Psalms 3:5-6 NIVUK
[5] I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. [6] I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.
There are Psalms that seem like nothing much on in black and white on a page, but when you understand the context and what they really mean, they are absolutely incredible.
This is one of them.
And I don’t doubt for a second that it may be quite controversial.
That controversy begins with such a benign statement:
A Psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom.
This seems like nothing. If you didn’t know better, you might say, ‘Okay, maybe David has written a song about playing tag with his son.’
Oh, how wrong you would be!
There are parts of the Bible that are definitely not U or PG rated – where even a 12 certificate would not be nearly enough.
This Psalm is based on several of them.
To best understand it, we need to understand the messy, violent, horrible context behind it.
So if you are easily offended, or squeamish, or otherwise sensitive, I suggest you skip this one and go straight to my thoughts on Psalm 6, which will come in my next post.
Because this will absolutely not be an all-age devotion.
The absolutely heart-breaking, and truly shocking, events behind this ordinary-looking Psalm begin with David on his balcony, playing hooky from war, lusting after Bathsheba – the wife of one of his mighty men (2 Samuel 11:1-3).
That is not okay. That is really, really not okay. David has very much crossed a line here.
But it gets worse. Way worse.
In as flagrant an abuse of power as possible, David decides to scratch that itch. He sends for her and sleeps with her (2 Samuel 11:4).
Some modern commentators point out that as a commoner and a woman in ancient Israel, Bathsheba would not have had the right to raise her voice and say, ‘No’. As a result, they equate what David did here to rape.
That is very hard to hear for those of us who put our Biblical heroes on a pedestal, but I can understand that perspective.
But even with this absolutely beyond the pale, heinous evil, David is not done.
Bathsheba becomes pregnant by David (2 Samuel 11:5).
As David was seemingly unfamiliar with the modern science of genetics, he concocts a convoluted plan to get Bathsheba’s soldier husband back from the front line to sleep with his wife, which ultimately fails for the ironic reason of Uriah’s unstinting loyalty to David and his army (2 Samuel 11:6-13).
So, again, hoping that no-one will notice that the baby’s gestation period coincided with the time Uriah was away fighting for David, David sends Uriah back to the front line, bearing sealed orders that would see him endangered and ultimately killed (2 Samuel 12:14-25).
This chapter ends with certainly one of the biggest understatements in all of the Bible:
2 Samuel 11:27 NIVUK
[27] But the thing David had done displeased the Lord. https://bible.com/bible/113/2sa.11.27.NIVUK
Of course it did! Lust! Rape! Adultery! Deceit! Deliberately causing the death of another person, particularly someone who has been extraordinarily loyal to you!
How could God have been pleased with any of that?
And 2 Samuel 12 tells the dramatic story of how God brought David to heel.
But this is the context of Psalm 51.
What does it mean for this Psalm?
The answer to that question lies in the devastating effect by David’s terrible sin and gross abuse of power.
This sin caused a vacuum at the very top in the Kingdom of Israel: not of power – David was still king – but of morality.
Nature abhors a vacuum.
Something else had to replace the hollowed-out spiritual and moral stance that David once took. And something did just that: utter chaos.
Within a short time we have David’s son Amnon lusting after his half-sister Tamar (2 Samuel 13:1-2), like David did after Bathsheba. We have Amnon using his position and strength to force himself onto Tamar (2 Samuel 13:3-19), like David did to Bathsheba.
And what did David do about this obscene sin committed by his son against his daughter?
Nothing.
Not one thing. He was furious, but he did nothing (2 Samuel 13:21).
Why did David do nothing?
How could he when his son was copying his sin?
And it gets worse.
Absalom, another of David’s sons, then deceived David’s other sons and killed Amnon (2 Samuel 13:23-36).
Lust. Abuse of power. Rape. Deceit. Murder.
Ring any bells?
This is followed up by Absalom recognising how weak David has become and usurping him (2 Samuel 15).
The context of Psalm 3 is David running for his life from his son Absalom, who is conspiring to kill him, and the root cause of his predicament is his catastrophic moral collapse.
That ought to send a deep chill down the spine of every leader and parent who reads these words. Our immature culture has fed us a lie for decades and we have believed it. We cannot do what we want. Our actions have consequences.
