The Surrounded Saint's Confidence Text: Psalm 3:3-6
Introduction: The Treason of a Son
We come this morning to a psalm born from one of the darkest moments in a great man's life. This is not a theoretical psalm. This is not David sitting in his study, composing abstract theology about hypothetical troubles. This is a psalm written on the run, a psalm of the hunted. The superscription tells us the setting: "A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son." This is not an external enemy, a Philistine giant or a pagan king. This is his own son, his handsome, charming, treacherous son Absalom, who had stolen the hearts of the men of Israel and raised a rebellion against his own father.
David is fleeing Jerusalem, the city of God, the place where he had reigned for decades. His own counselor, Ahithophel, has turned against him. The people are whispering, as people do, that David's sin has finally caught up with him. They are saying, "There is no help for him in God" (v. 2). This is the ultimate taunt, the final twist of the knife. It is one thing to have men against you; it is another thing entirely to be told that God is against you. This is the logic of the world. They see a man's fortunes turn, they see the consequences of his past sins come home to roost, and they conclude that God has abandoned him. They believe that God is only for winners.
But David, in the midst of this profound humiliation and danger, does not turn inward to despair, nor outward to his remaining loyal men. He turns upward. This psalm is a master class in how a man of God responds under extreme pressure. It is a lesson in theological back-boned, Spirit-filled defiance. When the world says God has abandoned you, the man of faith doubles down on who God is. David's circumstances were screaming one thing, but his covenant theology was screaming something else, and David chose to believe God rather than his circumstances. This is the central conflict in the life of every believer. Will you interpret God through your circumstances, or will you interpret your circumstances through your God? David shows us the way.
The Text
But You, O Yahweh, are a shield about me,
My glory, and the One who lifts my head.
I was calling to Yahweh with my voice,
And He answered me from His holy mountain. Selah.
I lay down and slept;
I awoke, for Yahweh sustains me.
I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people
Who all around have set themselves against me.
(Psalm 3:3-6)
The Divine Defense (v. 3)
David begins his counter-offensive not with a sword, but with a theological affirmation.
"But You, O Yahweh, are a shield about me, My glory, and the One who lifts my head." (Psalm 3:3)
That word "But" is a glorious, pugnacious, defiant word. The world says, "No help for him in God." David says, "But You..." This is the great hinge of faith. It is the pivot upon which a man turns from the lies of the enemy to the truth of God. David does not deny the reality of the threat. He simply asserts a greater reality. Yes, Absalom is coming. Yes, thousands are against me. "But You, O Yahweh..."
He calls God a "shield about me." Not a shield in front of me, but a shield that completely surrounds him. This is not a riot shield for one direction; it is a sphere of divine protection. David understands that God's protection is total. The enemy might be "all around" (v. 6), but so is the shield. This is a direct answer to the feeling of being surrounded. When you are hemmed in by your enemies, you must remember that you are first hemmed in by your God.
Then he says God is "My glory." Absalom had taken David's earthly glory, his throne, his capital, his honor. In the eyes of the world, David was a disgraced old king on the run. But David's glory was never ultimately in his crown or his throne. His glory was in Yahweh. When your earthly glory is stripped away, you find out where your true glory lies. For the Christian, our glory is not in our reputation, our success, or our comfort. Our glory is Christ Himself. So let them strip everything else away. They cannot touch our true glory.
And God is "the One who lifts my head." This is a posture of shame and defeat. A beaten man hangs his head. David was in a position to be profoundly ashamed. The rebellion was, in part, the outworking of God's judgment on his sin with Bathsheba (2 Sam. 12:11-12). But David knows that while God is the one who humbled him, He is also the only one who can truly exalt him. He does not try to lift his own head. He entrusts his vindication to God. When we are brought low, our instinct is to justify ourselves, to salvage our pride. The way of faith is to let our head hang, and to wait for God, in His time, to lift it.
The Heard Prayer (v. 4)
David's confidence is not based on wishful thinking. It is based on a relationship of answered prayer.
"I was calling to Yahweh with my voice, And He answered me from His holy mountain. Selah." (Psalm 3:4)
Notice the tense. "I was calling... and He answered." This is the testimony of a man who knows how to pray and who knows that God hears. His prayer was not a silent, timid wish. He cried out "with my voice." This is robust, masculine prayer. This is a man in trouble, calling out to his God for help. There is a time for quiet contemplation, but there is also a time for crying out to God.
And where does the answer come from? "From His holy mountain." Now, where is God's holy mountain, Zion? It's back in Jerusalem, the city that Absalom now controls. The ark of the covenant is there. From a worldly perspective, David's enemies controlled the temple. They had the religious real estate. But David knew that a usurper sitting on the throne in Jerusalem does not evict God from His heaven. God's throne is not subject to earthly coups. God still answered from His holy hill, right over the heads of the rebels. This is a profound lesson for us. It does not matter if the ungodly control the institutions, the seminaries, or the statehouses. God still hears the prayers of His people, and He answers from His holy habitation, and no earthly power can stop Him.
The word "Selah" appears here. While its precise meaning is debated, it likely indicates a pause, a moment for reflection or a musical interlude. We should take it as such. Pause and consider this: God hears prayer from His throne, regardless of who is on the thrones of the earth. Let that sink in.
The Sustaining Rest (v. 5)
The fruit of this confident prayer is a supernatural peace.
"I lay down and slept; I awoke, for Yahweh sustains me." (Psalm 3:5)
This is perhaps the most astounding verse in the psalm. A hunted man, with a price on his head, whose own son wants him dead, lays his head down on the bare ground and sleeps. This is not the fitful sleep of an anxious man. This is the deep, restorative sleep of a man who has entrusted himself entirely to God. Insomnia is often the fruit of unbelief. We stay awake, turning our problems over and over, because we secretly believe it's all up to us. David knew it wasn't up to him. He prayed, he gave the battle to God, and then he went to sleep. This is the peace that passes all understanding.
Sleep is a small picture of death. Every night we lay ourselves down, helpless and unconscious, trusting that we will wake again. David could sleep because he was not afraid to die. He laid himself down, a manifest type of death, and faced it quietly. And when he awoke, he knew why. "For Yahweh sustains me." It was not his own strength, not the vigilance of his bodyguards, but the sustaining hand of God that kept his heart beating through the night. Every morning you wake up is a small resurrection, a testimony to the sustaining grace of God. We should wake with these words on our lips.
The Fearless Defiance (v. 6)
This confidence, rooted in God's character and faithfulness, culminates in a bold declaration of fearlessness.
"I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people Who all around have set themselves against me." (Psalm 3:6)
This is not bravado. This is faith flexing its muscles. David is not saying he has no natural apprehension. He is saying he will not give himself over to the sin of fear. Fear is a choice. It is a decision to believe the threat of the enemy is greater than the promise of God. David looks at the numbers, "ten thousands of people," and he does not flinch. Why? Because he has already looked to his God. One man with God is a majority.
The world worships numbers. They believe in polls, in crowds, in popular movements. If "ten thousands of people" are on one side, that side must be right. The Christian must have a holy contempt for such logic. Our faith is not determined by popular opinion. We are not called to be on the right side of history; we are called to be on the right side of God. And if that means standing against ten thousand, or ten million, then so be it.
Notice the posture of his enemies: "Who all around have set themselves against me." They are organized, determined, and positioned for attack. This is a description of spiritual warfare. Our enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil, have set themselves against us. They are not neutral. They are actively hostile. But the response of faith is not to be afraid. Why? Because the one who is for us is greater than all those who are against us. The shield of God is "about me," and it is more than sufficient for the enemies who are "all around" me.
Conclusion: Our Absalom and Our David
This psalm is a great comfort to us in our troubles, but its ultimate fulfillment is not in us, but in the greater David, the Lord Jesus Christ. He too was betrayed, not by a son, but by a friend, a disciple. He too was surrounded by His enemies, the "ten thousands of people" who cried out "Crucify Him!" They taunted Him, saying that God had abandoned Him. "He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him" (Matthew 27:43).
And on the cross, He did not just sleep a picture of death; He truly died. He laid Himself down in the ultimate darkness. And it appeared to all the world that God had not helped Him. But God was His shield. God was His glory. And God was the one who would lift His head. On the third day, the Father answered Him from His holy mountain, not with a quiet word, but with the earth-shattering power of the resurrection. He awoke, because Yahweh sustained Him, and He was raised for our justification.
Because He faced the ultimate enemy, we can face our lesser ones. Because His prayer was answered, our prayers can be answered. Because He was sustained through death itself, we can be sustained through the night. Therefore, we can say with David, and more than that, with Christ in us, that we will not be afraid. Whatever rebellion rises against you, whatever taunts you hear, whatever earthly glory is stripped away, you can say, "But You, O Lord, are a shield about me." Trust in Him. He is your glory. And He will, in His perfect time, lift your head.