The Word: Psalm 3
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 Dr. Blesson Selvanesan
Poetry is the melody and heartbeat of a society. History and culture are often reflected in the form of poems and prayers. It’s all about minding and reminding each other about one’s aspirations and realities. The psalm is full of poems and prayers expressing one’s intense feelings towards family, circumstances, nation, history, culture and very importantly God. In Psalm 3, we see this in vivid action from the mouth of an anointed King and Psalmist David.
History
We can read what that culture valued through his and other contemporary writings in Bible. We can understand what is expected of a family by reading these writings. They highly valued children, especially Sons! It was everyone’s dream to have ideal sons. Psalm 128:4,5 for instance, says ‘Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks (‘confronts’ in some translation) with his enemies in the gate’. Children were their glory. Sons were considered as a source of security and power. They were mighty weapons in the hands of their father. They were the prestige of fathers at the city gates. Father and sons made a formidable team against their enemies at the city gates where day to day businesses was conducted. “Your children will be like olive shoots around your table, (Psalm 128:5), they were symbols of peace, prosperity, and Providence. The ultimate model for an ideal son until that point in history was Isaac. Isaac was obedient to his father even to the point when he was placed on the altar to be sacrificed at the holy hill. That’s revolutionary obedience especially when his father was
an old man with more than a century under his belt. Every man’s dream was to have such an obedient son. David had many sons and was looking forward to placing one on his throne just as God promised him. I am sure David had great expectations for his sons.
Mystery
David was not a great dad, in fact, he was a terrible dad. No one knows why he did not teach or discipline his sons who created chaos in his family. No one knows why he let problems to go too deep and until it became too big to deal with. He just watched and did nothing about it! David was a great man; he was a fearless shepherd, worthy warrior, passionate psalmist, hearty harpist, wonderful worshipper, a great strategist, mighty king, BUT a terrible dad!
Misery
His problems grew so large that his life became miserable and he had to flee for his life because of his son Absalom. An army was pursuing him, his enemies were cursing him, his advisors were betraying him and all of a sudden it appeared as though the whole world has turned against him. He had to pack up, leave his throne and palace and run, run for his life.
Maturity
Despite the circumstances, David shows maturity. David did not pursue Shimei who was cursing him, and he pled with his commanders to be easy on his son Absalom. And very importantly David turned to God, the God of his youth, the God who rescued him from a lion, who gave him the strength to fight Goliath, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Mastery
Naturally speaking, it was a time that David would have been overwhelmed with various emotions like anger, sadness, contempt, loneliness, self-pity, weakness and confusion. But King David showed mastery over his raging emotions by reminding God about the history, telling Him the misery and reminding himself who God is. That’s when he writes this Psalm. David now puts historic expectations and hard realities together. Now he is turning his eyes away from his son and towards God. He realizes that he should focus on the strength and faithfulness of God and not his son. Culture and history told that sons are one’s strength, David said Lord is my shield. Culture said sons are the
avenging tools, but David said God is my avenger. It was on the holy hill that Abraham took his son Isaac to be sacrificed, and God answered Abraham and provided a ram for the sacrifice. Now David proclaims that God has answered him from the holy hill and proclaims in faith that the God who answered Abraham will take good care of him despite being in the middle of his difficult circumstances.
Application
Let’s us not have false expectations on things that we hold onto very dearly. Let’s turn our eyes on to the God who answered David from the holy hill. Let’s not be overwhelmed by emotions that are dictated by circumstances, rather act with the maturity to gain mastery over our misery created by our own history. Leave it to God to deal with the circumstances and fall asleep in peace because salvation belongs to the LORD and His blessing will be on His people! Let’s turn our eyes towards God.
City Life Starter 
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