Psalm 3: Morning After the Storm – When Fear Meets Faith

[Music] [Laughter] Well, hello and welcome to the Pastor Patrick podcast. My name is Patrick Daly and I'm the pastor of Ontario Community Church. If this is your first time watching or listening to the podcast, I'd like to welcome you here. Whether you are a new believer or you're just curious about Christianity, no matter where you are at in life's journey, if you're on a spiritual journey, I pray that you are on a spiritual journey to know who Jesus Christ is. And if you know the Lord, I pray that you are on a spiritual journey in Christ.

It is my prayer that you will come to know the Lord, grow in him, and be moved to do good in his name. We have been going through the book of Psalms together, and we have been going through one psalm each um each episode here on the podcast. And today, we're going to be going over Psalm 3. So, I'd like to open in a word of prayer, and we will go ahead and read the scripture together. We use what is known as the OIa method, the observation, interpretation and application method where we read the text together.

We look at the underlying lessons and of course we look at the application is what do we do about this. But before we go any further, let's go ahead and open in a word of prayer and we'll get right into it. Dear Lord and heavenly father, the creator of the heavens and the earth, we thank you for this time and this opportunity for us to tune in to watch or to listen this podcast. And we just pray that truth is spoken here and that it is done so in such a way that is clear and understanding for the listener or the viewer. And father, I pray if there's any uh misunderstanding, let there be clarity today.

Let there be healing and comfort where there is needed, where it is needed according to your will. We are so grateful that we have the word of God that we can open, that we can read and study together, and we can just grow together. We're so grateful for your son, Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life, and is the cornerstone of our salvation. And so we're just so grateful that we can do this together, that we have this technology, and you are one amazing God. So bless this time together in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. And so from Psalm 3, I'm going to be reading from the NIV, the New International Version. And it starts off by saying, "Lord, how many are my foes? How many rise up against me? Many are saying of me, "God will not deliver him." But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the one who lifts my head high.

I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain. I lie down and sleep. I wake again because the Lord sustains me. I will not fear, though tens of thousands assail me on every side. Arise Lord, deliver me my God.

Strike all my enemies on the jaw. Break the teeth of the wicked. From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people. And this is Psalm 3 together.

It's a shorter one. And Psalm 3 is basically a it is a hymn that is written by David. And it is said that this psalm was written while David is fleeing from Abselum from 2 Samuel uh chapter 15. It is a time when David is in the middle of a crisis and he is confident about God give bringing forth peace. And you know what's very interesting about many of these psalms that we read together when we open the text is knowing the fact that in these psalms there's so much that is happening in the human condition that so much that's happening to David that we there are things that we can relate to and you know that feeling what it feels like when everyone or everything is against you can be an overwhelming feeling and that's what's happening here when David is showing us this Psalm 3.

And we start off then in the first couple of verses then, right, where it says, "Lord, how many are my foes? How many rise up against me?" Right? And that second verse, how many are saying of me, God will not deliver him? That's a pretty nasty thing to say, right? So, we start off, how many rise up against me?

And it's this feeling that David has. He is overwhelmed by the amount of enemies that he has, right? by those who have turned against him. And when we think about it, this is where David is crying out to the Lord. It is in times where we have enemies or people who are against us that we turn to the Lord in prayer or we cry out to him.

I know for many of us, we've had moments where we have felt that there are people who have turned on us or people have turned against us or we feel that there is just enemies that are rising up against us. It is in times in crisis, maybe not even times where people are turning on you. It is in times of crisis where it is so important for us to turn to the word of God, to turn to prayer, but most importantly to turn to the Lord and trust in him in those waves that come, right? Think of the time or a time in your life where you have turned to the Lord in prayer. Maybe you have and maybe you haven't.

If you are going through a crisis, I encourage for you to turn to God in prayer, to cry out to him and ask him for comfort, for strength, and to be able to persevere through any trial that you may be going through. In verse two, it's saying, "Many are saying of me, God will not deliver him." And I I when I hear when I read that, it's uh it's kind of a really nasty wording that you have here. Not only are there people that are against David in this situation, but they're saying to him, "God is abandoning you." It's a nasty thing for someone to say, right? Because David is feeling this sense of isolation, the sense of um right, all of these enemies that are going against him. And it doesn't stop there.

