Our Help in Trouble
Psalm 3
Heritage of Faith

Have you ever been deeply wounded by family members?  What do you do?  Where do you go?  How do you respond?

Psalm 3 tells us about our help when we face great pain and wounds from family.  Ultimately, the increase of trouble for David sprung like a bitter fountain from his angry son, Absalom.

I am sure that when King David fled from his son Absalom he was preoccupied and deeply wounded that his own son would topple him from power.  Shimei’s curses rained down on David’s head.  Stones whizzed past his ears.  Dust nearly blinded his eyes.   Yet David made time to authentically worship God, and he wrote more than one Psalm during that occasion. And he saw the LORD, even through the cursing of Shimei (2 Samuel 16:10).  I like Psalm 3 because though hostile circumstances swirled out of David’s control, he sees the LORD as his personal friend who protected him and heard his voice in the midst of mounting trouble.  David uses eighteen personal pronouns in this brief eight verse Psalm, emphasizing that his heart was intertwined with God Himself.  “But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head” (Psalm 3:3).  God’s protection, abundance, and encouragement were real to David in spite of the human defeat.  So determine to make time to read Scripture, and to cry to God with your voice.  Take out a pen like David did and write down the thoughts of your soul.  Praise God.  Thank Him, not necessarily for everything, but in whatever you are going through.  Sing songs that move you near to God and help you sense His intimate presence.  What David needed could not be accessed by natural methods, he needed God’s blessing to sustain him.  David drew near to God in spite of deep inner grief in new surroundings.  He lingered in God’s presence in spite of an unknown future.  And he challenges us all to see the Lord and lay hold of his salvation in Him even when He seems far from our range of vision.  What David needed could not be seen.  He needed God, desperately.

This Psalm is written when David flees from Absalom. Absalom of course is David’s son, but he has connived his way to usurp the crown.  When he gains enough support, he pushes David off the throne and David leaves the city, cursed and humiliated by the taunting of Shimei.

1. TROUBLE, v.1-2

David shares a trio of troubles in verses 1-2:

1. An Increase in trouble (affliction, or distress.) 

Sometimes troubles and trials come in bunches.  Peter tells us of “manifold trials.”  And so it is.  There are a myriad of troubles in the game of life.  Many wounds come upon our soul.  Perhaps you have been rejected by your parents.  Or abused.  Or you have gone through a divorce.  You wonder if you have failed not only in doing things, but in what you know you should be.  You feel like you have failed the Lord.  Or you have failed as a man, as a father or husband. You feel like a failure as a woman, as a wife or mother.

Maybe you have troubles in your church and you feel that your church is going in a direction you cannot support.

Or maybe you have financial or work troubles.

Psalm 25:19; Consider mine enemies; for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred.

Psalm 38:19; But mine enemies are lively, and they are strong: and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.

Psalm 69:4; They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.

1. Many rise against David:

Absalom led those in David’s administration to turn against David.  His most trusted advisor Ahithophel, took Absalom’s side.  There is a reason Ahithophel turned on David.  He was the granddaughter of Bathesheba.  David had Ahithophel’s son in law, Uriah, murdered. 

Bathsheba’s father was Eliam. Eliam was also one of David’s Mighty men (2 Sam.23:34). Eliam was the son of Ahithophel. Ahithophel was a trusted counsellor of David but will turn against him when Absalom rebels against David. David was betraying three loyal friends (Ahithophel, Uriah, and Eliam), as well as defiling Bathsheba, destroying her marriage and sinning against God!

1. They insult and blaspheme making a suggestion that staggers his faith. 

God cannot and will not help you out of this one!  You are getting exactly what you deserve and so live with it!  This problem is out of God’s league to help you.

Here is the first “SELAH” in the Psalms.  This strange word occurs 73 times in the Psalms.  Most believe it was a musical pause, an interlude of silence for the singer while the instruments played.  Others say it means, “Lift up your voice and sing even more exuberantly.” 

Psalm 55:19 and 57:3 it comes in the middle of the verse.  Usually it appears at the end of a sentence or paragraph.

1. TRUST, v.3-4

What a note of worship David hits in this song.  In the midst of trouble, he elevates God and worships Him. We will worship something, it is what we do.  You can’t help but to worship; it’s what we are made for.  There are ten million things to worship in this world, but only ONE GOD who deserves our worship.  So the question is not, “Will you worship?” but “Who or What will you worship?”  It is sad that people worship WHATS rather than the great God.  What is a material thing: an idol of wood or stone. 

What is worship?  Worship is the free and unforced giving away of all we are in our inmost being to all God is in truth.  What we give our hearts away to in return for a promise of life, eternal life and abundant life.
Worship is giving something to God, reverence, praise, or our love.  The root word for the Greek word for worship is proskuneo, which is a compound word of KISS-TOWARD.  The root word of worship is to KISS.  In the Psalms, the Scripture says, KISS the SON.  Worship is the kiss of our soul upon the hand of our Savior.  To bow before Him and our English word is tied to the word WORTH.  Worship is ascribing to God His worth.  I define worship as a whole being response to all God is.  It is all I am giving to God all He is.  It is the total adoring response of man to the eternal God.  Worship is not something we do for an hour or so each week.  Our life should be a life of worship.  Many today think that Christianity is first of all what I get from God.  But it is not.  Christianity is what God has given and then what I am to give HIM, honor, praise, and worship.  I am to worship Him no matter how much I think He has given me.  We do not believe in Jesus for what we can get out of it, but because of who He .We do not believe for what we can get out of it, but for who God is and what He is worthy of!

Everyone in worship does something outward.  Some go to church and take communion.  There is an external aspect to everyone’s faith and worship.  We must be careful that what we do is not merely outward, but that our outward expression results from an inward love and surrender to Him.

God gives David three areas in which to trust:

1. God is a shield: Protection.

When David left Jerusalem, he could have been killed, but he was not.  God Himself protected him as Shimei rained curses down upon him.

1. God is our glory:

Glory speaks of weight or abundance.  This word is used to speak of the glory of the LORD.  He is a God of glory and He is my glory.  I will glorify Him.  Even when the wounds of life cut deeply into my heart, He is my glory and the One I glorify.  Therefore, I have a purpose greater than myself that can overcome any trouble or trial I face.  He is our abundance in time of need.  What time is that: all the time!

He gives abundance of joy in times of affliction. He gives abundance of peace in the valley of the shadow of death. 

He is our honor when others defame us.  He is our glory.  This means that He is the One who matters. 

For David to say this is worship.  He is being evicted from his throne as king by his ambitious and proud son, Absalom.  Yet David still worships.  Lord, you are my glory, my

1. God lifts up our head:

In spite of our circumstances, He gives encouragement and joy. 

David had to leave the city with his head down, shielding himself from the dirt and dust raining down upon him along with Shimei’s epithets. 

1. TRIUMPH, v.5-8

1. To enjoy Sleep!

He gives us rest even in troubling times.  We get our sense of joy in HIM and not from circumstances.  HE slept surrounded by foes.  He did not wait for all of his trouble to be gone before he slept! 

Do you have trouble sleeping?  Are you angry and anxious and never able to sleep unless you take a pill?

Augustine and Luther relate this to the resurrection: I laid me down and slept: I awaked; for the LORD sustained me.

1. To be Sustained:

The Lord help me up, upholded me, strengthened me, supported me, encouraged me!  I leaned upon the Lord and he held me up.

Psalm 145:14; The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.

1. To possess Salvation!

He is our help in trouble, so trust in Him, and you shall triumph!