Lift Up Your Head

Lift Up Your Head

Psalm 3

I. Introduction

Have you ever found yourself at a point in life where you were so beaten and so discouraged that good news and encouragement were just no where to be found? Well if I have just described where you are today, then you are in luck because I want you to know that God wants you to lift up your head.

Our text is Psalm 3, a lament Psalm that was written by King David. This Psalm is directly linked to 2 Samuel 15, where David is fleeing his son Absalom who is trying to kill him and take over the throne. It is one of only a few Psalms that ties a Psalm to a specific incident in the life of David.

The superscription, or the title above the actual Psalm, is called "The Lord Helps His Troubled People" In our lives we encounter troubles and difficulties and as a natural response we become discouraged and defeated. David certainly had reason to be discouraged and troubled by the turn of events he now found himself in. The same is true in ministry. I am reminded of a pastor who in his first 5 years of the pastorate he hung a sign on his desk that said, "Win the World for Christ!", Then in the second 5 years of his pastorate he changed the sign to read, "Win one or two to Christ", but since that time he put up a third sign that said, "Try not to Lose too many!".

In the short time I have been in the pastorate, certainly not 15 years as this pastor, I feel as though I have needed to hang out all 3 of those signs myself. But whenever I find that I get discouraged God always send a message, usually through one of you great Saints, that always lifts me up and helps me get back on my way for the Lord. For that I deeply thank you.

Today God is sending a message to each of us through His servant, King David, He wants those of you that find yourselves with your heads hung and beaten by discouragement to lift up your head, because He is still God and He still loves you.

There are some points that David makes that I want us to see and ponder in our hearts today.

#1. David cried out his lament to God.

Psalm 3:1-2

David begins this psalm by going to God and telling Him the trouble of his heart. At this point in David’s life there was one specific foe who greatly troubled David, his own son Absalom.

But David states in these first 2 verses that "Many are they who rise up against me". David’s trouble with Absalom had multiplied, no longer was it just his son, but Absalom had raised an army to come against David.

But the problems didn’t stop there. David’s own friends had turned against him telling him that no one would help him, not even God.

Have you ever been in a spot in your life where it seemed you were stuck in a vicious cycle of trouble that turns into discouragement that turns into more trouble that turns into more discouragement? On and on it goes. And in this cycle you have friends that give you great advice like "You don’t need God" or "Some God that would let you come down with cancer" or "Why do you want to go to church there’s no one there that can help you, it’s full of hypocrites"

Does this sound familiar? When you are discouraged and down, have you ever received excellent encouragement like Job got from his wife?

Job 2:9 Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!"

Now there is some horrible advice, and thankfully Job didn’t follow it and thankfully David never considered it and thankfully as believers in Jesus Christ we don’t have to either.

Matthew 7:7-8 "Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."

Just like David, when we find ourselves in that downward spiral of trouble and discouragement let me encourage you to call out to Jesus, to ask, to seek and when you do so you will find a peace and a love that this world can not understand. A deliverance this world can not grasp.

#2. David made a strong confession of trust.

Psalm 3:3-4

In the words "But You, O Lord," we see David’s heart change from discouragement and dejection to confidence and renewed faith.

David strongly confessed 4 important truths: