Psalm Three   . . .  is a personal prayer of desperation:                         

Lord, I have so many enemies, so many who are against me!

The title says that this is a song of David, the shepherd-poet who became Israel’s king.  But now his son Absalom has turned traitor, turned the whole country against him, forcing David to flee for his life.  That’s the background that triggered this desperate prayer.

I’ve never had to deal with betrayal this close to home, but I can hear David’s sense of rejection, fear and abandonment in these words of verse 2:

God, Listen to how they whisper their slander against me, saying:
“Look! He’s hopeless! Even God can’t save him from this!”

This kind of psalm is called personal lament.  There are 25 of these in the Psalter reminding us that we are not alone in our times of distress. They’re also show us how to pray in our desperation, even though our personal crises come in all different shapes and sizes.  David does not wallow in his shame and desperation. He brings it to God. He tells God the whole story; he pours out his pain to God. This is gut-honest prayer. 

We don’t honor God by pretending everything is fine, when we’re dying on the inside.  That’s the beauty of the personal lament psalm.  You let God know the real you.  And when David opens up to God the depth of his pain, he hears God speak.  V.3 says,

You, Yahweh, have become my Shield; Your glory covers me.You lift up my head when I’m bowed low in shame. I have cried out to you, Yahweh, and from your holy presence, you send me a Father’s help. Psalm 3:3 The Passion Translation

– and this lifts his mind out of the pit of despair so that his vision of reality includes not only his adverse circumstances, but the profound truth of God’s goodness in spite of all appearances.

He realizes that God is a shield, a personal protector, safeguarding him from dangers seen and unseen.  I really love the line that says, “you lift up my head.”  Few things would bow your head and crush your spirit like your kids rejecting you. If you’re ever experienced this firsthand, you can relate to David’s pain. David felt this shame and wept his grief, and as he prays, he sees God bathing him with glory, God’s fatherly hand lifting his face and renewing his personal sense of dignity. 

He hasn’t done anything to earn this favor from God; it is simply God’s love and peace at work.  David is both securely shielded and deeply affirmed– and as a result, he says,

So now I’ll lie down and sleep like a baby—
then I’ll awake in safety, for the Lord sustains me.
Even though dark powers prowl around me,
I won’t be afraid.

When you’re under extreme stress one of the first things to go is sleep, but David reports that he is sleeping peacefully. A hundred real and imaginary threats threaten to stalk his mind, but he has learned to let them go, to hand them over to God and fall asleep in his care.

This is a recipe for sustainable mental health.  In the NT, Paul says, “shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. And before you know it the peace of God that transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Jesus.”

This ancient psalm of personal lament is a model for struggling believers today.

“Rise up and help me, Lord! Come and save me!”
And you will slap my foes in the face, breaking the power of their words to harm me. My true hero comes to my rescue, for the Lord alone is my Savior. What a feast of favor and bliss he gives his people! Psalm 3:7-8

Isn’t that a beautiful turnaround from desperation to confidence?  To be honest, in my experience it usually takes more than an 8 line prayer for my fears and failures to dissolve into joy and peace. 

Perhaps this is an example of poetic compression.  But it may also suggest that David has cultivated his spiritual resilience through practicing these principles over time. 

That’s the power of the psalms for you.

To view this blog read aloud check out the YouTube video here.