Good morning. It's good to see you all here, both in person and on the live stream.
We're glad you've joined us this morning.
I want you to picture a scene thousands of years ago in the land of Israel.
As the sun begins to lower in the west, a door opens in the east wall of the city of Jerusalem.
A group of court officials and families hurriedly push past.
Out of the walled city of Jerusalem, down into the kindred valley.
They carry only weapons they can hastily grab and a few belongings.
A sense of urgency, a sense of fear drive them.
As they go down from the city to the bottom of the valley and back up.
Their great desire is to get up and away from the city.
At their front, with his head bowed and his dusty face streaked with tears, King David walks barefoot in grief.
The country itself cries out in lament.
As the anointed king was forced to flee his throne because of the rebellion of his son Absalom.
Who had stolen the hearts of many of his people and many of his warriors.
David had heard from a messenger that Absalom was coming with an army to pursue him and to take him.
So the king led a remnant of his people out of the city, up to the Mount of Olives,
through the mountains to the other side towards the River Jordan where there would be a moment of peace and rest.
Friends, this is the scene, this is the setting for Psalm 3.
Which is our psalm for this morning as we continue in our series this fall in the book of Psalms.
As we look at them as songs of hope in uncertain times.
This is the account in 2 Samuel 15 and 16 that brings us to the writing of Psalm 3.
So let's look at Psalm 3 together.
If you're looking in your Bible, it's probably right about in the middle.
Psalm 3, let's read this together.
Psalm 3.
A psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son.
O Lord, how many are my foes.
Many are rising against me.
Many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God.
Selah.
But you, O Lord, are a shield about me.
My glory and the lifter of my head.
I cried aloud to the Lord and he answered me from his holy hill.
Selah.
I lay down and slept.
I woke again for the Lord sustained me.
I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.
Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God.
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek.
You break the teeth of the wicked.
Salvation belongs to the Lord.
Your blessing be on your people.
Selah.
Let's pray together.
Lord, we thank you this morning for this word.
We thank you for the word of comfort and hope that it brings us.
I pray this morning that you would give us all ears to hear and hearts to receive the truth of your word.
Lord, and by your spirit, Lord, may you strengthen us in faith as we know you, our rock and our redeemer, more through this song.
Be with me as I speak.
I pray for your help that you would be glorified in all that I say and all that we do this morning.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
As David writes this psalm, it breaks down into four very simple groupings, two verses each.
Each one expressing a different aspect of David as he's processing his situation before the Lord.
The four aspects are this.
We can look at them not only for what they meant for David, but what they mean for us today.
Verses 1 and 2 talk about his affliction.
Verses 3 and 4 talk about his affirmation of who God is.
Verses 5 and 6 describe his actions in response to what he knows of God.
And verses 7 and 8 are his assurance.
So let's look at this together.
Verses 1 and 2.
His affliction.
For David, his foes were very real.
His rebellious son was leading a group, an army of people to depose him and perhaps to kill him.
Certainly to overthrow his kingship and to replace him.
And if you look at verses 1 and 2, one of the things you notice is that the word that's repeated the most there is many.
It wasn't just a few people.
This is not a small palace coup.
In fact, Absalom had gone away so that he might gather a large group of people to himself at Hebron.
And then he was coming back to take over Jerusalem.
And the picture here is one of like a rising tide.
Imagine Absalom at the head of an army that keeps gathering people as they go.
A picture of an encircling army.
A picture of one that is closing in on him.
Hemming him in on every side.
An ever increasing menace.
This is what David was facing.
And I wonder if you've ever felt that sense of panic and feeling trapped.
Feeling pursued like that.
Now, my guess is very few of us have been actually pursued by armies.
That's normal in these days and days.
Maybe some of you have.
But very few of us have not had actual armies pursuing us.
But you know, if you've experienced it at all, you know it doesn't take an army.
All it takes is one person determined to ruin your life.
One person who seeks your destruction.
To create that sense of trapness.
And that sense of being pursued.
That desire to flee.
It might be a fellow student in your high school class who is out to alienate and isolate you from your friend group.
A co-worker who is determined to undermine your work and your reputation.
