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<title>Blue Letter Bible: Text Commentaries</title>
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<h2><a onclick="return mV('Psa', 3, 'all');">Psa 3</a> - Peace in the Midst of the Storm </h2>
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<p><i>This is the first Psalm with a title: </i>A Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son. <i>James Montgomery <span>Boice</span> points out that since the titles for Psalms are in the canonical text of the Hebrew Bible, “They are to be taken with absolute seriousness throughout.” The events are recorded in <a onclick="return mV('2Sa', 15, '1-18');">2Sa 15-18</a>, but the heart is recorded in this Psalm.</i></p>
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<p>A. David’s trouble and God’s help.</p>
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<p class="c1">1. (<a onclick="return mV('Psa', 3, '1-2');">1-2</a>) <span>What</span> those who troubled David did.</p>
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<p class="c2"><span class="c6">Lord</span>, how they have increased who trouble me!<br>Many <i>are </i>they who rise up against me.<br>Many <i>are </i><span>they</span> who say of me,<br><i>"There is </i>no help for him in God." Selah</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">How they have increased who trouble me</span></b>: At the writing of this Psalm David was in a great deal of trouble. His own son led what seemed to be a successful rebellion against him. Many of his previous friends and associates forsook him and joined the ranks of those who troubled him (<a onclick="return mV('2Sa', 15, 13);">2Sa 15:13</a>).</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">There is no help for him in God</span></b>: David’s situation was so bad that man felt he was beyond God’s help. Those who said this probably didn’t feel that God was <i>unable</i> to help David; they probably felt that God was <i>unwilling</i> to help him. They looked at David’s past sin and figured, “This is all what he deserves from God. <b><span class="c3">There is no help for him in God</span></b>.”</p>
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<p class="c5">i. <span>Shimei</span> was an example of someone who said that God was against David and he was just getting what he deserved (<a onclick="return mV('2Sa', 16, 8);">2Sa 16:8</a>). This thought was most painful of all for David - the thought that God might be <i>against him</i> and that <b><span class="c3">there is no help for him in God</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. “If all the trials which come from heaven, all the temptations which ascend from hell, and all the crosses which arise from the earth, could be mixed and pressed together, they would not make a trial so terrible as that which is contained in this verse. It is the most bitter of all afflictions to be led to fear that there is no help for us in God.” (Spurgeon)</p>
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<p class="c1">2. (<a onclick="return mV('Psa', 3, '3-4');">3-4</a>) What God did for David in the midst of <span>trouble.</span></p>
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<p class="c2">But You, O <span class="c6">Lord</span>, <i>are </i>a shield for me,<br><span>My glory and the One who lifts up my head.</span><br>I cried to the <span class="c6">Lord</span> with my voice,<br>And He heard me from His holy hill. Selah</p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">You, O <span class="c6">Lord</span>, are a shield for me</span></b>: Though many said there was no help for him in God, David knew that God was his <b><span class="c3">shield</span></b>. Others - even many others - couldn’t shake David’s confidence in a God of love and help.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. Under attack from a cunning and ruthless enemy, David needed a <b><span class="c3">shield</span></b>. He knew that God <i>was</i> his shield. This wasn’t a prayer asking God to fulfill this; this is a strong declaration of fact: <b><span class="c3">You, O <span class="c6">Lord</span>, are a shield for me</span></b>.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">My glory and the One who lifts my head</span></b>: God was more than David’s protection. He also was the one who put David on higher ground, lifting his head and showing him glory. There was nothing glorious or head-lifting in David’s circumstances, but there was in his God.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. Men find <b><span class="c3">glory</span></b> in all sorts of things - fame, power, prestige, or possessions. David found his <b><span class="c3">glory</span></b> in the <span class="c6">Lord</span>. “Oh, my soul, hast thou made God thy glory? Others boast in their wealth, beauty, position, achievements: dost thou find in God what they find in these?” (Meyer)</p>
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<p class="c4">c. <b><span class="c3">I cried to the <span class="c6">Lord</span> with my voice</span></b>: “Surely, silent prayers are heard. Yes, but good men often find that, even in secret, they pray better aloud than they do when they utter no vocal sound.” (Spurgeon)</p>
