Psalm 3: Learning How to Process & Approach Life
Psalm 3 is one of my favorites. Today’s reading (I’m praying through the Psalms in 2 month cycles this year) brought me to Psalm 3 again. I love this psalm because its structure brings order to my often disordered life. I want to process and approach life the way Psalm 3 teaches me to do it.
Maybe it would help you to think and pray through Psalm 3 with me today? Below are the names I give to the different parts of the psalm and a few reflections.
SIGHT
1 O LORD, how many are my foes!
Many are rising against me;
2 many are saying of my soul,
there is no salvation for him in God.
David begins with sight. David the psalmist begins this prayer with what’s right in front of him–with what he can see, his circumstances, with what hurts and threatens. David doesn’t pretend. David reports. David is honest before God about the pressure, pain, and fear. David has enemies. And these enemies are “many.” Three times the text repeats the “many-ness” of the threat David faces.
David is in trouble. This is what David sees in front of him. This is where David starts. David pours out his trouble to the LORD.
What do you see? What enemies, what troubles, surround and threaten you? Start there. Tell God all about it. Avoid the temptation of processing and navigating the trouble by yourself. This Psalm calls you out of your self-sufficiency. The opposite of the Christian life is the self-sufficient life.
BELIEF
3 But you, O LORD, are a shield about me,
my glory, and the lifter of my head.
David starts his prayer with the circumstances he sees and feels, but this is just the start. This is just verses 1 and 2. We have 6 more verses.
Verse 3. Now David interrupts sight with belief. David quickly transitions from what he sees to re-confessing the belief he’s built his life upon. David knows when to insert a “But.” “Life is very hard. But…”
David’s “But..” leads to belief. David’s “But…” leads not to belief in a creed, but belief in a Person. David is talking to the LORD. He knows the LORD. There is a relationship here. David tells the LORD (and reminds himself) who he believes the LORD to be. David speaks 3 images of who he believes the LORD to be: “shield,” “my glory,” “the lifter of my head.”
David’s enemies are “many, many, many.” But David’s God is “shield, glory, lifter.”
What do you believe? What do you believe about the LORD? Have you applied that belief to the trouble you see and face today, or are you keeping that belief on a separate shelf? Remember the relationship you have!
The LORD is your shield. He’s not your shield in theory. You have a relationship with a shield that shows up and protects you in the midst of today’s battle. Do you believe this? The LORD is also your glory. He’s also the lifter of your head. Belief is being able to see through your circumstances to a deeper reality. Do you believe the LORD can lift your head, even today? Do you believe resolved circumstances are the lifter of your head, or is the LORD the lifter of your head? If no enemies and perfect circumstances are the lifter of your head, you’ll be looking down most of your life. If the LORD is the lifter of your head, you can face anything.
REMEMBRANCE
4 I cried aloud to the LORD,
and he answered me from his holy hill.5 I lay down and slept;
I woke again, for the LORD sustained me.
Now David remembers. Remembrance changes everything. David remembers the enemies he faced in the past, the prayers he prayed in the past, and the help God gave in the past. He remembers how his Shield worked in his life in the past. He remembers protection that enabled him to sleep soundly.
David remembered the many Goliath’s God had delivered him from in the past. David remembered that this same God was the one hearing these new prayers and cries.
What do you remember? Remind yourself today of how you cried to God in seasons of desperation in the past and of how he answered and took care of you. God hasn’t changed. Your circumstances and cries and have changed, but God is still God. God hasn’t forgotten you. He remembered you in the past. He remembers you today. Will you remember Him today? Build your faith through remembrance.
And will you remember this tonight when you stumble into bed? Will tonight be another night of sleeping in fear, or will you sleep like a Christian?
RESOLVE
6 I will not be afraid of many thousands of people
who have set themselves against me all around.
Sight–>Belief–>Remembrance–>Resolve. This is David’s movement as he teaches us how to process and approach life in this world.
David couldn’t have moved directly from verse 2 to verse 6. If all we had were verses 1 and 2, David should be very afraid. But verses 3-5 changed everything. Now David is operating from a different center. Now David is surrounded by a shield, he’s enjoying a glory that he can’t lose, his head has been lifted high, he remembers God’s track record, he knows a good night of sleep awaits him.
So, David resolves. David makes a decision. David considers the evidence of his circumstances and the evidence of his God and he makes a decision to not be afraid. The word “many” shows up again. It doesn’t matter anymore. Even if he has to face “many thousands” of enemies who have set themselves against him “all around,” David knows the LORD his shield surrounds him all around.
This is faith. Faith is resolve. Faith is making a decision. Faith is being able to take a long look at your circumstances and a long look at your God and deciding that God is bigger.