It's actually where the enemies are rising up against him by discouraging him and saying, "Look, literally saying God's not going to deliver you." Right? They're saying here, they're they're using that discouragement to continue to make him feel more of a sense of abandonment, right? And you have to ask yourself when you're reading this, certainly there are moments in our life where we feel discouraged, right? or we've may maybe had someone who said something absolutely nasty or terrible to us and it has discouraged us and maybe in those times it's a time for you to um really lean into God a lot more in those moments. I know for me personally there have been times where I've had discouraging words happen to me and I think to myself that's not right for you to say that but it's not going to bring me down.

It's going to hurt me certainly, but I put my trust in God. And so we go then into that third verse saying, right, despite what is being said, but you Lord are a shield around me, right? Because God is the great protector. But you, Lord, right? How many of you have gone through those crisises or moments in your life where you have enemies going against you or you're just in crisis mode, but you're turning to God?

But you, oh Lord, are my shield. You are my protector. You are my strength. Relying on God and recognizing that he is the constant in our life. For many of us, we may not have a constant in our life.

We may have friends who are coming, going, situations and circumstances that we may be going through. But it is the recognizing that God is our strong tower. He is our anchor. He is our constant in this everchanging world that we live in. That is the beauty of who God is.

Right? That God is our protector. And it is the one in David's case. It's saying here, right? My glory, the one who lifts my head high.

It is knowing that God is constant, that God is the great comforter, and that he is in the same way that he is a shield to David, he is a shield to us. That should bring us great comfort and and just really lift our spirits up, especially when we are down. We then go into verse saying, I call out to the Lord and he answers me from his holy mountain. Right? that David is not.

And this is very interesting. When you're in those moments where you're in crisis or you feel that everyone is turning against you or everyone is turning against you, it's one thing to vent, but it's another to place your trust and to pray to the living God. And God listens and he responds in his timing. And and that's one of the beautiful things. I want you to think for a moment about what it means for God to be a shield, right?

Uh we can think of this idea where you're holding up a shield and it's protecting you from arrows and in battle, right? But also to think that God is our great protector, right? He comforts us. He literally shields us, right? And in moments where we are recognizing when it says in the text, "But you, God, are a shield." Have you had a moment where you've said, "But you, God, are that protector.

You're that shield. You comfort me." It's certainly a wonderful thing. And when you're in those crisis moments, consider praying to the Lord. Not just venting to God, but crying out to him and being in in his presence and praying to him and and just really leaning on him, right? Fully trusting and relying in him.

This then takes us then into verse verses five and six where it says,"I lie down and sleep. I wake again because the Lord sustains me." And that's beautiful poetic language. Right? When we're thinking of times where we are in battle or times where we are overwhelmed and overburdened, sleep is something that is absolutely beautiful. Right?

I lie down and sleep where it's signifying David's trust in God. Right? that it is an act of trust that he is going to rest in God despite all of the conflict, despite all of the overwhelm that is happening because and and here's the thing. It's not to say that the problem is gone. It's to say that despite what is going on, despite all of this anxiety, all of this fear and all of this stuff that's just going on, that he is sustained by God regardless of what's going on.

And it's something that we can see just right away not only in the context of David but in our own lives that there are storms that happen in our life. There are situation and circumstances where we don't even know what is happening or we don't even know why it's happening but we're going through a storm or we're going through these moments of crisis. And that is a beautiful thing for us to recognize that we can sleep, right? And that we can wake again because God is the sustainer. You know, I think of how there's a sermon series that I did uh not not too long ago where we were going over how Christ is the creator, the redeemer, and the sustainer.

And not only does it recognize the attributes of Christ, but it recognizes the attributes of the triune God. God as the creator, right? Um it is said that the Holy Spirit is the sustainer and Christ is the redeemer. So this is just one of those things where it's talking about the sustenance, right? Or the sustainability of God.