This Psalm is written when David was feeling the full force of those consequences.
Now, this is where opinions on the context of this Psalm may completely diverge. Many nowadays may say that David thoroughly deserved every single iota of the misfortune he was receiving when he wrote this Psalm.
And do you know what? I think David himself might even agree with you. Look at his reaction when one of Saul’s relatives jeers at him and throws stones and dirt at him (2 Samuel 16:5-13). David is acutely aware that his own sin is the root cause of this mess.
Many nowadays might object to this Psalm because of the complete lack of apology or contrition or confession. But they would be wrong. David was deeply affected by his sin (2 Samuel 12:1-25). His emotional confession and contrition is in Psalm 51.
So David has dealt with this sin before God, has confessed it and repented of it.
But he still has to deal with the earthly consequences of it.
And there is a very, very important lesson for us all.
The grace of God will remove from is the eternal consequences of our sin should we choose to trust in it. Absolutely. No question. No doubt.
But it may not rescue us from the temporal, earthly consequences of it. We may still have to face them. We may still have to battle with wounded or broken relationships, physical consequences of self-abuse, division in our communities, addiction, dependency. These may not leave us.
So this Psalm is not just an ordinary praise and worship song or poem or chant. This is way, way more than that.
This is the song, and plea, of a man facing the deep and far-reaching consequences of his own sin.
Now, we could easily dismiss this. After all, I don’t believe that anyone reading these lines would force their friend’s wife to sleep them and then plot their friend’s death.
But we have all sinned, and we will all sin, and we may well face the consequences of that sin.
So this Psalm applies to us all, whether we want to admit it or not.
The first thing we see in this Psalm is What People Say.
And, given the circumstances, David is remarkably open about this:
Psalms 3:1-2 NIVUK
[1] Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! [2] Many are saying of me, ‘God will not deliver him.’
And we can absolutely understand why they would think this. David’s moral authority has been blown apart. His sons are acting out of control. Evil is being perpetrated in his own family and he does nothing. And now his own son Absalom – who, interestingly, is the only one of his sons who was born to a non-Israelite wife (she was from Geshur, an Aramean kingdom to the north – 2 Samuel 3:3; 1 Chronicles 3:2), has risen up against him and usurped him.
You can absolutely understand why many would say of David, ‘Well, the old man is spent. He is finished. He is done. There is nothing left for him. It's over.’
What would have exacerbated these feelings is how members of his own family switched sides, abandoned David, even if they had served him loyalty for many years, and now supported Absalom. Among these was an in-law of his own sister (2 Samuel 17:25).
Now, I have no doubt that many of these people were glory-hunters and were doing so out of a desire to gain for themselves. But knowing that thousands of people had deserted David’s side and gone over to his rebel son would have wounded David deeply.
So yes, being called a ‘has-been’, ‘washed-up’, ‘over-the-hill’, ‘yesterday’s news’ would have hit David hard.
Now I’m going to tell you something now from my own personal experience. It’s true, but it is very hard to take.
Your true friends are not the ones who congratulate you when you succeed, but those who stand beside you when you fail.
I have personally experienced what happens when things go wrong.
One time, many years ago, I was asked to do a job and not given complete information about what I needed to do. I made an unfortunate mistake. I cancelled the corporate credit card of the chairman of a huge multinational. Honestly, I didn’t recognise his name. I had no idea who he was.
He was fine about it. He knew it could have happened to anyone.
But his person assistant wanted my head on a spike. She was desperate for me to be fired.
The senior boss of my department called my mistake ‘career-limiting’.
I had worked hard to build a lot of credit in my department. My stock was rising. But that one mistake undid all my hard work. All the support I’d had evaporated overnight. Instead of being a winner, I was a loser.
For a whole year.
Once that year passed, I spotted an error that could have cost my company a huge fine and reputational damage for a USD 2 million mis-statement and suddenly I was the hero again.
But that year taught me more about people than any other time in my entire career.
They are fickle. Very fickle. Many of them follow you not because they actually like you, but because they are looking for some form of advantage from you. Popularity is seriously over-hyped. As Jesus Himself said:
Matthew 24:9-13 NIVUK
[9] ‘Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. [10] At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, [11] and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. [12] Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, [13] but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
John 15:18 NIVUK
[18] ‘If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. https://bible.com/bible/113/jhn.15.18.NIVUK
And even He experienced:
John 6:66 NIVUK
[66] From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. https://bible.com/bible/113/jhn.6.66.NIVUK
Failure is a cruel master, but a tutor whose lessons run deep. You know who your friends are because they will stick with you when you fail:
Proverbs 18:24 NIVUK
[24] One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
But those who leech off you to gain some benefit for themselves?
They will drop you like a hot potato.
I am sure that there were many in David’s day who would also mock him and say that he deserved every bit of what was happening to him. That much is clear.
But for them, the next verses would come as a huge surprises, even a shock. Because after what people say, we see What God Does.
Psalms 3:3-4 NIVUK
[3] But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. [4] I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain. https://bible.com/bible/113/psa.3.3-4.NIVUK
Now, here we need to absolutely be clear about what we are reading. God is in no way condoning what David has done. Nothing could be further from the truth.
David has repented of his sin but is still now staring down the barrel of its severe and painful consequences for him, his family and his nation.
What we see here is not God confirming to David that he is in the right and everyone else is in the wrong. No, this is a Divine act of compassion and grace towards His deeply broken and hurting servant, even if the wounds are doubtlessly self-inflicted.
And there are three utterly astonishing things God does for David in these verses.
Firstly, God shields David.
Now, here is where we might want to do a double-take. After all, David is facing some particularly difficult circumstances. He lost his first child with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12:13-23). He has lost moral authority over his children, who are, quite frankly, running amok (2 Samuel 13 and 14). He has also lost the kingdom (2 Samuel 15).
This situation has devastating effects, not just on David, but also on those close to him.
His men face up to the cursing of one of Saul’s relatives (2 Samuel 16:5-13). Absalom sleeps with David’s concubines on the roof of his Palace, in full view of all his people (2 Samuel 16:21-22). One of David’s chief advisors commits suicide (2 Samuel 17:1-13).
You might look at these situations and say to yourself, ‘Some shield! If that was my shield, I’d take it back to the shop and ask for a refund!’
But if we do that, we fail to grasp the profound seriousness of what David did. The consequences of his sin for him and all the people around him were really, really bad – that much is true.
But that could have been so much worse.
We can’t sugar-coat this: many on Absalom’s side would have been happy to see David dead. We can see this clearly in 2 Samuel 17:2-3, 12.
So at this point in time, David is simply grateful to be alive, because it is a sign that God has not finished with him yet.
Hence, in the midst of a terrible situation, he sees God as his shield.
Also, God is David’s glory, in particular, as the one who lifts his head. That is, the one who encourages him to keep going even though life is incredibly tough, and will someday restore him.
Again, this seems far from being true.
David’s actions have been nothing short of shameful: for himself and to the glory of God. Their result is plain and written large across Jerusalem and the battlefields of Israel.
Yet even now, when everything is bleak and all looks lost, David has not lost sight of God's call on his life. He is painfully aware of how he let God down, but, confident in His grace, David believes he will one day be restored to the throne.
And that is really remarkable.
We also see that God answers David.
Again, this is quite remarkable, because of verses like this:
Proverbs 15:29 NIVUK
[29] The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous. https://bible.com/bible/113/pro.15.29.NIVUK
Psalms 34:15-16 NIVUK
[15] The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry; [16] but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to blot out their name from the earth. https://bible.com/bible/113/psa.34.15-16.NIVUK
There can be little argument that what David had done was evil. That is true and unquestionable.
So why is God answering David’s prayer now?
Because of this:
Psalms 103:11-12 NIVUK
[11] For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; [12] as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
And this:
1 John 1:8-10 NIVUK
[8] If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. [9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. [10] If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
Indeed, the very character of God:
Exodus 34:6-7 NIVUK
[6] And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, ‘The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, [7] maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’
God answered David’s prayers not because He just caved in and gave David whatever he wanted, but because David had confessed his sin first, he had repented first, he had sought the Lord’s face for mercy first. It was those actions that made the difference.
And so, even in the most unlikely situation – beset by the consequences of his own sin – David has faith in the unchanging character of God: that God will shield him, that God will lift up his head and be his glory once again, that God will answer his prayers.
