As I arise, Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God!

Psalm 3 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Morning Prayer of Trust in God.

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

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.

Hebrews 11:1 says:  Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  Faith is believing we will get what we want, even when we cannot see it, even when the circumstances make it seem unlikely. Fear is the opposite of faith. Fear is believing in the things we do not want. 2 Corinthians 5:7 says:  We walk by faith, not by sight. The key to our faith is not how much of it we have, but rather it is in the one whom we believe. God is unseen, but we have confidence because He is greater than anyone or anything that stands before us. In today’s text the psalmist says: O Lord, how my adversaries have increased! Many are rising up against me.  Many are saying of my soul, “There is no deliverance for him in God.”  David’s own son had come against him, to take the kingdom from him.  We too can feel at times like everyone is against us. In Matthew 10:34-36 Jesus says:  “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;  and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.”   Jesus also knows the taunting that David and we too receive when people say there is no deliverance in God. In Matthew 27:41-43, when Jesus was on the cross, it says:  The chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying,  “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. He trusts in God; let God rescue Him now, if He delights in Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” The psalmist responds to the mocking and doubt saying:  You, O Lord, are a shield about me, My glory, and the One who lifts my head. I was crying to the Lord with my voice, And He answered me from His holy mountain. I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord sustains me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people Who have set themselves against me round about.    Romans 8:31 says:  What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  It is important that like David we both realize and allow God to lift our head, so that we look up; that we see from heaven’s view rather than from earth’s view.  Again, the most important thing about our faith is the one we have confidence in. We need to look up to Him. Hebrews 12:1-3 says:  Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.   Perfect faith is not measured by the quantity of it. It is measured in that we focus on the one who is perfect, Jesus Christ our Lord.

The psalmist says:  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. Salvation belongs to the Lord; Your blessing be upon Your people!   These verses, and in fact this entire psalm has three separate components. It is a statement of fact, based on past experience. It is a statement of faith based in confidence in God and it is a prophetic statement about the future, our future. Salvation in and from the Lord, through Jesus sacrifice on the cross is the true blessing of God on His people. It is salvation in Christ that gives us the ultimate confidence and faith. Because of the cross, we can say, like the psalmist in Psalm 23:4:  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me.    Even death is not to be feared. It has no power over us because we will be with God beyond this life. 1 Corinthians 15:55;57 says:   O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? … Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.   Romans 8:31-39 says:  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?  He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

May the words of the psalmist be our declaration and prayer.   O Lord, how my adversaries have increased! Many are rising up against me. Many are saying of my soul, “There is no deliverance for him in God.”  But You, O Lord, are a shield about me, My glory, and the One who lifts my head.  I was crying to the Lord with my voice, And He answered me from His holy mountain.  I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord sustains me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people Who have set themselves against me round about. 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. Salvation belongs to the Lord; Your blessing be upon Your people! Amen. Thank You Lord. Amen.