What did you decide this morning? What was your resolve? Either you decided that because God is bigger than your troubles you would not be afraid, or you decided to once again let your circumstances, problems, and enemies decide how much fear you will feel today. David decided to say “I will not fear” because he decided to believe in God more than he believed in his enemies. Who do you believe in more? What “I will not fear…” sentence do you need to write today?
PRAYER
7 Arise, O Lord!
Save me, O my God!
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;
you break the teeth of the wicked.
Now David prays. He’s been praying the whole time, but now he makes requests of God for the first time. David makes two requests: “Arise…” and “Save me.”
As I’ve been reading the Psalms recently I’ve concluded that all the prayer requests in the Psalms boil down to one word: Help! This is what David is saying here. “Help! God, help me! LORD, do something! Help me! I can’t help myself. Arise! Stand up. Take action. Only you can do this. Save me!”
David’s prayer request isn’t fancy. Nor is it shy. David just shouts: Help!
What are your prayer requests today? Jesus calls his people to live life with childlike faith. Childlike faith isn’t fancy. Childlike faith isn’t shy. Childlike faith simply says, often and loudly: Help! The older I get, the more troubles I face, and the more Bible I read, I’m finding that the word that comes out of my mouth most often to God is: “Help.”
PRAISE/ASSURANCE
8 Salvation belongs to the LORD;
your blessing be on your people!
David ends his prayer with praise and assurance. David proclaims that salvation (victory/deliverance) belongs to God and that blessing is sure to come from God. The whole situation that started this prayer, verses 1-2, David leaves in the LORD’s hands. The praise that David gives God (“Salvation belongs to the LORD”) is one and the same with the assurance he gives himself (“Salvation belongs to the LORD”).
Who will you let salvation (victory/deliverance) belong to today? Is it up to you? Do you really want to carry that burden? Or will you realize and rest in the reality that salvation belongs to the LORD? He sees your verses 1-2. He knows what He is doing.
Psalm 3 gives us a grid for processing and approaching life in this world: Sight–>Belief–>Remembrance–>Resolve–>Prayer–>Praise/Assurance.
I want Psalm 3 to mark my life. Wouldn’t it be great if our approach to each new day looked like 2 verses of Sight and 6 verses of Belief, Remembrance, Resolve, Prayer, and Praise centered on the LORD?
Christian Community amid Suffering
I have a great team of leaders who lead community groups and disciple disciple-making disciples in our 20s ministry. The past two weeks I’ve loved watching our Christian community at work as suffering hit.
My friends/fellow leaders Ryan and Lailah got news that Ryan’s sister Jamie was in a car accident in Kazakhstan, leaving her in a coma and the other two passengers dead. Immediately Ryan and Lailah got on a plane and flew east. As Ryan and Lailah walked through this suffering and asked for prayer and help, I watched two other members of our team, a married couple who have suffered greatly the past 4 months, pass on care and counsel from the Word of God. Here is one of the emails that this couple sent to Ryan and Lailah and our whole team:
These are the verses we have been hanging onto through our season of trial:
Romans 8:15 “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the spirit of sonship, and by him we cry “Abba”, “Father”.
Romans 5: 2b – 5 “And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, for God has poured out his love into our hearts”
John 16:33 “in this world you WILL have trouble (tribulation – severe suffering). But take heart! I have overcome the world!”
Psalm 86: 5 – 7 “You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you. Hear my prayer, O Lord; Listen to my cry for mercy. In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me.”
Lamentations 3: 21 – 23 “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Becasue of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every mornings; great is your faithfulness” (this is a GREAT chapter in general)
Psalm 34: 17 – 18 ” The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles. the Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit”
Romans 8:28 ” And we know that in ALL THINGS God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his son…”
1 Peter 1: 6b – 7 ” For a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
Keep going! Keep trusting in God’s GOODNESS, His SOVEREIGNTY and His WISDOM… know that God is able to use ALL THINGS for our good and for His glory! Remember that we only have small brains, capable of only understanding what God allows us to understand. We do not have His perspective and so we cannot grasp His infinite wisdom… but also, remember that “Jesus wept” – even though God’s ways and thoughts are SO much beyond ours, He STILL CRIES WITH US!!!
We are weeping with you and praying for you through this trial…
Heaps of love…
We Never Outgrow Scripture
Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the Book widens and deepens with our years.
-Charles Spurgeon
Choose to Give Thanks
Happy Thanksgiving to all Buzzard Blog readers! I’m thankful for how you read and interact with what I write here. It’s a great blessing and help to me.
