3:1 LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! many [are] they that rise up against me.
3:2 Many [there be] which say of my soul, [There is] no help for him in God. Selah.
3:3 But thou, O LORD, [art] a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.
3:4 I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.
3:5 I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me.
3:6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set [themselves] against me round about.
3:7 Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies [upon] the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. 3:8 Salvation [belongeth] unto the LORD: thy blessing [is] upon thy people. Selah.
The cry we make for deliverance – vs. -7-8Deliverance is rested in the Sufficiency of God (7) This is a war cry. In Numbers 33-36, we are told that when the hosts of Israel broke camp, they did so because the cloud of the Lord, which normally rested over the Ark of the Covenant in the midst of the camp, had risen up and gone before them.
Whenever the cloud came to rest, Moses would say, “Return Lord to the countless thousands of Israel.” David was making a victorious call to battle, knowing that the Lord was going before him and would give him the victory. The point - we must desire God's presence above everything else!!!
Here again you have a paraell between verse 7 and verse 2. They said God would not save him and he is confident that God will save him.
God did give him victory! God caused Absalom to listen to bad advise and thus fail to pursue and defeat his father when he was most vulnerable. When the battle was finally engaged, after David had been able to gathe strength and prepare for it, David’s troops achieved victory. It took place in the forest of Ephraim, where 23,000 men were killed, including Absalom.
Deliverance is rendered in the Salvation of God (8) This verse is simply a testimonial followed by a blessing. David ascribes salvation to God, its source and then shows how His people are blessed through it.
Charles Spurgeon said,
Search the Scripture through and you must, if you read it with a candid mind, be persuaded that the doctrine of salvation by grace alone is the great doctrine of the word of God…this is the great point concerning which we are daily fighting. Our opponents say, “Salvation belongeth to the free will of man; if not to man’s merit, yet at least to man’s will.” We hold and teach that salvation from frist to last, in every iota of it, belongs to the Most High God. ti is God that chooses his people. He calls them by his grace, he quickens them by his Spirit, and keeps them by his power. Ti is not of man, neither by man: “not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.”
The point is that if God has saved you in this great matter of salvation – why should you tremble before the lesser, physical dangers of this life, however imposing and frightful they may seem? You and I will triumph by faith in God as David did!
Application Ø Are you focused on your problems and enemies or on the LORD?
Ø Do you recognize how Jesus faced His enemies to provide your salvation and that through Him you too will be blessed?
Ø Knowing the truth of this psalm, name one way tomorrow will be different?
Ø Has Jesus Christ delivered you from the wrath to come? What on earth are you worried about now? Do you recognize that God demands obedience not outcomes?