A family member or a former friend who has turned on you in bitterness and anger.
And you know, our foes may not even be people.
I think as we think about our lives, we realize that the enemies of our soul are many.
There are other kinds of pressures and trials that create the same sense of feeling of a rising tide.
That is surrounding us and encircling us and entrapping us.
Certainly in this day of pandemic, I have felt this more than usual.
When my child gets a small cough or sneezes a couple of times, suddenly I have to think through all of this rising tide of questions.
Can I go to work tomorrow?
Can he go to school tomorrow?
What do I do if he's really sick?
Do I go to the doctor?
Do I have to get a COVID test?
Do I have to quarantine for 14 days?
What about, what about?
And all these questions begin to surround me and create a panic.
There are other kinds of circumstances that also make it difficult.
Maybe some of you, I know some of you, have experienced loss in this time.
You have lost a loved one, whether it be to COVID or just for other reasons.
And yet, that loss becomes a rising tide of grief because we are generally cut off from our normal means of grieving together.
We can't gather in large groups to have funerals.
We can't get together to express this grief together.
Even normal, fundamental means of comfort, like a hug or a cup of tea with a friend, are at least a lot more fraught.
Some of you, I think, have been surrounded by those.
There are all sorts of other pressures and trials we face.
Some of you live and work in places where the pressure for you to succeed and to perform and to get ahead is a never-ending pressure.
And every time you think, well, once I can get over this hump, it'll get better.
It doesn't.
It just seems like there's another mountain to climb.
And the pressures continue to rise and encircle you.
And some of you carry around the ongoing burden of broken relationships and scars from old sins, the whispers of past lives.
And all these things can be like a rising tide that surround us and make us feel trapped like David.
And they bring us often to the place where the accusers of David at the very end of verse 2 bring us.
For they whisper the doubt that rises up in our own hearts as well.
Well, can God really save me from this?
Is there salvation in God in the midst of these trials and these problems?
I think this is the thing that is actually the one that breaks us.
We can face all sorts of things.
But when we start to doubt whether God can get us through,
when we start to doubt that God will be with us through it,
that is when we truly are broken.
One commentator writes this,
In whatever form trouble comes,
the hostility of others, circumstantial problems and tragedies, personal sorrows,
its tendency is to drive us inward,
to make us retire hurt.
It urges us to find some corner in which to moan over our lot,
to marvel at how unfair life is,
and to chew the fat of our own misery.
I find that true.
How easy it is when it gets difficult to want to retreat,
and to run away,
and to complain.
But David does not do that.
And he gives us a model of how we can respond differently as well.
Instead, he turns to God.
In verses 3 and 4,
Having talked about his afflictions,
now David turns his gaze to the God that he knows.
And he says,
But you, O Lord, are a shield about me,
my glory,
and the lifter of my head.
Remember, David's enemies were real.
It was a real army with spears and swords.
And he says,
You, O Lord, are a shield.
Now, many of you know I'm a Lord of the Rings fan,
and if you've ever seen The Hobbit, The Battle of Five Armies,
it's a very, very poor excuse for the original book,
which is wonderful.
But it's still a pretty decent movie.
And one of the coolest things is,
in the Battle of the Armies,
when the dwarves show up to fight,
they do this amazing thing,
where they line up in order,
and they pull their shields out,
and they actually are double-ranked,
and it becomes this wall of shields that is impenetrable.
The Roman phalanx taken to another level of defensiveness.
And this is what David is saying God is for him.
God surrounds him with this phalanx of shields,
with this impenetrable wall,
that no sword and no spear will ever be able to penetrate.
God, you are a shield.
Not only does David say,
you are a shield,
but you are my glory and the lifter of my head.
What does that mean?
Well, think about David.
David sat in a place of all human glory.
He was the king who sat on the throne of Israel
and its greatest power and influence.
And at this point,
he was fleeing as a refugee.
He had lost all of his human glory,
and yet David knew where to look.
He looked to God and he said,
God, even though I have lost all of that,
I have the most important glory I can ever have.
And that is that I am yours.
I am with you.
And that being related to you,
knowing that you are my God,
gives me a glory that enables me to withstand
the greatest trials.
