July 24, 2005

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Ester 2:8-5:14; Acts 15:22-41

Good Afternoon Brothers and Sisters,

Psalm 3 (NASB95)
¹ O Lord, how my adversaries have increased! Many are rising up against me. ² Many are saying of my soul, “There is no deliverance for him in God.”Selah. ³ But You, O Lord, are a shield about me, My glory, and the One who lifts my head. ⁴ I was crying to the Lord with my voice, And He answered me from His holy mountain.Selah. ⁵ I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord sustains me. ⁶ I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people Who have set themselves against me round about. ⁷ Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God! For You have smitten all my enemies on the cheek; You have shattered the teeth of the wicked. ⁸ Salvation belongs to the Lord; Your blessing be upon Your people!Selah.^[1]

It is thought that the third psalm was written when David was fleeing for his life from his son Absalom.  David was a strong man, one who was not afraid to take on lions and bears, even taking on a giant when he was a young man.  Yet he fled for his life from his son.  This may have been because David did not want to harm his own son.  On the other hand, David was also a poet, which is evident from the Psalms.  He had two sides to him, that side of the mighty warrior and the side of the sensitive poet.  One thing that is certain, David displayed extreme bravery in his life, and on the flip side, he displayed extreme fear.

2 Samuel 15:9-14 (NASB95)
⁹ The king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he arose and went to Hebron. ¹⁰ But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, ‘Absalom is king in Hebron.’ ” ¹¹ Then two hundred men went with Absalom from Jerusalem, who were invited and went innocently, and they did not know anything. ¹² And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city Giloh, while he was offering the sacrifices. And the conspiracy was strong, for the people increased continually with Absalom. ¹³ Then a messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom.” ¹⁴ David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “Arise and let us flee, for otherwise none of us will escape from Absalom. Go in haste, or he will overtake us quickly and bring down calamity on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword.”

2 Samuel 16:5-14 (NASB95)
⁵ When King David came to Bahurim, behold, there came out from there a man of the family of the house of Saul whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera; he came out cursing continually as he came. ⁶ He threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David; and all the people and all the mighty men were at his right hand and at his left. ⁷ Thus Shimei said when he cursed, “Get out, get out, you man of bloodshed, and worthless fellow! ⁸ “The Lord has returned upon you all the bloodshed of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned; and the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. And behold, you are taken in your own evil, for you are a man of bloodshed!” ⁹ Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over now and cut off his head.” ¹⁰ But the king said, “What have I to do with you, O sons of Zeruiah? If he curses, and if the Lord has told him, ‘Curse David,’ then who shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’ ” ¹¹ Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Behold, my son who came out from me seeks my life; how much more now this Benjamite? Let him alone and let him curse, for the Lord has told him. ¹² “Perhaps the Lord will look on my affliction and return good to me instead of his cursing this day.” ¹³ So David and his men went on the way; and Shimei went along on the hillside parallel with him and as he went he cursed and cast stones and threw dust at him. ¹⁴ The king and all the people who were with him arrived weary and he refreshed himself there.^[2]

It is hard to say whether the danger was real or whether Absalom built such a great deception that it looked like it was real.  David felt threatened enough that he fled for his life, leaving his home vulnerable to attack.  Later Absalom took advantage of that situation and fulfilled the word of the Lord concerning his sin with Bathsheba.

2 Samuel 12:11-12 (NASB95)
¹¹ “Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. ¹² ‘Indeed you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and under the sun.’ ”

2 Samuel 16:21-22 (NASB95)
²¹ Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines, whom he has left to keep the house; then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself odious to your father. The hands of all who are with you will also be strengthened.” ²² So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and Absalom went in to his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel. ^[3]

Whether or not the fear was real or imagined, David paid a huge penalty for running from his son.  With that background let's look at the psalm that David wrote concerning that time. 

Verses 1-2 indicate that David was overwhelmed with the enemies that had come against him.  He saw no hope for the future, it is also indicated that he felt that God had even abandoned him. 

He had no hope of even calling out to God for deliverance.  Have you ever felt that way?  Has life ever dealt a huge blow to you where it seemed that God did not listen to your prayers any longer, and a cold distance was put up in place of your fellowship with Him?  If you look at the background of this Psalm, then consider that David had sinned against the Lord and brought the curse upon himself, it makes sense why he had such irrational fear.  It also makes sense that in light of the circumstances he felt that God had removed his kingdom from him.  Sin colored David's thinking, he knew that he was responsible for his actions, and rather than face his son in battle, he ran for his life.

Some of the basic fears that attacked David was a feeling of helplessness, powerlessness, insignificance, and disconnection with God.  The book "The DNA of Relationships" speaks to this very issue, and it gives us a toolbox that helps us to understand how that our emotions can control or direct our lives. 

In verses 3-6, David writes about God what he knows to be true.  He knew that God was the protector of his soul, and the one who was responsible for giving him victory over tens of thousands of people in the past.  David knew that by leaning upon God he would be saved from the situation that he was in.  One thing that David was sure of was that God would restore him to his throne, "One who lifts my head".  He was also sure of the Lord working in his life, and that God answers prayer.  He knew that by leaning upon the Lord, he would be able to enter battle again with boldness.

Verses 7-8 are poorly translated because the English version translates this prayer as past tense.  The Hebrew had it in present tense.  I think that this is important because David was not praying to God establishing what had already happened.  David was crying out to God and asking Him to take action on his behalf.  I am going to re-write the verses using the present tense words that are indicated by NASB footnotes:

"Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God!  For You smite all my enemies on the jaw; You shatter the teeth of the wicked.  Deliverance belongs to the Lord; Your blessing is upon Your people!" 

Do you see the difference?  David expressed his emotional state in the first few verses, he stated the way that he felt, and reacted to the situation.  The next few verses David spoke out what he knew to be true about God and God's relationship to him.  Then David finished the Psalm with a prayer of deliverance based upon the information that he gave us in the first two sections.  A prayer of power is based upon discernment of your situation, and what you know to be true about God.  Then taking what you know and applying God's word to it so that you can pray a prayer of power based upon God's words.  David knew that his sin had been forgiven, and that God was still the same God that he had fellowship with before, he prayed according to his knowledge.

I am going to close here, all comments are welcomed. 

Father, as we consider Your word today, place a desire in each of our hearts to use discernment in our prayers, praying sincerely from the heart.

In Him,

Joe Turner

Thanks,

Joe Turner.