Psalm 3

A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.

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.” Selah 
3  But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, 
my glory, and the lifter of my head. 
4  I cried aloud to the Lord, 
and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah 
5  I lay down and slept; 
I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. 
6  I will not be afraid of many thousands of people 
who have set themselves against me all around. 
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. 
8  Salvation belongs to the Lord; 
your blessing be on your people! Selah 

The Psalms teach us that the appropriate way to handle our emotions is to be honest and pray through them; Psalm 3 is a great example of what this looks like in practice.

Historical Background

In one of the nastiest and most heart-rending stories in the Bible, King David’s son Absolam leads a rebellion and civil war against his father, forcing him to flee Jerusalem for his life. (Read 2 Samuel 15-19 for the details.)

Praying Through All Our Emotions

David is afraid for his life, and worse, psychologically terrified by his enemies’ claims that God has abandoned him. But, he prays through his fears to God. And, his honest prayers result in a hopeful heart.

This is one of the key lessons of the Psalms: until we are honest about what we actually feel, God will be unable to help us. Isn’t this how relationships work? If you keep the other at arm’s-length, then there can’t be any true friendship or intimacy between you. Relationships require honesty, and honesty means giving up on the pretense that we are better than we really are.

The Psalms startle us because of their honesty, which should tell us how compulsively dishonest we are. For example, we are shocked and clutch our pearls when the psalmist imagines God striking down his enemies—as if we have never felt a desire for vengeance when we’ve been wronged—as if we’ve never indulged an icy hatred.

The reason even the language of hatred is in the Psalms is because the Bible is teaching us that it is good for us to scream our hatred out loud and thereby give it over to God.

So, when the Psalmist says in verse 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.

it is as if he’s letting that hatred go so he can conclude his poem in the next verse by saying:

Salvation belongs to the Lord;
    your blessing be on your people! 

So today, let’s not piously pretend to be better than we are, but rather let us honestly pray our true thoughts to God. Over time, God will conform our emotions to his own heart.