Psalm 3: Salvation Belongs to the Lord | Psalm Devotional

Psalm 3 is a psalm of David, written as his son Absalom moves to overthrow him. It includes language that can make us uncomfortable, like praying for the teeth of the wicked to be broken, so this episode of Morning Psalms and Prayers starts by setting the scene. David has enemies on every side, and he feels like he is losing.

Yet he turns to what he knows to be true about God. The Lord is his shield, his glory, and the lifter of his head. David lay down, slept, and woke again because the Lord sustained him.

The devotional brings that home to our own lives. God is on his throne when we go to bed and when we wake. Whatever comes against us, salvation belongs to the Lord, and he blesses his people.

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Good morning and welcome to morning Psalms and Prayers for Friday, May 29th. We're at the end of another week and we begin with another prayer from the Book of Common Prayer. Let us pray.

Lord of all power and might, who are the author and giver of all good things, grant into our hearts the love of your name. Increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of your great mercy keep us in the same. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

We continue through this Psalter. We are in Psalm 3 and we'll be reading all of this Psalm today. Hear the word of the Lord.

O Lord, how many are my foes? Many are rising against me. Many are saying of my soul, "There is no salvation for him in God." But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the Lord and he answered me from his holy hill. I lay down and slept. I woke again for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God, for you strike all my enemies on the cheek and you break the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the Lord, your blessing be on your people.

This is a bit of an interesting Psalm. There's some language in here that we're not necessarily very comfortable with. I don't think there's many of us, as much as we might like to pray that the teeth of our enemies would be broken, we don't necessarily feel comfortable with it.

But as we look at this Psalm, this is happening in an intense set of circumstances. David is on the verge of being overthrown by his son Absalom. So you can imagine how he is feeling. He feels like he has enemies all around him and he is losing. Yet he knows he is the anointed of God. He knows that God has put him in his place as king. How interesting would that be to be in that set of circumstances for us? I can't even imagine.

But what does David say? Verse 3, "But you, O Lord, are shield about me, my glory and the lifter of my head." Boy, I don't know how easy it would be for me in that set of circumstances to be able to say that about God. It'd be like, "Hey, I know that you're supposed to be my shield and you're supposed to lift my head, but my very own son is in charge of a coup against me." That would be difficult.

But where does David go? He goes to this truth. He knows who God is and he trusts in God and his faithfulness. And then we see in verse 5 and 6, "I lay down and slept. I woke again for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around." Again, he's going to God. He's saying, "Hey, the people are coming after me, but I went to sleep and I woke up. No one came in. No one got me. No one killed me in my sleep. God is taking care of me." And so he's decided that he is going to continue to trust in the Lord. The Lord has sustained him through the night. And so he is going to stick with this God that he loves and that he serves. And so he calls out in verse 8, "Salvation belongs to the Lord. Your blessing be on your people." He is trusting God for his salvation.

Now as we begin to think about what this all means for us, we kind of get the general idea of what was going on for David. I think verses 5 and 6 talking about laying down and sleeping and waking again for the Lord sustained me. In the midst of the difficulties that we have, God sustains us. He is on his throne. When we go to bed at night, he is on his throne. When we wake up, he is still there. He causes us to rise up every day. And so we can understand and trust in the truth that God is sustaining us. And so even if thousands of people come against us, we can still trust in the Lord.

And salvation belongs to the Lord. The blessing is upon his people. Well, we know what that means for us. We have a sure and certain promise of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we can constantly trust that salvation belongs to the Lord. And no matter what happens, God is on his throne. He is in control. And even if our lives are taken, we have a sure blessing of salvation. Salvation belongs to the Lord. And he blesses his people. That's who we are. We're the blessed people of God. And so we can have confidence in God's sovereignty and his trust and his -- and we can trust in his sovereignty and control over our lives. So let's have that peace today.

As we wake up today, we laid down last night and we rose today, may our days be filled with that truth that God is sustaining us, that he is with us no matter how many people are around us. Salvation belongs to the Lord. What a thought for our day today. Let us go to prayer.

Merciful Father, last night we laid down and slept. And this morning we woke again, for you sustained us. You are a shield about us. You are our glory and you are the lifter of our heads. We cry aloud to you and we know that you hear our prayers and that you answer us from your holy hill.

Today we pray for those who represent us in our government. We lift up those who serve us at the local level. We pray that you would bless them with wisdom as they navigate the issues that are before us today. We remember those who serve at the state level and ask for wisdom for them also. Grant that they would best know how to govern and protect the freedoms of the people. We pray for all those who serve at the highest levels in our country. Again, our plea before you is to grant them wisdom as they navigate difficult decisions in this time. We ask for peace and strength for all those who serve in these positions. We pray above all else that they would seek your will and crave your guidance in the positions that they hold.

And as we head into this day and the weekend, we pray with the psalmist, "Arise, O Lord, salvation belongs to you and we know that this is the great blessing of your people. Through your word and spirit, grant that we might follow you in humble service this and every day. Amen."

Well, have yourselves a very blessed Friday and a great weekend. Take care.

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