused David to write this song. It says: A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son (Psalm 3, superscription).
It was not his younger years but after he'd been on Israel's throne for some time. He had already infamously faltered with Bathsheba, and the fallout from that sin reverberated throughout his family. It seems his past had taken some of his moral authority, so when his son Amnon violated a half-sister named Tamar, David had said nothing. This infuriated Tamar's full brother, Absalom, and he went on a revenge tour that would not stop until he'd stolen the throne from his father. And, as Absalom stood at the gates of the city each day, telling the people what they wanted to hear, the fickle crowds soon threw their support behind him. It came to the point that David's life was at risk, so, with a few loyal friends, David ran back into the wilderness. Off the throne of glory into the throes of agony.
From the human perspective, David was outnumbered. His recounting of that time was that many were his foes, many were rising against him, and many were saying God would not help him (1-2). This was not hyperbole. 2 Samuel tells us that the hearts of the men of Israel had gone after Absalom and that Absalom was capable of gathering forces like "the sand of the sea for multitude" (2 Samuel 15:13, 17:11).
And the voice of the crowd bothered David. They said, "There is no salvation for him in God" (2). It is not that these people doubted God's power. It's that they doubted God would use his power to help David—David the adulterer; David the man with blood on his hands; David the absentee father; David the polygamist. They believed David was washed up, beyond the reach of God's grace. Even once faithful friends cashed in their chips and moved on from him on into Absalom's new monarchy.
A Warfare Song
Though this is the backdrop of the song, it is noticeable that each verse makes no mention of Absalom. The situation is only spelled out in the superscription and then forgotten. This makes sense when you consider that this is a psalm for public consumption. Though the moment Absalom betrayed David was the inspiration, the song cannot be confined to that context. By the time it trickled onto their Spotify playlists, it had become a song all of Israel could sing about their own anxieties and pressures and enemies. Absalom is forgotten in the song because the song is now in the public domain—it belongs to all of us.
And all of us can easily relate to the military terminology the song employs to describe life. There are enemies and foes (2, 7). Victory, in the form of salvation is the goal (2, 8). God is described as a shield (3). Armies deploy—or set themselves— against David (6). Even the prayer that God would arise conjures up memories of what ancient Israel said when the Ark of God went out to war (3:7).
The whole song sounds like a battle cry, which is why it's the perfect prayer to begin the day. Each day is a battle against our own selfish impulses, a system that allures us into a life incongruent with God, and unseen spiritual forces that seek to destroy us (Ephesians 2:1-3). We must cling to God for his help, and this song gives us a template for doing so. What did David do? What can we do?
1. Practice Good Theology (3-4)
The first thing we can do in the daily battle is practice good theology. David practiced good theology when he turned his gaze from the multitude of enemies to God. He said:
3 But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. 4 I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah
Consider God
After forty years of leading Israel, when Moses was about to die, he recalled a horrible event that had occurred near the beginning of his leadership. He had sent twelve spies into the Promised Land to bring back a report to the people. But only two believed God would give them the land, while the other ten gave a report filled with fear. Moses recorded their cowardly words:
"The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen the sons of the giants there." (Deuteronomy 1:28)
That report was the poison that coursed through their veins, the blue pill that kept them in the Matrix, and it cost them the chance to go into God's best.
Their story helps emphasize the importance of this second verse of David's song. With a multitude of enemies—a world of foes—David was in danger of becoming despondent by keeping his vision firmly fixed on them. What he needed most was to see God again.
In the classic Disney animation The Jungle Book, the main character is a boy named Mowgli. Lost in the wild of the jungle, he is vulnerable. A python named Kaa comes across his path. Kaa has the powers to hypnotize his prey before strangling it, but only if they look directly into his eyes, eyes that swirled with multicolored patterns designed to lull the victim to sleep. I remember watching Kaa as a boy, hating the character for what he was trying to do, rooting for Mowgli to break eye contact.
If we are going to make it against the foes against us and within us, we have to break eye contact and look afresh at God. Daily. David did. And what did he see?
First, David saw God as his shield (3). God was his protector. The shield of ancient times was usually made of tough and thick animal hides, fastened to a rim, and attached to the left arm, so it was constantly available to protect the vital parts of the body. It seems it was natural for the biblical authors to think of God as a protective shield because they often spoke of him this way. For instance, Proverbs says, "Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him" (Proverbs 30:5). Or Deuteronomy calls the Lord "the shield of your help" (Deuteronomy 33:29). And there are many such passages. But God even directly declares himself to be a shield. To Abraham, God said:
"Fear not, Abram, I am your shield..." (Genesis 15:1).
