 When the world and the evil one tells you that there is no hope for you - not even in God - sleep tends to escape you. This is especially the case when you are being chased by your own son and the vast majority of the army of Israel. Yet that is exactly what David says here. He lay down and slept. What is it that allowed David to do this - and how can we access the same kind of peace and tranquility that he did - even in the midst of our storms and trials?
The main reason for David's peace is a fresh vision of God in the midst of his trials. We previously learned of how David saw God as His shield, glory, and head-lifter - all aspects of God's grace and protection. In addition to this David also cried out to God and God answered from the place of His habitation. This allowed David to lay down and sleep. We would be wise to follow this same path if we want peace in the midst of trouble and trial. David understood God's sustaining hand as well. David most likely had sentries and guards standing around him in this situation. But before we put too much stock in this we must remember that David's entire army at this point was somewhere around 600-1000 men. They were facing an army of well over 1.5 million soldiers - led by a son who hated his father vehemently. A guard or even a 1000 guards are no guarantee of safety. David know God was going to sustain him. The word for sustain means to hold up or to bear up. Is God currently holding you up in life? Is it a trust and reliance upon God that is undergirding your life in the midst of trials and suffering? David chose to know God in the midst of his great difficulty - to know His grace and mercy - to know His sustaining. That is what allowed him to sleep. But for David there was far more than just sleep involved in knowing God in the midst of his trial. David also had a confidence that God would protect him against his enemies. Some might speak of being afraid of thousands and ten thousands and it is nothing more than hyperbole. But for David this statement was literally. He was surrounded by thousands and even ten thousands. Yet he says here that he was not afraid of them. What was it that gave David such strong confidence? This was not David's first rodeo on the matter of having a godless man chase him through the wilderness trying to kill him. This situation had to have an altogether strange feel to it. David had been here before - with Saul - and with God. So many times his life had been bound up with God even as his enemy was all around him. What I believe sustained David was God's Word - His promise that He would build an enduring legacy through David. Little did David know that this legacy would be fulfilled through a suffering Savior Who would come on the scene hundreds of years later. God was committed to David - even when David had blown it and blown it badly. God was up to something in history - and nothing or no one was going to derail it. David knew, after he had been in God's presence that he was once again in the stream of God's will. That stream cannot be stopped. The truly wise man makes sure that he is in the current of that stream - no matter what it takes. That was the difference between verse 1 of this Psalm and verse 6. David turned to the Lord and in a wonderful return to the heart and purposes of God, David was once again caught up in that glorious, comforting, sustaining flow of the will of God. Oh the confidence gained in that stream! David again calls upon the name of the Lord. This time he calls for God's protection in battle, for he knows that a battle looms in his future. Absalom IS coming, and he is coming with all tens and hundreds of thousands of Israel. But note how David speaks here. It is amazing that he prays, not in the future tense - as in one who is asking for God to do something out in the future. He prays as if things are already done. First David prays for God to arise and save him. There is a total reliance on God for the victory in this situation. One study of Scripture that will blow your mind is a study of what happens when God does arise and fight for His people and His purposes. It is at both a terrifying thing for His enemies as well as a wonderful comfort to those defended by His actions. We see things like a single angel slaying 185,000 of the enemy in one night. We watch as God fights for His people by having large rocks from heaven crush them as they flee. We hear His marching in the tree tops and find when we emerge from t he forest that He has already gone before us to win the day. Here the picture given to us is that of God swinging with a mighty blow and landing a right hook to the check of His enemy. The force of the blow is so strong that it crushes and shatters the teeth of the opposition. David prays not that this will happen - but knows that is has already happened. One of the pictures given to us in the Scriptures of the attacks of the devil is that of a lion crouching and awaiting the kill. We read in 1 Peter that Satan is prowling about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. But we are not to fear - for the Lord has already gone before us and struck our enemy to where all his teeth have been shattered and crushed in his mouth. We face a toothless