Or, Safety, Salvation, and Sleep for Those Who Sing to the Lord
Scripture: Psalm 3:1-8
Date: October 6, 2013
Speaker: Sean Higgins
Maybe my all time favorite story from the pages of church history is the detour of John Calvin into Geneva. He was on his way to Strasbourg, France, near the German border, but a war broke out between Charles V and Francis I and troop movement blocked his way. So Calvin detoured through Geneva where he intended to stay one night, then be on his way the next day.
Somehow the town’s resident Reformer, William Farel, found out about Calvin’s arrival. He went to see Calvin and then urged Calvin to stay and lead the people. Calvin graciously dismissed the offer until Farel uttered and imprecation, a curse over Calvin’s wishes for quiet study. Calvin recounts.
Farel, who burned with an extraordinary zeal to advance the gospel, immediately strained every nerve to detain me. And after having learned that my heart was set upon devoting myself to private studies, for which I wished to keep myself free from other pursuits, and finding that he gained nothing by entreaties, he proceeded to utter an imprecation that God would curse my retirement, and the tranquillity of the studies which I sought, if I should withdraw and refuse to give assistance, when the necessity was so urgent. By this imprecation I was so stricken with terror, that I desisted from the journey which I had undertaken; but sensible of my natural bashfulness and timidity, I would not bring myself under obligation to discharge any particular office.
Calvin lived the rest of his dying in Geneva, a ministry filled with blessing, success, trouble, and threats. He was banished, brought back, and always busy. His enemies were many and it all started with a simple, providential road closure.
I enjoy reading that story in every biography of Calvin I’ve ever encountered. But it was only this past summer that I read it in its original context. Do you know what book includes Calvin’s retelling? The introduction to his commentary on the Psalms. And do you know why Calvin tells the story in this context?
the small measure of experience which I have had by the conflicts with which the Lord has exercised me, has in no ordinary degree assisted me, not only in applying to present use whatever instruction could be gathered from these divine compositions, but also in more easily comprehending the design of each of the writers. (Calvin, Commentary on the Book of Psalms)
He felt that he could better interpret and explain the Psalms because he had endured similar psalmist-like pain. Some songs strum our heart strings differently when our hearts have been tuned by trouble.
I mention Calvin’s testimony now because the first time I preached Psalm 3 I felt a similar resounding. It probably isn’t proper at this point to explain the cause of my trouble, and it isn’t necessary. Actually, that is part of what makes these Psalms so helpful. They regularly apply beyond the particulars of the pain. Psalm 3 is no different. I exposited this in a seminary preaching lab class to 10 or so fellow students and my professor. I was really an awkward, ugly duck speaker. But the ownership of the truths in my soul got through.
Psalm 3 is the first of its kind in a few ways. It is the first that includes a heading, the first to mention David explicitly, the first to include a particular historical context, and the first to use “psalm” (mizmor) and “selah,” both musical terms. It also seems to be the first lament song where the writer exposes his discouragement on his way to exalting the LORD and praying for help.
The heading, though probably not original to the song, was added later yet there is no reason to doubt its accuracy. The word “psalm,” as I mentioned, is mizmor, the typical Hebrew word for a song with musical accompaniment. It is a psalm of David , an imprecise phrase but probably meaning it was written by David, not written about David by someone else. He wrote it when he fled from Absalom his son . That story is found in 2 Samuel 14-18. It is an ugly, family and national betrayal. We’ll see how the song relates to some of the particulars as we go through the song.
There are four strophes, or stanzas, in this song.
These are real foes with real intent to kill David and with a real biblical case against him. They were circling in for the king.
O LORD, how many are my foes!
Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul,
there is no salvation for him in God. Selah
(Psalm 3:1–2, ESV)
David begins by addressing Yahweh and the entire chorus continues as a prayer to the LORD. David laments his problems, listing a three step progression. How many are my foes . Foes refers to adversaries, and the word is derived from the root for narrowness or constriction (Gerald Wilson, NIV Application Commentary). The number escalated and they were pressing in on him. Verse 6 mentions “many thousands” and in 2 Samuel the sense is that the revolt snowballed numerically against the king. Israel enjoyed international peace at this point, “the king lived in his house and the LORD had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies” (2 Samuel 7:1, ESV), so these enemies came from within his kingdom.
a messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom.” (2 Samuel 15:13, ESV)
The song continues. How many are rising against me . The conspiracy was escalating. The line in Vegas was decreasing his odds of surviving.