I wonder: is this how we think? Or when we have failed, do we allow the demonic whispers that we have fallen too far to infiltrate our thinking and prevent us from confessing, repenting and calling on the mercy of God?
Don’t listen to that demonic voice! If even David can see God as the One who shields him, lifts up his head and answers his prayers after all David did wrong, then so can you.
But now we move on to a couple of verses that is, perhaps, surprising and, for the more judgemental among us, quite unnerving. Because after what people say and what God does, we come to How David Feels, and this really is quite something:
Psalms 3:5-6 NIVUK
[5] I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. [6] I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.
In 1995, I went to see a brilliant film, worthy of all the awards it won, called ‘Dead Man Walking’. It’s a tough watch, but the acting performances in it are outstanding. It’s the story of a Catholic nun who responds to the request of a rapist and murderer on death row for spiritual advice and support. It is a very, very powerful movie about the death penalty.
Let me tell you something: David’s crimes against Bathsheba were worthy of the death penalty in any state or nation that still has it. If anyone else did this – anyone at all – there would be many people baying for his blood like wild animals.
Yet these verse speak of peace.
When David talks of tens of thousands being against him, he is not exaggerating in any way. Absalom was then king. He controlled the army. He was their commander in chief. He could call them all out to hunt David down – which he actually did (2 Samuel 17), while David and his household were camping out like fugitives in Mahanaim, a town on the opposite side of the Jordan from Jerusalem, thought to be near the Jabbok River.
So yes, David had plenty of reasons to be afraid.
And that’s what happens to us when things aren’t going our way, isn’t it? We lie awake, mulling over our situation and are startled by a car backfiring, or masonry settling, or a radiator ticking, or a fox cryng out.
We become like the modern version of the curse in Old Testament law:
Deuteronomy 28:66 NIVUK
[66] You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life.
But not David.
We are so fearful when we feel like we have gone wrong and are facing the consequences of our wrongdoing, yet in legal terms we have a parking fine to pay and David is on death row.
Yet he is at peace. We are not. He us sleeping. We are not. He is fearless. We are terrified.
Why?
Because David had confessed and repented. David has made God his shield and his glory, the lifter of his head and the One who answers his prayers.
That is the difference.
David is not underestimating his predicament. It is serious. He knows that.
But he is also not underestimating his God.
And that is what gives him peace.
So we have seen what men say, what God does and how David feels. We now move on to this to see something quite surprising that may change the way you approach situations when you have sunk to the bottom in quite a surprising way, as we look at What David Says.
Psalms 3:7-8 NIVUK
[7] Arise, Lord! Deliver me, my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. [8] From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people. https://bible.com/bible/113/psa.3.7-8.NIVUK
David is on the run from a conspiracy. At the head of that conspiracy is his son Absalom.
Yet despite what seems like the content of these verses, David bears no ill-will towards his son.
How do we know that?
2 Samuel 18:5 NIVUK
[5] The king commanded Joab, Abishai and Ittai, ‘Be gentle with the young man Absalom for my sake.’ And all the troops heard the king giving orders concerning Absalom to each of the commanders.
David’s desire was to see Absalom’s co-conspirators pay the price for their rebellion, but for Absalom to be unharmed.
David’s ire in these verses is against the conspirators, the chancers, the duckers and divers – those who are using Absalom’s rebellion to jostle for position and feather their own nest.
In other words, those who are backing Absalom against David purely for their own gain.
And this happens. I have seen it. When we fall short or sin or make a mistake, there are always plenty of people out to profit from our downfall.
Months after I made that mistake in work, a restructuring in my department offered us the opportunity for promotion. There was a job I could apply for that played right into my strengths.
There was just one problem: my confidence was shattered as a result of what had happened to me. So I tried out for it, but failed.
One of my co-workers also applied. He lacked one key skill to do this job, but had lied in his application and said that he had it. He got the job. He was found out pretty quickly. But instead of taking the promotion off him, they drafted me in to help train him in that skill.
So I didn’t get the job, despite having the skills to do it, and they got me to help out someone who got the job, but didn’t have the skills.
I don’t mind telling you, that was very hard.
My colleague profited from my downfall.
And boy, did that hurt!
