Psalm 3: In Trials, God Remains Your Shield

Introduction

Théo opens his message at Action Biblique Servette with a little exercise. Picture yourself quietly at home. Suddenly you are told you have to flee: someone wants to harm you, and he is coming with a lot of other people. You grab a bag and leave in a hurry with a few loved ones. While you are on the run, what do you do? A: you think up a strategy to keep your lead. B: you contact as many friends as possible to help you. C: you stop to write a poem.

The preacher admits he would choose A, maybe B, but not C. Yet one man facing an urgent escape and a heavy trial chose answer C. That man is David, and his poem is Psalm 3.

Nobody likes suffering. Our reflex is like a boxer's: dodge the blow. But we live in a fallen world, "riddled with sin," and suffering is unavoidable. So how should we react in the face of trials? Does going through painful seasons serve any purpose? How can we find comfort? Théo looks for answers in the life of David.

Message Outline

1. David, a Sinful King Betrayed by His Son

David is the youngest in a humble family of eight brothers, a shepherd and a gifted musician who wrote the vast majority of the psalms. He is also a hero: he killed Goliath and won many military victories. Chosen by God to succeed Saul, he took the throne at Saul's death.
His reign was not easy: Israel was caught up in conflicts with the Philistines, the Moabites and the Syrians. David feared God, but like all biblical heroes, he was not infallible.
He committed adultery with Bathsheba and even had her husband Uriah killed (2 Samuel 11 and 12). The son born of that union died. Despite David's repentance, his reign declined.
In his family, Amnon raped his half-sister Tamar. David was very angry, but he did not punish Amnon. By failing to act, he did justice neither as a father nor as a king.
Absalom, Tamar's brother, came to hate Amnon and murdered him. David refused to see Absalom for nearly three years, then finally saw him again and forgave him (2 Samuel 13 and 14).
In 2 Samuel 15, Absalom stands beside the road to the gate and intercepts those who come to ask the king for justice: "Behold, your matters are good and right; but there is no man deputed by the king to hear you." He kisses them, and little by little he wins the hearts of the people.
Théo points out how perverse this scheme was. We can imagine Absalom saying: "The king has no time for you, but I have time for you." He has only one thing in mind: taking his father's throne. He sees only his own gain, "like many politicians today," and sometimes we do too, on our own scale.
Absalom lies to David in order to go to Hebron under the pretext of a vow, then has himself proclaimed king there. The betrayal is terrible.
David says to his servants: "Arise, and let us flee!" (verse 14). He leaves Jerusalem with his household. The whole countryside weeps. In verse 30, he goes up the Mount of Olives weeping, with his head covered and barefoot.
The story continues to chapter 18, where a battle takes place and Absalom is killed, to David's great grief. But it is during his flight that David writes Psalm 3.

2. First Step: Fear and Doubt

Nobody flees for pleasure, but out of fear of danger. David knows he is in danger, and he is not only afraid: he is crushed with sorrow.
That is what a trial is: living through situations that stir up disturbing and painful emotions. The great king of Israel, the conqueror of Goliath, flees not from an enemy but from his own son. "Dear parents, imagine having to flee from your son because he wants to harm you."
We can imagine the thoughts that assail him: "What did I do wrong, Lord? Why do you allow this?" Humanly speaking, David had every reason to rebel against God.
In verses 1 and 2, he names his trial: "Yahweh, how they are increased who trouble me!" He even hears people saying: "There is no help for him in God."
Yet of the eight verses of the psalm, only these two are a complaint. All the others are words of praise and trust.
Théo imagines himself among David's companions, watching him sit on a rock and write: "Hey David, do you really think writing your new single is the priority right now?" David surely thought through an escape strategy, but he also took the time to write a song of praise.

3. Second Step: "But You, Yahweh, Are a Shield Around Me"

Verse 3 begins with a small word: "But." It links the recognition of the trial to David's reflex. He could have written: "I've had enough, Lord, you're doing nothing." He chooses to give glory to God.
God is his shield, his glory, the one who lifts up his head. In other words: "You are my shield, no one else. Not my political power, not my money, not even my son's love." God is the only thing of real value in his life.
The preacher draws a pattern from this for all our trials: "I am suffering, BUT God is my shield, my glory, the one who lifts up my head." It is not easy to put into practice, but it is a truth: God is in control at all times.
Lamentations 3:37-38 says that nothing happens unless the Lord has commanded it, and that both bad and good come from the will of the Most High. God allows our joys and our trials, but he never loses control.

4. Prayer: God Hears You Everywhere

"I cry to Yahweh with my voice, and he answers me out of his holy hill" (verse 4). God is accessible, and you can tell him everything.
Théo reads 1 Peter 5:7, "casting all your worries on him, because he cares for you," and Philippians 4:6-7: the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guards our hearts and our thoughts in Christ Jesus.
For a long time he thought that to pray, you had to be "in the mood": seated, focused, eyes closed, hands folded. Those moments are good, but they are only a tiny part of a life of prayer. God hears a single sentence in the middle of the day. That is how we can "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
Job kept praying, even though he did not say only right things. Psalm 88 contains nothing positive. These examples show how much prayer matters: "Never stop praying, even if it is to complain, pour out your anger against God, or even cry, because he listens to you."

