Brighter days
Psalm 3:1 LORD, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! 2 Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.” 3 But you, LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. 4 I call out to the LORD, and he answers me from his holy mountain. 5 I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me. 6 I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.
Verses 1-2
This psalm is set in 2 Samuel 15:13-17:24, which recounts David’s initial flight from Absalom, his son. It begins with David allowing the fear he is facing to speak into his spirit about how vastly he is outnumbered. Thus, our first defense is to ask God to alert us when we are stuck in negative thinking patterns. The more we allow this thinking to continue, the more we begin to believe these thoughts, and perhaps we have a legitimate reason to be concerned. Especially since those opposing David were saying, “God will not deliver him,” which further causes us to spiral downward into anxiety and depression. It can be challenging to break this cycle of thinking, but it is the first critical step to obtaining deliverance.
Verses 3-4
David, seemingly pulling himself out of negativity, boldly states, “But you, LORD!” Within himself, David acknowledges that he does not possess the strength to save himself, but he declares that God is able! This is the next critical step. Yes, you are powerless, but God is a shield around you. He is the lifter up of your head because it is in your head where your thoughts are weighing you down. God here immediately addresses the source of David’s struggle by lifting his thoughts and causing him to think about God, not his problems. This phase of deliverance is a massive win because you realize that if you can have small victories, they can add up to complete deliverance. See “If It Bleeds, You Can Kill It” for more.
Verses 5-6
Having adjusted his thinking, David calls out to the Lord to see what he might say instead of listening to his own thoughts and opinions. God is always speaking, but we cannot hear him when our attention is focused elsewhere. Now, David can listen to God speaking from his holy mountain, where he sits as the king and creator of everything. Now that David’s mind is filled with communication from God, he can lie down and sleep peacefully, something he likely hasn’t done for some time. Then he rises in the morning because God is sustaining him, and he begins to believe that God can deliver him from every fear attempting to destroy him. It only takes one word from God, one whisper, to change your spirit and cause you to have hope again.
Insight
Reading the six verses above likely took about 10 seconds, but God’s deliverance in your life may take longer. However, the steps are still the same: change your thinking, look to God for strength, declare that he is able, then rest in him where he will bring you out in due season. Then, just as the image above fades from clouds of darkness to bright and sunny days, your life will be transformed by an encounter with the supreme creator!
