God, Lift Up My Face, And Help! (Psalm 3:1-8) Series

Today we continue our sporadic study of the psalms, by reading Psalm 3.

Psalm 3 begins with a heading, that gives us a framework for understanding it.

This is a psalm composed by King David, while he was fleeing from his son Absalom. But, this is also a psalm that became part of Israel's worship. And so it was intended, from nearly the beginning, to be used by people in God's family in hard times. So superscriptions can be used as a starting point, but not the ending point (I accidentally used Hebrew verse numbering, sorry-- everything will be off by one):

(1) A psalm of David while he fled from the presence/face of Absalom his son.

David begins like this, in verses 2-4:

(2) Yahweh, how my foes are many!

Many are rising against me.

(3) Many are saying about my soul,

"There isn't salvation for him in God,"

(4) but you, Yahweh, [are] a shield around me--

my glory, and The One Lifting Up my Head.

By human standards, things look hopeless for King David. Each of you can handle a certain amount of adversity in your lives. You can deal with a few people hating you, or misunderstanding you, or opposing you. You know that you have some strength. You have some power to emerge victorious when you find yourselves with problems with money, or work, or friends, or marriage, or family. You find yourself in difficulty, and examine it in light of your strength... and you know that often times, you will come through things okay.

King David, as king, is not without power. He has a base of support; he has friends who will stick by him. But at this point, viewed from a human perspective, things look hopeless. He has many foes. Many are rising up against him.

And many are saying, "There isn't salvation for him in God."

I can promise you that the people saying this know the old stories about God. They know the stories about the plagues in Egypt, and the parting of the Red Sea, and the conquest of the land. They know that God, in the past, has done mighty deeds. They know that God used to do signs and wonders.

But it's an entirely different thing to expect God to do things like this today. God rescued Abraham. And Moses. And Joshua. But David? "Many" are saying, God won't save him. There is no salvation to be found for him in God.

Now, when David quotes their speech, how do you think God hears this?

God hears this as a monstrous thing. This is offensive to God. These are the kinds of words that provoke a reaction from God.

God jealously guards his reputation. God wants, very badly, to have his name honored. And if God lets David die here, or doesn't help him, the "many" will think they were right. They will think that God cannot be trusted. They will think that God's power is something that belongs to the past. They will decide they were right-- there was no salvation for David in God.

David knows all of this. He knows that God will be bothered by what people are saying. He knows that God wants his name to be honored on earth, as it is in heaven.

And David knows that all of this will end in one of two ways-- either, God will save David, and God will receive glory. OR, David will die in exile, and God's name will be dishonored. And why would David's death bring dishonor to God?

Everyone knows that David relies on Yahweh. Yahweh is David's God (2 Samuel 7).

So a common feature in psalms, is that the psalmist will quote his enemy's blasphemous speech-- because they know it's going to bother God to hear this. And they hope it will spur God to act for them. So that's what David does.

Let's reread vs. 2-4:

(2) Yahweh, how my foes are many!

Many are rising against me.

(3) Many are saying about my soul,

"There isn't salvation for him in God,"

(4) but you, Yahweh, [are] a shield around me--

my glory/honor, and The One Lifting Up my Head.

David, through verse 3, has been talking about the "many." But in verse 4, David contrasts the "many" with himself.

David, in sharp contrast with the many, knows the people are wrong. David knows that salvation is found in Yahweh. He knows three things about Yahweh:

(1) Yahweh is a shield around him. A shield normally protects you from one direction, right? But Yahweh is a shield all around him. Yahweh is the one who keeps David safe on every side.

(2) Yahweh is David's glory, or honor. What does this mean?

Let's read Psalm 8:

O LORD, our Lord,