David had an interesting approach to this situation. I don’t think he got it completely right, but we can learn a lot from it.
Firstly, what he got right – he handed the situation over to God. He let God deliver him. He let God vindicate him. He prayed for God to take vengeance.
While we might baulk at the language here – and it is not what we should be doing as follows of Christ (Romans 12:17), putting God in charge of setting things right is exactly what we should do.
But David got one huge thing wrong – he carried a burden of bitterness. Look at 1 Kings 2:5-6 and 8-9. Here David brings forth the anger in his heart over crimes committed in the past by Joab and Shimei. I find it sad that these are the last words of such a great man.
If we think that this excuses us from carrying a weight of bitterness over things that happened to us, we should think again:
Ephesians 4:31-32 NIVUK
[31] Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. [32] Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Hebrews 12:15 NIVUK
[15] See to it that no-one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
This isn’t easy.
I know that for sure.
When my colleague got that promotion instead of me, I felt bitter about it for a long time.
Years, in fact. And do you know how much it mattered to him?
Zero. Ziltch. Nada. Absolutely nothing.
The only person affected by it was me.
Not only was it wrong, it was a complete waste of my time and my energy.
By David bringing his bitterness to God, he got his reaction exactly right – that is what we should do.
But when he took it back on his deathbed, that was wrong – and leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
There is one more thing worth baring in mind here. Yes, these people were uncaring opportunists trying their best to profit from David's downfall – but that downfall was fully deserved. David could have no arguments about it. He had sinned and was facing the consequences. That’s how life works.
He really could have no argument against those who sought to gain from it.
On the surface, Psalm 3 might seem like not much – perhaps quite bland and uncontroversial: the type of Psalm you can read in church to either heads nodded in silent agreement or a chorus of ‘Amen’s at the appropriate points.
But nothing could be further from the truth.
Now you know the context, this Psalm could make you frustrated and angry. After all, after what David has done, why should he have any expectation that God would be his shield, the lifter of his head and the answerer of his prayers? What right should he have to such blessings? He didn’t deserve it!
And you would be quite right.
David would probably even agree with you.
He had no right. He had no claim. He should have no expectation.
Were it not for God’s scandalous grace.
And this is a Psalm that is all about that wonderful, scandalous grace that gives even the worst sinner a second chance.
Because – and this is something we all must remember – all of have sinned, and all of us will sin. In God’s eyes, sin is sin is sin. All sin alienates us from God, not just big sins or little sins.
All of us will one day need the same grace David sung about in this Psalm. All of us.
Now, we have to be careful when we talk about this. Just because God promises us grace when we confess our sins and repent does not give us a mandate to live however we want:
Romans 6:1-2 NIVUK
[1] What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning, so that grace may increase? [2] By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? https://bible.com/bible/113/rom.6.1-2.NIVUK
And neither does it give us a mandate to let those who break the law within our community get away with it. We are Christians. We live in the light (1 John 1:5-10). We respect the authorities as instituted by God (Romans 13:1-5). If someone has broken the law, and in doing so harmed other people, then of course they should face the consequences of their deeds before a criminal court. That should go without saying. No Christian should ever be involved in a cover-up. It is fundamentally wrong.
But at the same time, this Psalm of scandalous grace shows that, no matter what people say about you – however justified they may be – God always has the last word. And if you are willing to confess your sin, repent and seek to follow God, He will stand with you to help you turn your life around.
Even when you are facing the strong headwinds of the consequences of your own sin.
There is no darkness greater than the night that is self-inflicted. That is painfully true.
But in it all, God gives us a light. And a hope.
So if you find yourself facing the pain and distress your own actions should have brought about, in your life and those of other people, then let this Psalm bring you hope.
Humble yourself before the Lord. He will lift you up.
No matter what you have done.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I thank You for Your scandalous grace which I could never deserve, merit or gain. I can only accept. Help me, Lord. I have made a serious mess of my life and am facing the serious consequences of my own sin. I want to change. Show me how. Amen.
Questions
1. What is it about this Psalm that is so scandalous? Do you agree with this?
2. What has David done that is so very wrong? How did he deal with it?
3. What does this Psalm tell us about God's grace for those who fail, but are prepared to confess it and repent? How can we apply this to our lives, and also how we view other people?
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