Psalms 3 INTRODUCTION:
The Lord Sustained Me
HELP, I NEED SOMEBODY
Sermon: A Psalm of David, when he fled from Ab’sa-lom his son.
Do you live with the consequences?
One day, a mother explained to her five-year-old daughter that if she chose to disobey her, she would have to live with the consequences. “Oh, Mommy!” she said with a terrified look on her face. “Please don’t make me live with the Consequences. I want to live here with you!”
Well, we all live with the consequences, don’t we?
We all live with the consequences of the choices we have made.
This is also true of a familiar Bible character known as “the man after God’s own heart.”
David had to live with the consequences of his sin.
We are giving study to Psalm 3 that was written by David.
The background of the psalm is the betrayal of his own son, Absalom.
To truly understand the betrayal, though, we must look further back into David’s life.
2 Sam 11:1 And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. KJV
David’s problems began when he took to himself the wife of Uriah the Hittite.
This act of adultery led to an even more despicable act on David’s part.
Instead of protecting and looking out for the interests of loyal Uriah, he chose to take Uriah’s life to cover up his own sin.
David’s adultery led to murder.
From this point onward, David had to live with the consequences of his sin.
2 Sam 12:1-15
Nathan’s Parable and David’s Confession
12:1 Then the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him: “There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. 3 But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him. 4 And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”
5 So David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! 6 And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity.”
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more! 9 Why have you despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. 10 Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 11 Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.'”
13 So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.” 15 Then Nathan departed to his house. NKJV
What we do as Christians reflect on how the world sees Christians and how they see Christ.
Many years later, one of David’s sons, Amnon, became a bit too captivated with his half-sister Tamar and raped her.
This enraged Tamar’s full brother, Absalom who sought revenge, and got it, by killing Amnon.
When David learned about Absalom’s crime, instead of dealing with him in a just manner, he simply allowed him to leave Jerusalem. Because David had committed the same crime.
He too had committed the crime of murder over a sexual sin.
Thus, as a result, David had lost the moral authority to deal effectively with Absalom.
In time, the undisciplined Absalom, who thought he was morally superior and a worthier leader than his father, mounted a rebellion. He then Sat at the gate saying, ” if I were King. ”
It was a rebellion that caught David by surprise, so much so, the historical text tells us that he fled barefoot and weeping.
Think for a moment of the shame David must have felt being opposed and hunted down by his own son.
But David was reaping the consequences of the bad choices he had made.
So, as a result, this man who was known as “the man after God’s heart” and who had rejoiced in great victories because of God’s intervention, now was characterized by failure, loneliness, disappointment, and agony.
Has that ever been true for you?
Have you ever felt like a failure because of the poor choices you have made?
And you know that more than anything else, you need God’s intervention in your life because you are powerless to make it different.
Well, this study is for you, four unfolding stages that reveal God at work in the life of those who will believe.
- PROBLEM (1-2)
- PRAYER / PRESENCE (3-4)
3. PEACE (5-6)
4. PUNISHMENT / PROTECTION (7-8)
The psalm reveals that God is at work in David’s life. And same can be true of us as well.
Psalms 3 OUR STUDY: Part 1 of 4
- The first stage is the PROBLEM (1-2).
Psalm 3:1-2 (NKJV) 1 LORD, 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
- There are times when we feel outnumbered.
David cries out to God because he was dealing with the rising tide of disloyalty.
Both family and friends have turned against him.
Now they are enemies and they surround him.
It was a real mess.
It all seemed so hopeless.
- There are times when we feel like giving up hope.
David’s enemies were saying that God had given up on him.
God was not going to deliver him.
These are words that make a profound emotional impact, don’t you think?
It not only seemed hopeless, but it was communicated to him that he was hopeless.
Have you ever felt like that?
The situation was hopeless.
You felt hopeless. That’s why the word Selah is placed there it means to take a breath or as the Strongs Concordance says the word Selah OT:5542 Celah (seh’-law); from OT:5541; suspension (of music), i.e., pause: KJV – Selah.
Or just Stop and think about that!
