Help Me, Lord! Series

Help Me, Lord!

Psalm 3:1-8

- We’re continuing our study through the book of Psalms.

- This week, we’re going to see our Great God as the Helper of His troubled people.

- I watched a video on YouTube of a team of firemen and EMT’s who heard a cry for help from miles away.

- When they found where it was coming from, they discovered that it wasn’t a person crying…

- It was a yellow lab that had fallen through the ice into a lake, and he was holding on to the top of the ice for dear life but was quickly freezing to death.

- The rescuers quickly went into action.

- One of them had a rope tied around him, and he slowly walked out to the spot and lowered himself into the water, which was about 4 feet deep.

- When he got to the dog, he picked him up and placed him on the ice in a safe spot.

- He crawled out onto the ice, and the dog couldn’t move because he was so cold, so he and the dog crawled to shore together.

- That wasn’t the end of it though…this poor dog had hypothermia and the cold winter air was slowly killing him.

- So they wrapped him in blankets, and started rubbing him, then they put him in the warm ambulance.

- At one point, the dog stopped breathing, but they didn’t give up…

- They continued to rub him and warm him up, and then, they could hear his faint heart beat once again.

- After saving the dog’s life, he was adopted into a family with another lab, and of course was very thankful to the rescuers for saving him.

- It’s funny, because that seems like something small…

- After all, he wasn’t a human, he was a dog.

- But that didn’t matter to those rescuers.

- They saw one of God’s creations, a dog, in need, and they acted just like he had been a human being.

- And that’s not the only time something like this has happened…

- Just search on YouTube, and you’ll see all sorts of videos of people rescuing animals in need, many of them even putting their own lives on the line to save the animal.

- Now think about this…

- If God could put that instinct inside of us, to help when a person or animal is in need, how much greater is His willingness to help us, His children, when we’re in need?

- Let’s look now at a time when David needed God’s help, and what God did for him.

I.) David was betrayed- Vs 1-4

- Before we dig in to this great Psalm, we need to first understand what’s going on with the author, King David.

- In 2 Samuel 15 – 18, we have the story of the rebellion of David’s son, Absalom.

- It was quite a sad story, as David fled his palace in the middle of the night and forded the brook Kedron to escape.

- He took a small group of faithful followers with him, and off he went to hide from his son.

- As he fled, he passed the Mount of Olives, and as he was weeping, he rent his clothes and put dust on his head as a sign of his mourning.

- So what we have here in this Psalm is the heart of David, at a time when it seemed like the world had turned against him.

- He starts in vs 1 by pointing out the great number of people who are against him.

- “They have increased…many are they who rise up against me…many are they who say of me ‘there’s no help for him in God.’”

- If David was not a follower of God, he would have great reason to just give up.

- He was betrayed by his own son, and his own friends.

- We’re told in 2 Samuel 15 that “…the hearts of all Israel went after Absalom…”

- That included the common people, his counsellors, and even many of his soldiers.

- It was a really hard time for David.

- In vs 2, when it says, “Many are they that say of me, there is no help for him in God”, David is pointing out that these people who have betrayed him actually believe that God is against David and is with them.

- They think they’re doing God’s work, while David is not.

- You might think, “Well, that’s ridiculous! How could anyone think that about David, who is called a man after God’s own heart?”

- The answer is that David wasn’t perfect…as a matter of fact, he had blood on his hands.