lion because of God's victory - and it is one that is already won. The teeth of that conflict is the Law and our sin. Because of our sin we are doomed to be consumed by the justice of God Himself as the Law points out our rebellion and wickedness. But take great hope saints - even as the wicked one accuses us (for he is the accuser of the brethren) and calls for us to be consumed - God has already won the victory. He won it through Jesus Christ - Who through all eternity has been the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He was slain for our sin - and raised for our justification. He now stands as our victory in all things. This is why there IS HOPE for you in God. There is hope because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. You see, your enemy has already been rendered toothless because of God's powerful and eternal deliverance. David ends this particular Psalm stating this as he says, "Salvation belongs to the Lord; Your blessing be upon Your people! Selah." It is because of Christ that we are saved from all our failures and all the sins that we envision taking away our hope in God. It is because of Him that we can have confidence and peace - even as we fully understand what messed up people we are. It is grace and God's salvation that will allow us to stand. David says, Salvation belongs to the Lord! What an interesting way to put it. What he is saying is that there is no salvation apart from Him. It belongs to Him - and He grants it to whomever He chooses. AND - as if we can handle much else - His salvation also comes with His blessing. David also writes, "Your blessing be upon your people," as well. It is astounding to imagine it, but not only is our salvation provided by God, but it comes with His blessing as well. David closes with one last "Selah." Stop and think about that. Meditate on this blessing - this salvation, this Defender, this Hearer of prayer, this One Who saves to the uttermost. Stop and meditate on the victory of this Dread Champion who shatters the teeth of those stupid enough to oppose Him and His purposes in the gospel. Stop and think about His salvation. The enemy may whisper or even shout that there is no hope for you in God. Remember this thought when he does. He is a liar and the father of lies. The only place where there is ever a sure hope is in God, His gospel, His sure defense, and His blood-bought blessing.
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 There are times in life when we feel that the entire world is coming apart at the seams. There are times when those who were close to us may betray us and walk away - times when nothing seems stable. David experienced those times when his son led a rebellion against Him and even sought to hunt him down and kill him.
Absalom had declared himself king and the majority of Israel had been led astray to follow after him. He had fomented discontent in the hearts of the people making them think David was no longer accessible to them. David had to flee the palace and leave Jerusalem. It is interesting to note that songs come to us not just in the "good" moments of our lives, but also in times of distress. Country music and the blues do not have a corner on music written in times of trouble, difficulty, sadness, and even depression. David sang to the Lord - in good times and in bad. So what did David do when faced with very distressing times? That is what we learn in Psalm 3 as we listen to him sing this song in the midst of betrayal and dire trouble. David was facing a very real problem. Thus as he begins this troublesome song he begins by facing the problem. He did not seek to hide from it or deny that it existed. "O Lord how my adversaries have increased! Many are rising up against me! Many are saying of my soul, 'There is no deliverance for Him in God!'" The statement among these three that troubled David most was the third. No deliverance for me - not even from God? Could it be true? Could it be that this was a sign that God was finished with David? Could it be that the sins of David's past had come home to visit him for the last time? Was God saying through His providence in all this that He was casting David off - that he need not even call out to God - that the last of his deliverances was used up - and now all that remained was his pitiful demise? This is one of the most deadly things we face in times like David faced. God is through with you! There is no more deliverance for you from Him. Your sins have risen too high and this stroke of bad fortune is proof of it! There is nothing left for you - you are beyond His mercies or His grace! Oh what a pitiful and horrible place to think you have come to in life. That was the talk that surrounded David in these hours that seemed like days. The truly troubling thing to David in these moments was that he might have believed them. He had failed in the Bathsheba incident. He had blown it when he did not deal with the rape of his own relative, who happened to be Absalom's daughter. He failed to act with strength when Absalom took matters into his own hands and killed his brother, the crown prince, for his actions. Then David flip-flopped in his dealings with Absalom, banishing him - then having him return - then