And how many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God . It’s unusual for us to think that men would smack talk about souls, but that’s exactly what happens here. In David’s case, why was Absalom revolting against his father? How did it come to such a nastiness?
Absalom’s rebellion came as part of the ongoing fallout of David’s sin against against God (remember Psalm 51:4) by adulterating with Bathsheba and murdering her husband Uriah. The conflict rode into the royal family after David’s sin like a herd of elephants stampeding into the palace.
Even without CNN to report it, the people knew. Absalom knew. Maybe he included an entire section about his father’s lack of integrity in his stump speech and the city gates, explaining his own rise in popularity as evidence that God had given up on David.
Remember Shimei?
Shimei (the one who came out to curse David and throw stones at him) said as he cursed, “Get out, get out, you man of blood, you worthless man! The LORD has avenged on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned, and the LORD has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. See, your evil is on you, for you are a man of blood.” (2 Samuel 16:7–8, ESV)
What could be more of a personal threat than questioning David’s relationship, his covenant with God? The threat hit David above the belt in his soul, aimed at one of his weak spots. Don’t we sometimes doubt if our sin has made God abandon us?
We should talk about Selah now since it comes at the end of verse 2. The word is used seventy-plus times in Psalms and three times here in Psalm 3, each time at the end of a stanza. No one knows for certain what Selah means. Most think it has to do with the musical element of the song, and the two most popular approaches see Selah as either a pause for reflection (from the root salah “to suspend”) or a forte or crescendo (from the root selal “to lift up”) for emphasis. Either way, it is a “musical nota bene” (Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament), a Latin phrase meaning “note well” or pay careful attention.
David turns his attention from the source of his conflict to the source of his confidence.
But you, O LORD, are a shield about me,
my glory, and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the LORD,
and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah
(Psalm 3:3–4, ESV)
Even though David knew that he deserved the consequences of his sin, he also knew that the LORD had not broken the covenant. Between the time of his sin and now, David must have repented (think again Psalm 51) and been restored in fellowship with God.
As there were three descriptions of his enemies, so David has three related praises about the LORD.
You, O LORD, are a shield about me . If the word for foes in verse 1 stresses the “encircling” or pressing in, then a shield around him would be helpful. The LORD protects him, front to back and side to side.
David also sings that the LORD is my glory . Glory is the Hebrew word kavod meaning heavy, weighty. In a military context, the victors in a battle would come home weighted down with the treasures of their triumph like a family of 10 going on a three week vacation (Williams and Ogilvie, Preachers Commentary Series). For the soldiers, the spoil was their glory, the dignity of their victory. The LORD is the dignity of David even if no one else saw it at the moment. The LORD guards David’s name.
Third, the LORD is the lifter of my head . One bows his head under stress or humiliation. To lift one’s head is to look up in hope.
David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, barefoot and with his head covered. And all the people who were with him covered their heads, and they went up, weeping as they went. (2 Samuel 15:30, ESV)
The LORD gave David confidence and courage. God raised David’s spirit. Unlike the previous two substantives (shield and glory), this phrase describes the nature of God as a head-lifter. That’s what He does so much that it is who He is.
Therefore David prays, I cried aloud to the LORD . He couldn’t keep quiet with his concerns. Here is what the godly do with trouble: they don’t hold onto it or hold it in or hold it against the LORD. They cry out.
Nothing is more unbecoming than sullenly to gnaw the bit with which we are bridled, and to withhold our groaning from God, if, indeed, we have any faith in his promise. (Calvin, Commentary on the Book of Psalms)
And Yahweh answers me from his holy hill . The holy hill isn’t heaven, this is the place of the where the ark of the covenant was, the place that represented God’s special presence among His people. Even though David wasn’t in Jerusalem, having fled into the wilderness for his life, he knows that the LORD hears him. This assumes that God hears and that He cares. There’s no need to theologize this in a song, just sing it.