Second, David saw God as his glory (3). This statement is stunning when you consider the situation it was first said. David was the king of Israel but had been driven from his throne. In a flash, it seems he'd lost everything—the crown, his calling, his influence, his glory. But here, we learn he's not lost it all because he still had God, and God was his glory. His glory didn't lie in what he'd done as king or his position as king, but in God!
What an important step for us to take each day! What will give us significance today? God. He is our glory. Through Christ, we have him, and he has us. He is our glory.
Third, David saw God as the lifter of his head (3). We don't often speak this way, but I think we can understand what David means. It seems almost universal that the lowered head signifies loss and shame, defeat and pain, or suffering and stress. When David ran from Absalom, his head was covered, but God would lift his head again (2 Samuel 15:30).
Another passage can help us understand this concept. In Genesis, Joseph heard the dreams of two prisoners. Both had been sent there by Pharaoh. As they wondered what their dreams meant, Joseph offered an explanation. To the cupbearer, he said, "In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office, and you shall place Pharaoh’s cup in his hand as formerly, when you were his cupbearer” (Genesis 40:13). When Pharaoh lifted the cupbearer's head, he was restoring him to a position he'd lost. This is what God would do for David and for each of his own who turn to him in distress. He restores us.
Imagine a young child who has failed at some endeavor and is sulking in embarrassment. Their father gently speaks with them and takes his face in his hands. He lifts up their head, no longer allowing them to gaze downward but now into his eyes. That is what our God does for us.
All three of these descriptions—shield, glory, and lifter of our heads—are perfect descriptions of God. Perhaps you can relate to each of them. This song has thrown me into the exercise of considering my lowest points in life—times my foes felt impossible to number. What was God doing during those times? Protecting me like a shield. Showing me my true significance is found in him. And lifting up my head by steadily restoring and encouraging me.
Like David, we are flawed. Some might even whisper that God is done with us. But, as he did for David, God helps us from his holy hill (4). Through the cross of Mt. Calvary, God pushes past our shame to deliver us his grace. He is our shield—and when Jesus died for us, he protected us from God's judgment. He is our glory—and because Jesus died for us, God can be the best and most important part of our lives. He is the lifter of our heads—and when Jesus died for us, he made it possible for us to regain what we lost through sin.
2. Drink In God's Good Results (5-6)
The second thing we can do in the daily battle is drink in God's good results. After remembering God, David began to drink in God's good results. He wrote:
5 I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. 6 I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.
Sleep
In a sense, sleeping was the most dangerous thing David could do. The advice given to Absalom was to descend upon David while his camp slept. But in another sense, this was all he could do. He had to trust that God would defend him in the night. He needed the rest, so he slept.
By going to sleep, David was affirming that it was the Lord who sustained him. His own ingenuity or war skills were not enough to keep him against such numbers. The multitudes were with Absalom, and it put David in another David versus Goliath situation. And, as he had done during the Goliath episode, David decided to trust God again, and his trust would be evidenced by going to bed.
I am not great at many things, but I am notoriously good at sleeping. I always fall asleep quickly—and I get pretty flustered if it takes me longer than five minutes to fall into a deep sleep. My parents like to tell one story from when I was a baby. We were traveling on a single-lane highway on a foggy night, and I was asleep in an unsecured basket in the back of their Volkswagen Beetle (it was the late 70s, after all). Unbeknownst to them, a drunk driver had spun out and stopped sideways on the road. They swerved, sideswiped the other car, and drove up an embankment. Everyone was OK, but guess who didn't wake up? This guy.
So when I say there have been a couple of seasons in my life where the trial was intense enough to keep me awake at night, it's saying something. And during those seasons, the only way I could get to sleep was through prayer. I don't mean that prayer is so dull that it's like counting sheep, so I fell asleep, but that getting my eyes onto God had the positive effect of producing rest. Resting in his arms in the midst of trial, I was able to sleep. David was rejoicing in such rest.
Sustained
Not only did David sleep, but he woke again because the Lord sustained him (5). It's as if, when David's eyes opened each morning, once he knew he was still alive and had not been killed in his sleep, he was jolted with a fresh realization that God had sustained him.
I recently rewatched the 2010 blockbuster, Inception. The basic plot is that a small team of masterminds figured out how to enter into the dreams of other people in an attempt to steal their secrets and manipulate their thoughts. But, to do so, they have to sleep as well. But if there is an emergency in the real world while they are dreaming, they design "kicks" that will jar them back to reality.