not seeing him - then receiving him after Joab interceded for him. It was quite a mess - and maybe that mess is what led God to allow this. Maybe there wasn't any grace or mercy left for David's failures. Those are hard moments for us too. Moments when all our failures are before us - and we begin to wonder if the whispers in our spirit are accurate. There is no deliverance for us in God. He is sick to death of us and all our multitudinous mistakes, blown moments, and failures. We know we would be sick - and indeed are sick of ourselves. Our number of Romans 7 moments mounting up even as we consider praying in our current mess. These are very dangerous moments for us. They can be moments of incredible despair - and moments when we give up hope - giving up the one thing we truly need, which is the ability to turn to God, crying out to Him for mercy and grace in our time of need. What should we do in moments like this? Where can we turn and how do we get to the point of turning? Moses was told by none other than God Himself what Jehovah's true character is. In Exodus 34 after one of Israel's greatest sins, the making and worshipping of the golden calf, God revealed Himself to Moses as He re-wrote the 10 commandments on new stone tablets. This is what God said to him. "Jehovah, Jehovah God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin . . . " What a glorious revelation of Himself God made. I must also state that in the rest of that verse God also promises to not leave the guilty unpunished. But remember this - He had not consumed Israel in His wrath and judgment. If ever there was a moment to let His wrath fly, that was it! Consume all of them in a moment! There would be no deliverance for them in God - they had sinned - they had blown it again and again through the wilderness! You have got to be kidding to even ask for mercy and grace! Yet - there it is - again - and again - and again . . . mercy . . . compassion . . . forgiveness of iniquity, transgression, sin. Moses turned to God in the worst of situations . . . and in the worst of situations God revealed Himself merciful and compassionate and forgiving. The day would come when the wrath and judgment for sin would fall. But not today. Not on David, even in this moment that reminded him of every failure and every blown opportunity. That judgment would fall . . . on a different One. God Himself - in the person of the Son - would pay the price - WOULD take the fall - the ultimate fall. But today . . . the failures of today . . . the problems, difficulties, horrors of sin's past . . . they would receive mercy - compassion - forgiveness. What a God - indeed - what an amazing God! Where are you - troubled saint of God? Has the rising tide of your past failures come to the point of attempting to drown you today? Have you struggled to keep your head above them, all the while hearing whispers in your spiritual ears that there is no deliverance for you in God this time? Oh, precious saint of God - know that even in this moment your wisest choice is to turn to God - crying out to Him in the midst of your troubles. The One Who showed that His lovingkindnesses indeed never cease is near to the broken-hearted. The One Who revealed that His marvelous compassions never fail will hear your call. Amidst the deafening whispers of the wicked one David still heard the still, small blowing of the Holy Spirit. It was that voice that reminded him that even in Israel's horrific moment of "golden calf" sinfulness and failure that God showed His glory to a broken-hearted Moses who cried out to Him. It was in that most horrible of spiritual devastations that God revealed Himself by His endless mercy and grace. Don't listen to the wicked whispers, most precious ones of God. Listen to the glorious roar of God's gentle breeze - to the precious blowing of the Holy Spirit as He speaks of the "praise of the glory of His grace" to you. It is the song that has comforted the spiritual failures of every generation since the fall of man. It is the song that continues to emanate from the very throne of God - through the blood-stained cross of Calvary. Listen, saints, listen! Can you hear it? |
Pastor John LawrencePsalms for Life . . . God moved on several people to write the Psalms. This is a book of songs and poems written by people who were seeking to be devoted to God as they walked though their lives. This is a collection of songs and poems that express the true, wonderful, and often raw emotions that we have as we journey through life with God. I hope you will be blessed and encouraged as you read. But more than that I hope that these expositions and writings will help you to seek Him in the midst of the life you live in this world. It will be at times comforting and encouraging, while at others it will be challenging and awkward. Regardless of where you find yourself on this spectrum as you read, it will be a reminder that God invites us into His presence to truly walk with Him, know Him, and at times, pour out emotions of joy, sorrow, frustration, anger, and everything else you can imagine. He not only invites you to do this - He delights in it too! Hope you enjoy your journey! Archives
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