You are not only my glory,
but you are the lifter of my head.
If you went back and you read 2 Samuel,
and you have to go back a couple more chapters,
go back to chapter 10,
start there,
and you read,
what happened with Absalom
was not completely without cause
or without reason because of David's actions.
David had failed multiple times in his kingship,
in his leadership,
in his character,
in his leading of his family
and addressing evils within his family.
And so Absalom's rebellion
was not without some cause for shame for David.
So not only was he fleeing
because he was afraid of his life,
but he was fleeing in shame.
And he looks up to God,
and God says,
not shame,
lift up your eyes,
I am going to come,
and I am going to restore your honor.
I am going to restore your glory.
You are not a failure.
You are not ashamed.
But as David looks up,
he knows that as God lifts his head up,
he can be bright-faced
and looking with hope and faith to God himself.
The other thing that David sees
that maybe isn't quite as obvious in this verse
is to which God is David looking.
In my Bible,
likely in your Bible,
there's some indication in verse 3,
but you,
oh Lord,
that word in my Bible
has Lord
in three smaller capitals,
right?
And lots of times,
Bible versions in the English
try to distinguish this word
because it's the word
that God used
when he revealed himself to Moses
at the burning bush.
And it's the word
that is used
throughout the Old Testament
for Yahweh,
the covenant-keeping God,
the particular God
of the people of Israel,
the God who created
the whole world,
yes,
but then who also
enters into a covenant
with his people.
It is the same God
who came to David
in 2 Samuel 7
and said,
I'm going to make you
the father of a,
or the first of a line.
I'm going to seat your descendants
on the throne
where you will reign forever.
Your family will reign forever.
This is a covenant-keeping God
who enters into binding agreement
with his people
to be their God
and they will be his people.
And as they enter
into that covenant,
there is great hope
in that unbreakable bond.
So as God looks up
to this God,
his shield,
his glory,
the lifter of his head,
the covenant-keeping God,
he cries out to him
and he knows
that the Lord
will answer him.
And it's really beautiful
to see that David,
having fled the holy hill
that he used to sit
on his throne in,
looks back
and he knows,
you know what?
I have lost that throne.
I have lost my holy hill.
I've lost my seat there.
Absalom may sit there,
but though I may have lost
all those things,
God is still sitting
on his holy hill.
He is still reigning
over his people
and over his nation.
He is still reigning
over my life.
And so I will have hope.
So when the rising tide
of affliction surround us,
David gives us a model.
We can turn and look to God
and look to his character,
to look to his nature,
to see his faithfulness.
And friends,
this isn't just for David
as an Old Testament king,
but this is for all
of his people
throughout the years.
Listen to the words
of the Apostle Paul
in Romans 8
as the church
looks to God
in a similar way.
What then shall we say
to these things?
If God is for us,
who can be against us?
He who did not spare
his own son,
but gave him up
for us all,
how will he not also
with him graciously
give us all things?
Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation
or distress
or persecution
or famine
or nakedness
or danger
or sword?
No.
In all these things
we are more than conquerors
through him
who loved us.
For I am sure
that neither death
nor life
nor angels
nor rulers
nor things present
nor things to come
nor powers
nor height
nor depth
nor anything else
in all creation
will be able
to separate us
from the love of God
in Christ Jesus
our Lord.
David,
having named
his affliction
and having looked
to his God,
then responds
in his actions
in verses 5 and 6.
you can look with me
and he says,
I lay down
and slept.
Now,
imagine this.
Because David
was not going
to a hotel
nor was he going
to a fortified fortress.
He was in the wilderness.
He was by the
bank of the Jordan River.
But he had
no protection,
no great army,
no bulwarks
were erected
to protect him.
And yet,
because he knew
the God
that he had trusted in,
that his God
would be his shield,
he lay down
and slept
even when he
was being pursued
by an army
intent to kill him.
I don't know
if you've ever
experienced this.
I had an experience
this week.
I had a kind
of rough week
in a number
of areas
and felt like
the rising tide
of troubles
were a bit
overwhelming
for me.