5. "I Laid Myself Down and Slept"

In verse 5, David goes even further: "I laid myself down and slept. I awakened; for Yahweh sustains me." He is on the run, his life is in danger, he is sleeping outdoors, and he falls asleep. Why? Because he trusts God.
Psalm 4:8 echoes the same idea: "In peace I will both lay myself down and sleep, for you, Yahweh alone, make me live in safety."
Does that kind of trust seem utopian to you? For Théo, simply knowing these truths, quoting them and meditating on them is already a big step. "Yes, Lord, I trust you. I don't understand you, I'm angry, I'm hurting, I'm sad. But like the 'but' of verse 3, I want to trust you, help me."
Trust is the assurance that God knows what he is doing, that he remains in control, and that he has the power to settle any situation according to his will.
Be careful with Romans 8:28: throwing this verse out of context at someone who is suffering is "completely counterproductive." Trusting does not mean suppressing your emotions. David wept, and "Jesus wept" (John 11:35).
In verses 6 to 8, David does not fear his enemies and concludes: "Salvation belongs to Yahweh." After so many victories, he could have relied on himself. Already facing Goliath, he said: "Yahweh who delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine" (1 Samuel 17:37), because "the battle is Yahweh's" (verse 47).

6. A Savior Who Knew Suffering

David, like Job, did not have the consolation of the cross. Under the new covenant, we have an even greater consolation.
We follow a crucified Savior. Let us not be surprised to go through trials: Jesus was rejected, and he knew weariness, hunger and the loss of a friend. He was betrayed, humiliated, nailed to a cross and, worse still, abandoned by his Father.
Théo has no ready-made answer to the question "why does God allow suffering?" But what comforts him is that God knows suffering because he lived it. He came to suffer, innocent, to save his creation.
In Gethsemane, Jesus prays: "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not what I desire, but what you desire" (Matthew 26:39). He prays three times, and three times the answer is no. If God had granted this prayer, Jesus would not have died for our sins and would not have risen.
"When we think about the great no that Jesus received, being innocent, don't our own noes pale a little?" God is not indifferent to our trials: he listens, he sympathizes, he understands.
"When you suffer, my friend, you resemble Jesus." We have often heard that we resemble him when we forgive or when we love. We also resemble him when we suffer (1 Peter 4:12-13).
A pastor from Montreal asked this question: who knows each other best, a couple on their honeymoon or a couple married for thirty years who have been through joys, sufferings and arguments?

7. Applications: Pray and Do Not Suppress Your Emotions

Suffering is a tool God uses for our sanctification, that is, to make us more like Christ. "Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps" (1 Peter 2:21).
First, do not stop praying. "Pardon the expression, even if it is to yell at the Lord, pray." Ask him what he wants you to know about him through this trial.
Second, do not suppress your emotions. You have the right to cry, to shout, to feel bad. But remember the "but" of verse 3: God listens to you, he is at your side, and he remains in control.
A father who loves his son sometimes deprives him of something for his own good, for example a late-night match on a weekday, because he has a long-term view.
Théo also tells about his ten-month-old baby, who had a cold. To clear the baby's nose, you need a little syringe and saline solution. For the child it is unbearable, and he struggles without understanding. But his father knows this suffering will give him a better night. God also has the long-term view.
One day, God will put an end to suffering. He will dwell with his people and wipe every tear from their eyes (Revelation 21:3-4).

Key Takeaways

In his flight from Absalom, David names his distress in two verses, then devotes the rest of Psalm 3 to praise and trust.
The pattern for trials fits in one word: "I am suffering, BUT God is my shield, my glory, the one who lifts up my head."
God hears you everywhere and at every moment. Never stop praying, even to complain or to cry.
Trusting God does not mean suppressing your emotions: David wept, and so did Jesus.
Jesus knew suffering and his Father's "no." When you suffer, you resemble him, and he understands exactly what you are going through.

Personal Application

Facing the trial you are going through, what would your spontaneous answer be: A, B or C?
What is the "but" you can place today after naming your suffering?
Do you limit your prayer to moments when you are "in the mood," or do you talk to God in the middle of your day?
Are there emotions you suppress before God, thinking that trust forbids you from crying?
What does God want you to know about him through what you are going through right now?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

In what context did David write Psalm 3?

The title of the psalm says it: "A Psalm by David, when he fled from Absalom his son." Absalom had won the hearts of the people and had himself proclaimed king in Hebron, and David had left Jerusalem weeping, with his head covered and barefoot (2 Samuel 15). It is in the middle of that flight that he writes this song of praise.

Does trusting God mean suppressing your emotions?

No. Théo points out that David wept and that Jesus wept too (John 11:35). Trusting God does not mean forcing yourself to stop crying: it means continuing to pray and remembering, in the middle of the flames, that nothing escapes his control.

Why say that whoever suffers resembles Jesus?

Jesus was rejected, betrayed, humiliated and crucified. In Gethsemane, he asked for the cup to pass from him, and the Father answered no. To suffer, then, is to share in what Christ lived through (1 Peter 4:12-13). He knows and understands your trials because he went through them.