In the midst of the storm, David rested because God gives His beloved sleep.
I lay down and slept;
I woke again, for the LORD sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people
who have set themselves against me all around.
(Psalm 3:5–6, ESV)
When you feel threatened your heart races. When the heart races, it won’t let you rest. Racing does not equal rest, it equals insomnia. Remember the context.
Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue David tonight. (2 Samuel 17:1, ESV)
He lay down and slept . It was a gift from God (see Psalm 127:2). David is so confident in the protecting, dignifying, lifting work that he sleeps soundly in the midst of marching enemies. He was so protected that I woke again, for the LORD sustained me . The LORD not only kept his heart beating through the night, the LORD also kept his heart from getting stabbed in the night. David experienced both inward peace and outward protection.
Many commentators refer to Psalm 3 as a morning song because of verse 6. They also call Psalm 4 an evening song based on verses 4 and 8. The side-by-side “morning and evening” songs provide another evidence of the psalter’s arrangement.
In the waking moments of the morning, he says, I will not be afraid of thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around . He has renewed energy after a night of sleep and his perspective full of boldness before Yahweh. The right One on your side is more powerful than the wrong many.
The final stanza is the actual request. He’s identified his need, remembered past protection, slept on it, and now he makes his final request.
Arise, O LORD!
Save me, O my God!
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;
you break the teeth of the wicked.
Salvation belongs to the LORD;
your blessing be on your people! Selah
(Psalm 3:7–8, ESV)
Arise means “come and get involved!” Save me means deliver me, and this is precisely what his enemies said God wouldn’t do in verse 1.
The second part of verse 7 is probably a continuation of the prayer, not a rehearsal of past work. So David requests, strike all my enemies on the cheek , a call for Yahweh to humble the ones who humiliated him. “Lord, add insult to their injury.” They mocked David, David depended on the LORD to be his glory, now he seeks Yahweh to vindicate him publicly.
Break the teeth of the wicked isn’t quite as brutal as it sounds. The teeth of a wild animal would grasp and bite and rip its prey. To break their teeth would mean that they would have to release their grasp, leaving bark but no bite. David ask the LORD to make it so that his enemies would not come back to bite him.
Salvation belongs to the LORD fits. Salvation only comes from the Him. No other can deliver or be depended upon like this. But the prayer extends beyond David’s own personal needs.
The final request is surprising upon a little reflection. Your blessing be on your people . But Yahweh’s people, Israel, had mostly turned from David to follow Absalom and some turned viciously against him. That’s where he started in verses 1-2. Rather than cursing their treachery, David trusts that the LORD’s plan and promises to him were for the benefit of others, not just for himself. Even if the majority of the nation was wrong, it didn’t stop David from believing what was best for them was also good for him.
The specific historical setting helps us understand a father’s heartache and the king’s danger. He was on the run for his life because one of his own son’s betrayed him. He also understood that it was fallout from his own sin and that the consequences did not change God’s covenant with him.
We do not need to be a king in order to understand or to benefit from this psalm. The editor of the psalter starts with it—after the introductory songs of 1 and 2—because this is a song for all sorts of souls in trouble. Is it your family? Is the number growing? Are they calling into question your relationship with God? Do they know you sinned? Do you need protection? Is your head bowed in humiliation? Are you having trouble sleeping because your heart races with anxious thoughts?
Then sing! Sing Psalm 3! Sing praise of His past deliverance! Sing a prayer for present Help to your LORD! Cry to Him! Know that as He helps you it fits with His larger plan to bless all His people, maybe by preparing a platform for you to encourage others with your story. Do you know a brother or sister betrayed? Share this psalm. Do you wonder where help comes from? Salvation belongs to our LORD.
What will our true enemies do when we keep looking to God? They will know that they are in trouble. As C.S. Lewis put it in The Screwtape Letters:
Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.
The LORD is the lifter of heads! He lifts our perspective above our enemies. He lifts our honor out of shame. He lifts our confidence after rest. He lifts our joy to blessing on others.