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<p class="c4">d. <b><span class="c3">He heard me from His holy hill</span></b>: Others said that God wanted nothing to do with David but he could gloriously say, “<b><span class="c3">He heard me</span></b>.” Though Absalom took over Jerusalem and forced David out of the capitol David knew that it wasn’t Absalom enthroned on God’s <b><span class="c3">holy hill</span></b>. The <span class="c6">Lord</span> Himself still held that ground and would hear and help David from <b><span class="c3">His holy hill</span></b>.</p>
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<p>B. Blessing from and to God.</p>
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<p class="c1">1. (<a onclick="return mV('Psa', 3, '5-6');">5-6</a>) God blesses David.</p>
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<p class="c2">I lay down and slept;<br>I awoke, for the <span class="c6">Lord</span> sustained me.<br>I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people<br>Who have set <i>themselves </i>against me all <span>around.</span></p>
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<p class="c4">a. <b><span class="c3">I lay down and slept; I awoke</span></b>: David used both of these as evidence of God’s blessing. <i>Sleep</i> was a blessing, because David was under such intense pressure from the circumstances of <span>Absalom’s</span> rebellion that sleep might be impossible, but he <b><span class="c3">slept</span></b>. <i>Waking</i> was another blessing because many wondered if David would live to see a new day.</p>
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<p class="c5">i. “Truly it must have been a soft pillow indeed that could make him forget his danger, <span>who</span> then had such a disloyal army at his back hunting of him.” (<span>Gurnall</span>, cited in Spurgeon)</p>
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<p class="c5">ii. God sustains us in our sleep, but we take it for granted. But think of it: you are asleep, unconscious, <span>dead</span> to the world - yet you breathe, your heart pumps, your organs operate. The same God who sustains us in our sleep will sustain us in our difficulties.</p>
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<p class="c4">b. <b><span class="c3">I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people</span></b>: With God sustaining him, David could stand against any foe. Before it was written God knew the truth of <a onclick="return mV('Rom', 8, 31);">Rom 8:31</a>: <i>If God is for us, who can be against us?</i></p>
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<p class="c1">2. (<a onclick="return mV('Psa', 3, '7-8');">7-8</a>) David blesses God.</p>
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<p class="c1"><span></p>
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<p class="c2">Arise, O <span class="c6">Lord</span>;<br>Save me, O my God!<br>For <span>You</span> have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone;<br>You have broken the teeth of the ungodly.<br>Salvation <i>belongs </i>to the <span class="c6">Lord</span>.<br>Your blessing <i>is </i>upon <span>Your</span> people. Selah</p>
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<p class="c4"><span>a</span>. <b><span class="c3">Arise, O <span class="c6">Lord</span> . . . For You have struck all my enemies</span></b>: David’s mind was both on what he trusted God to do (<b><span class="c3">Save me, O my God</span></b>) and on what God had done (<b><span class="c3">struck all my enemies . . . broken the teeth of the ungodly</span></b>). Knowing what God <i>had</i> done gives David confidence in what the <span class="c6">Lord</span> <i>would</i> do.</p>
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<p class="c4"><span>b</span>. <b><span class="c3">Arise, O <span class="c6">Lord</span></span></b>: This recalled the words of <a onclick="return mV('Num', 10, 35);">Num 10:35</a>, where Moses used this phrase as the children of Israel broke camp in the wilderness. It was a <i>military</i> phrase, calling on God to go forth to both defend Israel and lead them to victory.</p>
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<p class="c4"><span>c</span>. <b><span class="c3">Broken the teeth of the ungodly</span></b>: This vivid metaphor is also used in <a onclick="return mV('Psa', 58, 6);">Psa 58:6</a>. It speaks of the total domination and defeat of the enemy. David looked for protection in this Psalm, but more than protection - he looked for <i>victory</i>. It wasn’t enough for David to survive the threat to the kingdom. He had to be victorious over the threat, and he would with the blessing of God.</p>
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<p class="c4">d. <b><span class="c3">Salvation belongs to the <span class="c6">Lord</span></span></b>: David understood that <b><span class="c3">salvation</span></b> - both in the ultimate and immediate sense - was God’s property. It isn’t the property of any one nation or sect, but of the <span class="c6">Lord</span> God. To be saved, one must deal with the <span class="c6">Lord</span> Himself.</p>
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<p class="c4">e. <b><span class="c3">Your blessing is upon <span>Your</span> people</span></b>: This showed David’s heart in a time of <i>personal</i> calamity. He wasn’t only concerned for God’s hand upon himself, but upon all God’s people. He didn’t pray for preservation and victory in the trial with Absalom just for his own sake, but because it was best for the nation.</p>
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