And on Thursday
night,
instead of working
more on my sermon,
hopefully it doesn't
show too much,
but instead of working
more on my sermon,
which had been
my plan for the evening,
feeling this rising tide
and remembering
this verse,
I went to sleep
early.
I never go to sleep
early.
I went to sleep
and I rested
and the Lord
gave me rest.
And he gave me
confidence
that he could
take care of
all the things
that I was facing.
And then the days
since he has
taken care of
some of them,
not all of them,
he hasn't made
them all go away.
But stopping
and sleeping
and trusting
is one of the
best ways
that we can
exhibit our faith
in God
and act it out.
And David shows us
why we can do this.
He gives us two things.
He says,
first,
he did this
because he was confident
that the Lord
would sustain him,
that the Lord
would continue
the covenant
that God had made
in the past,
that God would
not abandon
that and so
that he knew
that,
look,
the Lord
will take care
of me.
And so I can
lie down
and sleep
entrusting these
problems to God.
not only could he
say that he was
confident that the
Lord would sustain
him,
but it also
expresses that he
was not afraid
of these rising
armies.
Verse 6 says,
I will not be afraid
of many thousands,
even ten thousands.
And David is not
saying this
with masculine
bravado.
He's not saying
it in denial
of the reality
of the army
that was chasing him.
He was saying
it in the face
that he was looking
at that reality
and knowing
that it was true
and he was saying,
even though
these things
are true,
I will not
be afraid
because God
is my shield
and my protection.
friends,
I wonder
how you're doing
facing the rising
tide in your life
right now.
Are you able
to lie down
and sleep
and trust
in the character
and the work
of God
in your lives?
Now look,
we need to be careful
as we think about
how to apply this
because there are
times when
you can see it
throughout Scripture
and throughout church
history where God
does
intervene
miraculously,
wonderfully
and he changes
our circumstances.
He neutralizes
our enemies.
He removes
the trials.
He takes away.
He comforts
our grief.
There are many ways
in which God
can and has
and continues
to act
in wonderful ways
to provide
for his people
and we in faith
ought to look
for that
and to expect
that God
will do this
at times.
to know
that God
delights
to help us
but we also
need to know
because Scripture
tells us
and because
the history
of the church
tells us
that God
doesn't always
deliver us.
He doesn't
always remove
us from the
difficulties.
He doesn't
always lessen
the rising tide.
sometimes
he allows
suffering
and trials
to come
into our lives
but in the
midst of that
he is still
with us.
He is still
our shield
and our protector
and though he may
not remove
the storm
outside
he's able
to create
a place
of peace
within his
protection
and within
his care
where we can
live with
confidence
and walk
through the
hardest
things.
with faith
and hope.
This is what
Paul refers
to in
Philippians
chapter 4
when he talks
about praying
and bringing
all of our
requests and
petitions to
God
praying that
God himself
would surround
us, would
keep our
hearts in
perfect peace
and would
guard our
hearts and
minds in
Christ Jesus.
Jesus.
He will
sustain us
and he
will comfort
us and he
will allow
us to lie
down and
sleep even
in the midst
of the
trials.
And friends
we know
that this
rest for
our souls
is a
precursor to
the rest
that will
come in
our eternal
salvation
when God
will defeat
all of his
enemies,
when they
will no
longer be
these powers
that rise
himself up
against our
souls.
But God
will have
defeated them
and we
will enter
into an
eternal
Sabbath rest
of joy
and peace
with God.
So David
having
named his
affliction,
affirmed the
character of
God,
responded in
these actions
then finishes
his psalm
with a
statement of
assurance
Jesus.
He cries
out,
verse 7,
he cries
out,
God will
you act,
will you
now act
on what
all that
I have
said,
will you
destroy
the enemies?
And the
images here
are powerful
and sometimes
we feel a
little uncomfortable
with them
in our day
and age.
But let's
think about
what they
mean.
Verse 7
says,
Arise oh
Lord save
me my
God for
you strike
all my
enemies
on the
cheek.
What
does that
mean?
That is a
slap in the
face is
what it
means.
It is a
will you
humiliate,
will you
bring low
those who
have raised
themselves up
against me?
Will you
show that
you are
greater than
them in
your deliverance?
And then the
second one,
will you break
the teeth of
the wicked?
It's an
imagery that's
taken from
the wild
animals.
Might be
rephrased.
Will you
defang the
enemy?
Will you
take the
weapons out
of their
hands?
Will you
take away
the very
tools that
they have
to inflict
harm?
Will you
remove them?
And in
doing so
will you
remove the
threat that
they bring
to me?
Now David
had very real
enemies that
had swords
and spears.
And you
will see if
you continue
reading in
2 Samuel that
in fact God
provides in
lots of ways
for David and
eventually he
is restored to
his throne.
There are
many times when
we have very
real enemies
who want evil
for us as
well.
But we also
must remember
Jesus' words in
Matthew 10
28.
Do not fear
those who can
kill the body
but cannot
kill the soul.
Rather fear
him who can
destroy both
the soul and
the body in
hell.
Because friends
part of the
great hope of
the Christian
gospel is that
this life is not
all that there
is but that
there is an
eternity that
God is preparing
us for.
And that in
that our
greatest enemies
are not our
difficult circumstances
are not the
people who
oppose us
are not the
trials that we
face.
But the
greatest danger
is that our
souls might be
turned away from
God.
That sin and
death would
reign.
That the devil
would have power
over us and
pull us away
so that we
might actually
deny God.
These are our
great enemies.
enemies.
And the great
hope that we
have, the
great confidence
that we have
is that those
powers have
already been
defeated.
The cross and
the resurrection
of Jesus
Christ.
And that we
know that one
day they will
be finally and
fully eradicated.
died.
This is the
striking final
statement that
he says.
Salvation belongs
to the Lord.
Salvation is not
simply something
that the Lord
gives to us or
something that he
does for us but
that it actually
belongs to him.
That it is a
part of who he
is that he is a
saving God and he
overflows with this
salvation to us in
Jesus.
He is the
covenant keeping
God.
You see that?
It's the same
Lord again.
He is the
covenant keeping
God who has
made a new
covenant in the
blood of Jesus
Christ that by
Jesus life and
death and
resurrection salvation
is finally fully
accomplished in
him.
That he has
taken sin that
is ours on
himself.
That he has
borne a death
that we deserve.
That he has
risen from the
dead to defeat
those powers of
sin and death.
And so the early
church can proclaim
in Acts 4.12
There is salvation
in no one else
for there is no
other name under
heaven given
among men by
which we must be
saved.
Jesus has
defeated death
and so he is
our shield.
in this life.
He is our glory
and the lifter of
our head.
He is the one
who when we are
joined with him
by faith we are
raised from death
to life.
We are raised from
shame to acceptance.
We are raised from
abandonment to
welcome and status as
a member of his
family.
He is our refuge in
the rising tide.
So when we feel
overwhelmed, when we
feel that our
enemies will not
stop, when our
trials and our
sufferings and our
losses mount, when we
feel encircled and
trapped, we doubt if
God is able to save
us.
Friends, we have a
place to look.
We look at the
cross of Jesus
Christ.
We look to the
empty tomb and we
know that God is our
shield and our
refuge.
We cry out to this
God for help and
then we go to bed and
sleep and rest in him
and trust that he is
able to sustain us and
he is able to save us.
Let's pray together.
Lord, we thank you for
this word of comfort.
We thank you for this
word of encouragement.
Lord, we thank you that
you are a God who
saves.
Lord, I pray this
morning that, Lord,
when we are facing the
rising tide of trials,
Lord, that we would be
encouraged to look to
you.
Lord, that we would be
strengthened in our
confidence that you are
a God who is able to
save and that you are a
God who does save all
who trust in you.
Lord, I pray this
morning for those who
may be facing particular
trials.
Lord, that you would
minister to them this
morning the truth of
this word, that you are
their shield and their
glory.
Lord, I pray for those
who may be with us this
morning who may be
exploring Christianity.
Lord, that they would
see what kind of a God
you are, who is our
help in time of need.
Lord, that they would be
drawn to you and to put
their faith in you this
morning.
Lord, thank you for this
word we pray in Jesus'
name.
Amen.