It's just something that is absolutely powerful. It then takes us into verse six where it's saying, "I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side." What powerful words, right? where David is trusting in God when he should be afraid. I mean when you're thinking of tens of thousands of people who are rising up against you that is a lot of people just having one person who is against you can be overwhelming but having tens of thousands right saying I will not fear though those tens of thousands right they are assailing me and it's in moments like that now I don't know about really anyone who's had tens of thousands of people go against them but certainly can happen certainly has happened with David here. And it's it's kind of this thing that it's having full confidence in God despite a bad situation.

And there's so many times in scripture where God tells us that we should not be afraid. We shouldn't we shouldn't worry about tomorrow. We should boldly live this life trusting in God and following his call for our lives. That's something that's remarkable. And David, he wakes up with that confidence, right?

It's kind of like how when we think of the Apostle Paul, many of you have heard that verse before that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And in the context of that verse, you have the Apostle Paul who has learned the abilities. Basically, it's saying that in the highs and lows of life, he realizes that God sustains him. That God gives him strength through any situation in which he is placed in. And in the same way, we can see that this is what David is recognizing here that despite all of these enemies that are against him, he is placing his trust in God and he is not afraid.

And it's an encouragement for us that certainly it's a call for us to know who Jesus Christ is, right? To have that solid rock, right? To have that firm foundation for our lives. But it's also knowing that when you place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, when you have that firm foundation, there's nothing for you to fear. Continue um living and loving like Jesus.

Continue growing and again be moved to act in what you say and in what you do. And so often for us, we have fear that can rob us of our joy. It can rob us of our rest and peace. But in the case of David, that's certainly not the case at all. And so what I want you to think about in the context of this Psalm 3 is to think about how you can place your trust in the living God.

No matter what is happening in your life, even if you have 10,000 people who are rising up against you on every side, you can trust in the living God. This then leads us into verses seven and 8. Arise Lord, deliver me my God. Strike all my enemies on the jaw. That's very interesting language, right?

Um, break the teeth of the wicked. Where David is still praying to, he has the confidence. He has nothing to fear, but that doesn't mean that he's going to stop praying, right? He is still praying for the rescue because he's still got a battle, so to speak, right? And it doesn't mean, look, when we have our full faith and confidence in the Lord and we know that there's nothing for us to fear, that doesn't mean that we stop praying.

Just like how scripture tells us that we are to pray without ceasing. That David is trusting in God to strike down his enemies, right? Something that he cannot handle himself. I mean, the ability to handle uh to fight against 10,000 is not an easy thing to do, right? It's relying on God.

And then finally then here we have this verse eight which is a reminder that salvation is from the Lord. Right? It says in the verse from the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be upon your people. And deliverance then comes from the Lord.

When we think of how David was writing this, it's knowing that salvation comes from the Lord. And in the same way for us, we know that salvation comes from the Lord through Jesus Christ. We think of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. How God provided the sacrifice, right? The sacrificial lamb for us.

That Jesus was born in that manger. That he is the word made flesh. And it's something that we have to trust in the living God, believing in the Lord and being saved. And in the case of David, he can't do it on his own. He can't fight that battle on his own, right?

He has to trust in the living God for him to fight his battle. And in the same way, we have battles in our own lives. It could be against 10,000 people. It could be a battle over addiction. It could be a battle of sin or whatever it is.

It could be we all have our own personal struggles and our personal convictions and we have to think for a moment. Are you ask you have to ask yourself that question. Are you relying on yourself to try to accomplish to fight the battle to win the battle yourself or is this something where you have to surrender? Are you surrendering to God? Asking him for strength?

Asking him, trusting in him to lean on him and say, "Look, God, I need you in this situation. I need you in this circumstance. I can't do it on my own." I think of how in my own personal walk with the Lord. I think of my own journey and how my wife and I, we couldn't have children for four years. And we prayed that God would provide for us to have children.

And it is by the grace of God through prayer and being persistent that we have our firstborn son, Aaron. But we've also, it didn't stop there. We have five children. And it's by the blessing of God that we have the children that we do. And so maybe you are trying to fight your battle on your own.