This Thanksgiving I’m meditating on and putting into action Psalm 9:1-2
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
Note the four-fold resolve in this Psalm:
I will give thanks
I will recount
I will be glad
I will sing
Giving thanks isn’t automatic for many of us, especially if our circumstances are difficult. Here we see the Psalmist resolving, choosing, to give thanks. This Thanksgiving, follow the four “I wills” of this Psalm: give thanks to the Lord, recount his wonderful deeds, be glad in God, and sing praises to his name.
Give thanks.
Recount.
Be glad.
Sing.
Why? Because God is God and he’s treated you better than you deserve.
Even if you’re not feeling particularly thankful or glad today, follow the ancient Psalm and soon your feelings will also follow.
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Overcoming Worry
Earlier this year I appreciated Brian Borgman’s excellent book, Feelings and Faith: Cultivating Godly Emotions in the Christian Life. Brian has just written a helpful article on overcoming emotions of fear, anxiety, and worry. Here’s an excerpt:
Fear, anxiety and worry are definitely emotions. Worry is a feeling of uneasiness. The word “worry” comes from an old English word meaning to be seized, usually by the throat, shaken, mangled and killed. An unpleasant thought to be sure, but an apt picture of how a disturbing thought can seize us and shake us. Fear is a distressing emotion of impending danger or pain, real or perceived. Anxiety is full on mental and emotional distress caused by fear. In the range of human emotions, this trilogy seems to be most out of our control, or so we think. After all, fear, anxiety and worry are most commonly associated with circumstances beyond our control. But here is a challenging thought: the very emotions we believe to be most outside of our control are the very ones God tells us not to have. To put it another way, God tells us to control our emotions. To take this a little farther, God actually diagnoses our fear, anxiety and worry and gives us the remedy to overcome them.
J.I. Packer: The ESV Study Bible, A Single-Volume Discipleship Resource
J.I. Packer on the ESV Study Bible:
The reason why I’m so enthusiastic about it is largely that it takes a wider view of its task than other study Bibles do. Other study Bibles provide you with information and that’s it. The ESV Study Bible goes a step further. It’s a study Bible which not only explains the texts and expounds them accurately, but it has in it a whole series of articles for the making and shaping of discipleship to Jesus Christ on the basis of the Bible. It can be, in a very significant sense, a single-volume resource for pastoral ministry, and indeed for personal life, because it’s doing the job which professional catechists have been doing ever since Christianity started—teaching people the truths that Christians live by and teaching them how to live by those truths.
Buy an ESV Study Bible.
Your True Keeper
Last week I preached Genesis 4, the first murder in human history.
It’s a tragic story of sin and violence. Seven times the text states, emphasizes, the word “brother.” The first murder was brother killing brother. Fratricide. Elder brother Cain rose up and murdered his younger brother Abel.
Just like he did with Adam after Adam’s sin in the garden, God pursues Cain with questions. Instead of responding to God’s questions with a confession of sin, Adam’s son slurs a question back at God:
…am I my brother’s keeper?
“Keeper” here in Genesis 4:9 is a translation of the same Hebrew verb (shamar) used in Genesis 2:15, where God gives Adam his job description in the garden:
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
Like his father before him, Cain failed to keep—failed to guard and protect what was entrusted to his care.
In times of difficulty, when the brother we have trusted to keep us actually fails and betrays us, we ask the same question as the ancient psalmist (Psalm 121):
I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
Answer:
My help comes from the Lord.
Tell me more. Who is this Lord? We’re told the same truth 4x. Again, a translation of the same Hebrew word (shamar):
The Lord is your keeper
The Lord will keep you from all evil
he will keep your life
The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore
Even your older brother might fail to keep you. But at the cross we see the Lord our keeper, the claims of Psalm 121, in full expression. At the cross we encounter our true keeper—Jesus, the elder brother who gave up his life in order keep your life.
…am I my brother’s keeper?
Jesus has a different answer than Cain.
See his arms spread wide on the cross. See your true keeper. See a brother who will never fail you. Only then can we live as the brothers and sisters that God has called us to be.
The Lord is your keeper. The Lord will keep you from all evil. He will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.
Bookends Sermon Series
This year at CPC we’re doing a sermon series called Bookends, preaching through both Genesis and Revelation. Here’s a video of my fellow pastors and me introducing the series.
Genesis
Thanks for your votes on Genesis covers. This is the final product.
Thanks to my friend Jon Wong for his excellent design work.
Start your thinking with the first verse of the Bible
We too easily give our devotion to that which has not created us. But more subtly, we align God to our programs rather than aligning ourselves to God’s program. This is what happens when our thinking begins with self not with God….We fail to start with the first verse of the Bible: “In the beginning God.”…If your thinking does not rest on God but on yourself, if you forget “In the beginning God,” if you have too small a view of God or too high a view of self, then you are placing too great a burden on yourself, a burden you were not made to carry.
-Bernard Bell