In the opening scene, the main character is asleep and dreaming in a wooden chair on a platform. Behind and below his chair is a bathtub filled with cold water. When an emergency unfolds, he needs to get kicked out of the dream, so his friends tip him backward into the water. With this abrupt awakening, he comes to and realizes reality afresh.
For David, waking up each morning was a "kick" to remind him of God's grace. And I wonder if we could grow in this understanding of God's goodness. He has sustained us. He has been faithful. He is good.
Emboldened
And the last good result David drank in was courage. He was emboldened for all the foes and enemies by God. He said, "I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around" (6). Invigorated by the sleep God gave him, refreshed in God's sustaining work, David was prepared to face whatever life threw at him. God had erased all his fear.
And the cross of Christ should produce a fearlessness in us as well. We have been set free from the fear of the ridicule or attack of others because we are now firmly fixed in God's favor. His grace is our domain. Though we slept the deep sleep of sin, he awakens us to his love, grace, and forgiveness, and now we can be bold to face whatever enemies come our way.
3. Make A Good Confession (7-8)
The third thing we can do in the daily battle is make a good confession—what I mean is that we must say correct things about God. David ended his prayer by making a good confession. He prayed:
7 Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked. 8 Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people! Selah
God Defends
First, David confessed that God defends. He thought back to all the times God had helped him in the past, times God had struck his enemies in the teeth and broken the teeth of the wicked. It was like God took the great white shark enemies of David and removed all their teeth. The predator was now prey. David may or may not be praying for this to happen again, but he is certainly recounting what God had done for him in the past. His father's ill-treatment wouldn't stop him. His brothers' ridicule didn't slow him. Goliath's taunts didn't paralyze him. Saul's attacks didn't kill him. And surely Absalom's rebellion wouldn't end him. God had always defended him, so David expected more of the same.
God Saves
Second, David confessed that God saves. His enemies said there was no salvation for him in God, but David disagreed. He has salvation because he has God, and salvation belongs to God (8). This statement is a constant scriptural point—God is the one who saves. He is the initiator of salvation, but he also keeps it going. He has saved. He does save. And he will save. It belongs to him.
As Paul said,
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16, ESV)
God Blesses
Finally, David confessed that God blesses. For David, to ask for God to put his blessing upon his people was not mere jargon. He wasn't scrambling for a good lyric to use to end his song. Instead, he was landing in the exact opposite place the song began. It starts with a multitude of foes cursing David, but it ends with the singular God blessing his people.
These are the confessions David made about God: he defends, he saves, and he blesses. What a way to start the day!
An Every Morning Song
Recently, a portion of our pastoral team was able to attend a ministry conference together. Rather than book individual hotel rooms, we instead rented out a whole home for a few days. We have found that the cost is better and the fellowship stronger when we handle lodging that way. But one added benefit is that you get to see everyone first thing in the morning. In fact, in his recap of the conference, Pastor Geoff said one of his favorite things was seeing our team stumble out of their rooms in the morning on a quest for coffee.
Everyone in this short psalm is waking or rising. David said his foes were rising against him (1). He then said God helped him sleep and then wake again (5). Finally, with his enemies on the rise, David prayed, "Arise, O Lord!" (7).
Because of this rising of enemies, daily rising after a night of sleep, and the prayer for God to also arise, ancient Israel often prayed this psalm in the early morning. The idea is that each day we wake up filled with a consciousness of the obstacles and troubles and opposition we might (or will) face that day. Rather than pull the covers over our heads to delay reality or turn on our phones to distract ourselves from reality, we must ask God to wake up too. Our enemies are there, but so is God, and the anxious soul must go through the process of trusting God again for the new day.
It's as if each day we have a choice: be overwhelmed by the opposition or confident in God's advocacy. The great Sustainer of life is there for us—and this psalm describes the process of connecting to him each morning. He is the cup of coffee we truly need.
A Song Christ Sings
But even when we falter and fail to sing this song, we must stand comforted that it is a song Christ most certainly sang. He was surrounded by all the enemies of spiritual darkness, and on the cross, he heard people tell him he had no salvation in God (1-2).
He looked to the Father to protect him from the permanence of the grave, trusting that he would regain the glory he had before the incarnation. He knew God would lift his head (3-4). And, while on the holy hill of the cross, Jesus cried aloud to the Father, first by asking, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). But later in confidence stating, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit" (Luke 23:46).
And after his death, Jesus, like David, lay down and slept, waking again in his glorious resurrection (5-6).
And in his resurrection, we are assured that God has struck our ultimate enemy of sin and death, defanging them so that we might live forever with him. Because Christ rose, we know that salvation belongs to the Lord, and blessing comes through him to his people (7-8).