Maybe you haven't surrendered to God. Let this be a call for you to trust in him, to believe in the Lord, to be saved, and to lean on him in every situation, the good, the bad, and even the ugly. And so in all of this, then this is just going over what we can see just by looking at the text and and the connections for our own lives. But what are the lessons then that we can learn from this? That's a really good question for us.

Well, there's a few things that we can um that we can learn in our own spiritual walk, in our own walk with the Lord. And the first thing is to be honest with God about your situation, whether that is a good situation and things are okay. You can still trust in him in every season of life, right? Trusting in him in every season, right? Be honest with God about your situation, the good, the bad, or the ugly.

The second thing then is to remember who God is. Knowing that God is our constant, that God is holy, that he is just, he is righteous, and and that he I I mentioned that he is the strong tower. He is the solid foundation, right? He's the solid rock, the foundation in which we can build our lives. That when we are placing our trust in the living God, we're placing our trust in that which is higher than ourselves.

God's love, his mercy, his justice is far beyond our own comprehension. Much like it says in scripture to trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not in your own understanding and in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight or he will make straight your paths. And it's this idea, you know, one of the things about that proverb is the implication. I've always loved that where it says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." The implication being that our own understanding is like leaning on a wall. Well, walls can fall down, but the foundation of God remains forever, so to speak.

And it's just kind of a cool little uh connection that we can find even here in the context of Psalm 3 here. Remember who God is. If you don't remember who God is, you should know who God is. that God made all of his creation, right? The stars in the sky, right?

The birds of the air, the fish of the sea, even the microscopic organisms. He made you and me with such intentionality, with such divine purpose that God has a wonderful plan and gives us the opportunity to choose him or to not choose him. And in that, as I've mentioned in the previous episode, there's this kind of this balance between human responsibility, but divine providence and divine sovereignty that um that God is the ruler. He is he reigns supreme. He is the lord of all.

But yet in that there's somehow some sort of sense of human responsibility. and know the fact that God sent his son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. And so if you don't know the Lord, you should learn about who Jesus is. And one of the best ways to know about that is to know uh 1 Corinthians 15:es 1-4, which talks about believing in the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. When we are believing in the Lord and being saved, that is the simple gospel message.

In other words, it is recognizing that Jesus is all that we need. And we are saying yes to him. We are receiving the free gift of salvation. Recognizing that we can't do it on our on our own. We can't fight the battle, right?

We can't fight against 10,000, but certainly we can't earn salvation. It's about what God has done for us rather than what we can do. And for many of you, you may know Ephesians um 2:es 8-9, which it says, "For by grace you have been saved, not by works, lest any man boast." And one of the really powerful things is that verse 10, which talks about that we are made so that or made for works, right? That we are made in the image of God, so to speak. that um we are we're not saved by what we can do, but we are saved so that we can do so that we can live out this faith.

And so certainly know know who God is or if you do know who God is, remember and never forget who God is. The third thing then is to rest in him. Trust in the living God and know that he is never going to abandon you. He's never going to forsake you. And certainly when we're in those anxious moments, when we're in those moments of chaos or in those crisis mode, we can still trust in him knowing that he is going to be with us every step of the way.

And even when the battles are happening, right? Just like how David's saying, I lie down and sleep, I wake up again because the Lord sustains me. Let us remember that God sustains us. and how powerful that is for us to learn and to grow and to take to heart that we can sleep at night. We can rest knowing that God's got our back.

We can rest in his presence. And then finally, the other thing that we can learn is that we can fight the battle with prayer. We've got to have an active prayer life, right? Um pray without ceasing, right? We can thank God every day for the blessings he's given to us.

We can cry out to the Lord in moments of crisis, right? We can there's so many the power of prayer is remarkable. And it's so important for us as Christians. Maybe you haven't prayed in a while. Let this be a call for you to pray to the Lord.

It's so important to fight the battle through prayer. Pray for um those that don't know the Lord. Pray for those that do know the Lord. Right? pray for um those to come to know Jesus Christ and their hearts to be transformed, right?

