Hi, Friend, and thank you for joining me!

Today, we’re going to finish our study of Psalm 3. If you missed yesterday’s post on verses 1-4 of Psalm 3, I encourage you to check it out by clicking here. We spent some time yesterday looking at the word “selah” which appears off and on in the psalms, so it’ll come in handy later to go ahead and learn about it now.

Before we dig into verses 5-8, take a moment to reread Psalm 3.

A psalm of David when he fled from his son Absalom.

1 Lord, how my foes increase!
There are many who attack me.
2 Many say about me,
“There is no help for him in God.” Selah

3 But you, Lord, are a shield around me,
my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.
4 I cry aloud to the Lord,
and he answers me from his holy mountain. Selah

5 I lie down and sleep;
I wake again because the Lord sustains me.
6 I will not be afraid of thousands of people
who have taken their stand against me on every side.

7 Rise up, Lord!
Save me, my God!
You strike all my enemies on the cheek;
you break the teeth of the wicked.
8 Salvation belongs to the Lord;
may your blessing be on your people. Selah

From verses 1-4, we learn that God wants us to come to Him with our troubles. He longs to lift up our heads, and He most often lifts up our heads when we take the time to intentionally pause, to practice “selah”, and to lift up His name higher than our troubles.

Much like the blessings discussed in Psalm 1, the remainder of Psalm 3 shows us the benefit of doing life God’s way. Take a look at verse 5.

His son has betrayed him, raised an army against him, and what is David doing?

He’s taking a nap, or getting a good night’s rest.

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I’m experiencing a relational conflict, I do not sleep well. I toss and turn and imagine all sorts of worst case scenarios until the wee hours of the morning. And while I’ve experienced relational conflicts that really hurt, no one has ever driven me from my home or raised an army to come and kill me.

But here’s David, on the run and… snoozing away.

Friend, that’s some kind of peace. That’s a peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7). And not only does David sleep, but he wakes up because, as he says, “the Lord sustains me”. David can lay down and sleep, with enemies seeking to kill him, because he knows God will protect him through the night; he knows God’s protection is sufficient.

And suddenly, I find myself back again at 2 Corinthians 3:5 (the theme verse for my church this year in KJV):

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;

Remember what David said in verse 3?

But You, Lord, are my shield, my glory, the one who lifts my head.

David knew that his safety rested with God, so he was able to rest. He knew that God would lift his head again, so he was able to lay it down.

Oh friend, what a testimony of God’s faithfulness!

What a blessing bestowed for turning his troubles over to the Lord!

How many sleepless nights might you and I have been spared had we been more like David and given our troubles to God, crying out “But You, Lord” and trusting that He would sustain us, that He is sufficient to meet all our needs?

What confidence we see in verse 6 as David proclaims, “I will not be afraid of thousands of people who have taken their stand against me on every side”!

And that’s not hyperbole. There were LITERALLY thousands of armed men under Absalom’s sway ready to kill David, or at the very least drive him from the kingdom forever. But he was not afraid.

Why?

Because he knew the Lord of Hosts is faithful.

Psalm 3 is a prayer, but it’s not until the seventh of eight verses that we see David make a petition to the Lord. He identifies his trouble. He lays it down at the Lord’s feet. He lifts the Lord’s name on high. He rests in the Lord, the one who lifts his head. And then, he asks:

“Rise up, Lord! Save me, my God!”

And calls on the Lord to deliver what I can only describe as a righteous right hook upon his enemies.

As we meditate on this psalm and seek to apply David’s example to our own walk with the Lord, we must also take note of what David did not do.

David did not seek vengeance on his enemies himself. In fact, if you read 2 Samuel 18, verse 5, you will see that David commanded his soldiers to “treat Absalom gently for my sake”. I’ll admit, I was bothered a little when I read 2 Samuel 13-17 by how easily David seemed to come to the idea of fleeing. I mean, this is David we’re talking about here. David, who killed lions and bears as a shepherd boy. David, who killed the giant Goliath with some stones and a sling. David, whose military strategy and prowess was known throughout all the lands and, now, all of history. David, my Bible hero, fled.

And here, in verse 8 of Psalm 3, we see why:

“Salvation belongs to the Lord;
may your blessing be on your people. Selah”

When we read 2 Samuel 15, we see that David had a desire to spare the people of the city being caught in a battle. David knew that if he left, the city would not be put to the sword to get at him. David did what he could to save the city, but he also knew that only God could save the situation.

“Salvation belongs to the Lord” is echoed in David’s words in 2 Samuel 15:25-26 when he tells the Levites with him to return the Ark of the Covenant to the city. He says, “If I find favor with the Lord, he will bring me back and allow me to see both it and its dwelling place. However, if he should say, ‘I do not delight in you,’ then here I am – he can do with me whatever pleases him.”

David trusted in the Lord’s way, even if the Lord’s way removed him from the throne or even from this world. David recognized that only God has the power to save and asked for God’s blessing on God’s people.

Friend, what if we approach our troubles like David did?

What if we worry less and talk to God more?

What if we try to fix our problems less often and trust God to save us more often?

What if we stop thinking of running to God as a last resort and start running to God at the first sign of trouble?

I’m going to wrap us up today with a final thought. Did you notice the last word of verse 8 in this psalm?

That’s right, it’s “Selah”. Give your troubles to the Lord. Rest in His faithfulness. Practice the purposeful pause and lift His name high.

See you tomorrow friend!

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