Psalm 3

Psalm 3 (NKJV)

¹Lord, how they have increased who trouble me!
Many are they who rise up against me.
² Many are they who say of me,
“There is no help for him in God.” Selah

³ But You, O Lord, are a shield for me,
My glory and the One who lifts up my head.
⁴ I cried to the Lord with my voice,
And He heard me from His holy hill. Selah

⁵ I lay down and slept;
I awoke, for the Lord sustained me.
⁶ I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people
Who have set themselves against me all around.

⁷ Arise, O Lord;
Save me, O my God!
For You have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone;
You have broken the teeth of the ungodly.
⁸ Salvation belongs to the Lord.
Your blessing is upon Your people. Selah

This psalm is thought to be written by David when he was fleeing his son Absalom. Now, I’ll get to the actual psalm in a minute, but I was stopped by the reference to Absalom. You can find his full story in 2 Samuel starting in chapter 13. In case you’ve forgotten, Absalom was the one who killed his (half) brother Amnon for raping his (Absalom’s full) sister Tamar. Instead of pursuing justice for his sister, Absalom decides to get revenge and kills him in a rather sneaky way. Absalom flees the land but eventually comes back and is pardoned. Still, killing his brother didn’t satisfy his anger, which grew inside of him, anger at the situation and anger at David for not doing anything about it. Actually, there are some people who believe that Absalom didn’t really care about his sister and that the murder wasn’t connected to her rape at all, since Absalom is unsympathetic and doesn’t try to pursue justice immediately. They say that the murder had much more to do with Amnon being the oldest and Absalom’s jealousy over that. I think this is very legitimate answer, but I don’t think that he was unaffected by Tamar’s rape. It certainly fed the hatred, and I’m sure he was wondering why a rapist should deserve to be king over a younger brother who’s done no such evil. So, Absalom started a conspiracy, and David was forced to leave the city for a while.

Perhaps we see a lesson for Absalom in this chapter too. The real problem is that Absalom went around trying to do everything on his own. He thought, “This guy raped my sister and doesn’t even feel bad about it. He’s such a complete and total jerk. I’d be a much better king than he would. This is dumb. I am going to do something about it.” He doesn’t go to God nor is he shown as trying to make David, the proper authority in this case, do anything, he just remains silent, stewing in his anger. Furthermore, he strikes his own enemies, as opposed to God who does the striking in verse 7.

History lesson aside, the situation is clear in this Psalm. The poet is surrounded by enemies who say, “There is no help for him in God.” Still, we are to take heart, trust in God, and know that He is a shield against even the fiercest foes in their greatest numbers.

I personally don’t feel like I have all that many enemies, especially not ones who want to kill me, but I was particularly drawn to verses 3 and 4. I love the line “the One who lifts up my head.” I know that I often feel like my head is heavy. Sometimes it’s from sadness or loneliness or just general weariness. None of that matters, though, because God can lift me up again. I don’t have to be brought low by any situation.

What’s more, David writes “I cried to the Lord with my voice, and He heard me from His holy hill.” That’s such a powerful image. One person cries to God, and He hears it even in Heaven. I think there’s a bit of a primal idea in the word “cry.” He doesn’t call or ask the Lord. He cries. We need to have the same sort of conviction when we ask God for something, have faith that He answers us. God, in Heaven, hears us, in our distress, and wants to help the faithful.

If you’re interested in what selah means, I thought this website was rather informative: Selah