The renewal of their mind. That's the thing that we have got to do, right? Um when we're in those storms of life, right? When we get when we have pressuring moments, we look up to the living God. And so ask yourself this question for this week as what part of Psalm 3 sticks out to you?

That's something for your reflection. and and your reflection alone. If you want to comment below or or whatever certainly reflect on that and in all of this then we have to think so we have the observation then right where we observe the text the lessons then right what we can learn we finally have the application which is what we can do about this right how do we live this out how do we live out and embody Psalm 3 well the first thing just like the lesson is to be honest with God Wherever you are at in your own personal circumstance or your personal situation, be honest with yourself, but more importantly, be honest with God. That's so important for us, right? Um sometimes it's important to just write it down.

Sometimes it's important to just pray it out to the Lord. You know, say to Lord, this is how this is where I'm at. This is how I'm doing. This is what I'm struggling with or this is what I'm doing good in. and it's all thanks to you.

So be honest with God, right? Just as David was where he's saying he was honest with God. Look at how many foes I have, right? How many are rising up against me? So maybe it's time to check in with the Lord and just say, "Hey, here's how things are going.

Here's where I'm at right now." Be honest with him. The second thing then is to understand, right? Um be anchored, right? be grounded in God's character and who God is, right? Recognize, live out your life knowing that God is your shield, right?

Knowing that he is the one that lifts you up. He is the one that protects you. That's one of the amazing things that we can live out in our life. That there's nothing to fear and that God is going to protect us, right? Um I would challenge for you in this week is to think about um one of the attributes in this psalm or one of the attributes of God that God is holy, that God is sovereign, that God is just, he is kind and merciful, he is slow to anger, he always delivers on his promises or uh something specific from this psalm, right?

Recognize that God is your shield and live that out. Live your life knowing that God's going to protect you and that God's always going to be with you. And the third thing then is to rest and rise in faith, right? Go to bed. I know that's going to sound really funny when I say that, but go to bed and sleep well, knowing that God is there for you, right?

And wake up rejuvenated, refreshed, knowing that God is still there with you. If you don't know the Lord, let this be a call for you to know the Lord, knowing that you can go to bed and you can wake up knowing that God is going to protect you and he's still there with you. And so if this psalm has resounded with you, let this be a a psalm that you can reflect on because all of these psalms are just beautiful language and beautiful for us to reflect on, us to consider, and us to turn to even in times of crisis. And and look, one of the big takeaways is knowing the fact that David had to deal with 10,000 enemies. But knowing that in the same way that David struggled.

Look, the Bible is full of people who are imperfect, God calls everyday people for extraordinary purpose and extraordinary potential. And so we can trust in the living God in every season of our life. God hears our prayers that God sustains us, right? And God delivers us. And I think that's one of the there's a lot of truth that's jam-packed in here, right?

Knowing deliver me my God, right? The Lord from the Lord comes deliverance. We think of the Christian, we think that it is Jesus Christ who is our deliverer, right? And so ask yourself this question in closing, right? Are you doing it on your own or are you trusting in the living God?

Let your confidence be in the one who saves. Let your confidence be in him. Let's pray together. Oh Lord and heavenly father, we thank you for this Psalm 3. We recognize from this psalm that David was really in crisis mode.

He was afraid of all of the uh the enemies that were rising up against him. But through this psalm, he recognizes that he places his trust in you, that he can sleep and wake up knowing that you are with him, especially in those moments of crisis. And Father, I pray that in any moment or any situation where someone is dealing with a crisis, may they be able to pray to you, cry out to you, uh trust in you, lean in you, and be comforted by you. Oh Lord, you are our shield and our protector. You're the one that has provided salvation through Jesus Christ in faith.

And so we thank you for just revealing more truth, more wisdom, more poetry from your word. Your word is living and active. And we're just so grateful that we have the honor to have your word and to be able to go over it together. It is in the name of Jesus Christ that we pray. Amen.

And we all say together, amen. Thank you so much for tuning in, for watching, or listening to this podcast. Once again, my name is Patrick Dailyaly, and this is the Pastor Patrick podcast. May you live and love like Jesus. Bye-bye.

[Music] [Laughter]