The Word: Psalm 3 (ESV)
3 Lord, how they have increased who trouble me!
Many are they who rise up against me.
2 Many are they who say of me,
“There is no help for him in God.” Selah
3 But You, O Lord, are a shield for me,
My glory and the One who lifts up my head.
4 I cried to the Lord with my voice,
And He heard me from His holy hill. Selah
5 I lay down and slept;
I awoke, for the Lord sustained me.
6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people
Who have set themselves against me all around.
7 Arise, O Lord;
Save me, O my God!
For You have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone;
You have broken the teeth of the ungodly.
8 Salvation belongs to the Lord.
Your blessing is upon Your people. Selah
By Stefan Johnsson
King David, the anointed by God, the ruler of Israel who sat on the throne in the city of Jerusalem. He was the chosen son of Jesse by the prophet Solomon to be the judge that God used for the people of Israel, to replace King Saul. Yet, this psalm was not written in his royal palace. Nor did he write this after a kingly feast or on a glorious day during his long reign. No, David wrote this when his kingdom had been ripped away from him. The kingdom that was supposed to be his to rule until death. He was weeping as he went and had his head covered (2nd Sam. 15:30). In a place that was hidden from the people seeking his life, he cried out to God. “Lord, how many are my foes! How many rises up against me!” One could almost hear the distress coming from David’s emotional turmoil. How could Absalom, who was granted forgiveness for killing his brother, conspire against him? David was torn by what his very own son had done, as he loved all his sons and daughters.
Thoughts came to him, questioning all that he had done, wondering if this was, in fact, God’s will. As David replied to these curses by the man from Saul’s clan by saying, “Leave him alone; let him curse, for the Lord has told him to” (2nd Sam 16:11). The psalm resonates this when David writes in verse 2, “Many are saying of me, God will not deliver him.”
Though, through all this, David knew that God would not leave his side. That God will protect him from harm, to be “a shield around me”, to sustain and deliver him from his enemies. Trials and sorrows will come, and they may come from people we hold dear and whose decisions will hurt us more than others. David experienced this very sorrow from his own son, one whom he had forgiven for a grievous crime (2nd Sam. 14:33). Absalom killed his brother for raping his sister and did not allow David to act as the rightful judge as a king. Yet, David forgave him for this, a gift Absalom would not accept. Instead, he sought David’s throne, thinking he would be a better judge and provide better justice. Is this not how we treat God for what Jesus did for us? We sinned and have been expelled from God’s kingdom, yet, though, because of our grievous sins, God still forgave us through the death of Jesus on the cross. We refuse to accept this free gift because we believe God has forgotten the wrong that others did to us. That God, for some reason, is not a God of justice. We believe that we can bring better justice to others than God himself. And yet…we seek mercy for our own wrongs.
God’s justice was done in the end. David’s son Absalom died for his sins, killed by the very same person (Joab) who helped to get him back into favor with David.
1. So let us reflect on what this psalm tells us. When everything is ripped away from our lives, what remains is what our foundation is made of. As Jesus spoke in Matthew 7:25, that when the rains become, because they will come, if our foundation is laid firmly on the word of God and on what Jesus did on the cross, we will not fall. David knew God will take care of him, as verse 8 says, “From the Lord comes deliverance.”
2. We will feel as if God has left us at times as if everyone has turned from us. God will provide you what you need as he promises. Sometimes the friends that will be by your side are not fellow believers, but people who God has put there to help you stand firm (2nd Sam. 15:21). These people will be drawn to you for your faith in God. May you remember that you are a light to the world, and the kingdom of God on this Earth, no matter the trials that you are going through.
3. God does not seek to give us comfort, He seeks to build our character to be more like Him. Sanctification is a life-long process. He is making you into something great and he provides us what we need. The psalms, such as Psalm 3, is to show us that we are not alone in the struggles that we have. God wants to hear our pain and hurt and wants us to cry out to Him. May you find solace in this and know that deliverance is at hand.
City Life Starter 
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