Psalm 3

“There is no help for him in God” (v. 1-2)—There is a heading to this psalm in some versions: “A Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son.” This is not part of the original text; some later editor added it. It may be true, but just be aware that when you see such a heading, it isn’t part of what the original author wrote. We can be pretty sure about the human authors, though. Psalm 3 is attributed to David and that is almost certainly correct.

Whatever the circumstance, David was feeling distress: “LORD, how they have increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me” (v. 1). His enemies thought they had him, and that God wouldn’t help him. “'There is no help for him in God'" (v. 3). But David believed differently.

“He heard me from His holy hill” (vs. 3-4)—One of the great lessons from the Psalms is how personal and involved the writers believe that God is in their lives. David had faith that the Lord would protect him (v. 3). And when he prayed, “He heard me from His holy hill” (v. 4). David believed the Lord would deliver him from the troubles he mentioned in the first two verses. Did God, by inspiration, tell David what He would do? No, David escaped from the troubling circumstances, and attributed it to God because he simply believed the Lord cared about him and was actively involved in his life. The Lord was “there.” Of course, He didn’t always do what the king wanted any more than He always does what we want. But to David, Jehovah was intimately working and engaged in his life, and the king rarely forgot it and gave the Lord credit for it. This is not a matter of David being inspired by the Holy Spirit; it is a matter of him having faith in God. Otherwise, the Psalms would be useless to us. We would be so much more at peace if we had that same kind of faith.

“Arise, O Lord” (vs. 5-8)—Interestingly, it appears that David had yet to be liberated from whatever ailed him. Verse 7 reads, “Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God,” as if deliverance was yet future. Yet, David’s faith was so great that he knew Jehovah had heard his prayer (v. 4). And he was so confident in that that he could say “I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the LORD sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around” (vs. 5-6). And indeed, even if, as verse 7 seems to say, David had not yet be rescued from his troubling circumstance, he spoke as if he already had: “For You have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone; You have broken the teeth of the ungodly” (v. 7). David knew that if/when he was rescued, “Salvation belongs to the Lord.” Why? Because “Your blessing in upon Your people” (v. 8), not upon the ungodly.