Psalm 3 (Post 6)

Notes

This is the first psalm attributed to David.

“Selah” (vv.2.4.8) – probably a musical notation but we don’t know for sure. I take it as a pause for reflection: “Stop and ponder.”

The superscription sets a context of David’s fleeing the revolt of his son Absalom against him. Instead of the nations revolting it is his own house turning against him, a consequence of his affair with Bathsheba and killing of Uriah (2 Sam 7:11-16; 12:10-14.15). He takes refuge in God, however, and experiences forgiveness and covenant protection from God. David is lifted up here as a model for a faithful follower of YHWH, one whom readers could and should emulate as those likewise included in Israel’s story. This a case where an individual, in deed, “the” individual in Israel, serves as a representative model for the people.

“Absalom’s coup was one incident in the struggle for succession that anticipated David’s death. Dynastic succession was not yet established in Israel, which had previously relied on charismatic leadership; David, having many sons, had not named an heir, perhaps fearing fratricidal intrigue among his male offspring whom he indulged to a fault. Absalom, David’s third-born son, was ambitious. When David’s first-born son, Amnon, raped his half-sister Tamar, David failed to punish him. Absalom was outraged and, perhaps fearing that David would crown the rapist, stewed and plotted for two years, eventually arranging to have Amnon murdered in cold blood, at which time he fled to his mother’s home country for three years, fearing his father’s wrath. Absalom managed to return to Jerusalem, and he formally reconciled with his father after two more years in seclusion (perhaps when David’s wrath had abated), all the while campaigning among the populace for his own candidacy to succeed the king. The narrative indicates that people were suffering under a corrupt legal system, and Absalom promised them favorable treatment should he inherit the throne (2 Sam. 15:2–6). Gaining a following, Absalom made contacts throughout Israel, strengthened support for himself, and acquired a retinue. He waited yet another four years and, when ready to strike, returned to his birthplace, Hebron; under a pretext, he had himself declared king there and organized troops against his father. 

Learning of his son’s impending attack and his popularity among the people, David did not mobilize but, to protect Jerusalem from battle, went into mourning and fled the city, crossing the Kidron Valley toward the desert and taking people with him. ‘David ascended the Mount of Olives, climbing barefoot with his head covered and weeping’ (2 Sam. 15:30)” (Ellen Charry, Psalms 1-50, 55-56) 

Exposition

David is in big trouble. David’s enemies surround him and gloat over his fall from grace. “There is no help for you in God,” they claim. This is not simply generalized opposition but opposition within the faith, the family. The worst kind. And the most frequent.

Everyone claims God for their side in a church dispute. God’s surely against so-and-so, we claim, as did David’s enemies here. And as the context sketched above indicates led to a long, difficult, and painful struggle for David to have things set right again. David trusts God during all this chaos and mayhem, however. And he experiences divine faithfulness through it. This includes the mercy of judgment and forgiveness, and ends in restoration for him.

The closing acclamation shows grace at work in David: “Deliverance belongs to the Lord; may your blessing be on your people.” The same people many of whom sided with the rebel Absalom are blessed by the king. It’s not simply his personal destiny and reputation that he is concerned with. After everything it is the people who are David’s concern.

I will break off here with the historical context. I believe I’ve set out enough for the reader to make sense of the poem. I want to turn to another dimension or way of reading this psalm. We have enemies other than human ones. A chief enemy who, though he operates under God’s sovereign control, and though his project of undoing God’s creation and seizing control of it for himself has been defeated, that defeat has not yet been consolidated throughout the world. Similar to the defeated Axis forces in the European theater after Normandy, who kept on fighting for another year before the weapons were laid down and the fighting ceased, our suprahuman enemies fight on till Christ’s victory is extended and implemented throughout the new creation. The devil has leave until then to keep on attacking God’s people and doing whatever damage he can.

I want the reader to envision her or himself in this psalm and under attack by this enemy. This attack will employ the same tactic David’s enemies do – God is not on your side. There’s no help there for you. Perhaps you have sinned, even grievously, as David had. Or perhaps not. In either case, the enemy will take aim at God’s faithfulness, disposition toward us, and sufficiency for us.

Whenever we can be persuaded God is not on our side or for us we fall prey to the most basic and effective of the enemies stratagems. It all a big lie, of course. That’s the only “power” left to the enemy after Christ’s victory. One we all too easily and often fall for.

In hard times, or down times, or sloth (when we are inattentive to the things of God), we are susceptible to insinuations of unfaithfulness, lack of care, dislike/hatred, or even diabolical intentions on the part of God. When we fall prey to such insinuations, to believe this really is the character of God, we immediately feel fear, anxiety, insecurity, guilt, loss, or shame. How could we not if God is truly indifferent to or against us! (Adapted from Baxter Kruger, “Soul Diagram 1,” https://www.perichoresis.org/baxters-diagrams/)

To indwell such ideas, to be unable/unwilling to reaffirm God’s faithfulness (as David does), makes one vulnerable to the “I am nots.” If God is not well-disposed toward me, I will not believe myself to be:

-acceptable

-loveable

-beautiful

-intelligent

-important

-valuable

-good enough

-included

-special

-secure

-forgivable

-worthy

-saved

When these “I am nots” take root in us we are in pain. And that pain governs our behaviors. We begin to act self-centered, self-protective, critical, frantic, nervous, depressed, hyper-sensitive, cynical, moody, hesitant, withdrawn.

These “I am nots” cohere and extend Bruggemann’s “Not-Enough” world view which he posits as North America’s default posture.  

Not-Enough World

anxiety – I am not in control enough

greed – I do not have enough

self-sufficiency – I am not enough

denial – my life does not fulfill my expectations enough

despair – my world is not satisfying enough

amnesia – my world has not meaning enough to live by

normlessness – nothing is enough/everything is permitted

Sadly, it is not difficult as all to see what we might call a “deficit” way of life driving and derailing the character of our culture writ large and small.

In such a world where what we aren’t and don’t have tempts us away from the “More-than-Enough” world view of the Psalms (and the Bible as a whole), Psalm 3 offers us some hope.

More-Than-Enough World

divine faithfulness – God is in sovereign control

generosity – I have more than enough

ultimate dependence – God is more than enough

abrasive truth-telling – truth is more than enough to face the contradictions of our lives

hope -  life will finally be more than enough

lively remembering – my world has hints and examples of meaning more than enough to discern and live by

a normed world – God’s way is more than enough to generate freedom and joy

Let’s look at God’s actions in vv.3-8.

-God “lifts up” David’s head when the “I am Nots” and the “Not-Enough” world threatens to overwhelm him (v.3). If our view of God or experience tempts us to dwell in “I am Not” land we be sure it is not God’s doing. God lifts us up to who and what we are in Christ, the joy of his kingdom, and his own divine beauty (which includes of course, the wounds of the cross, which reminds us of the difference between joy and happiness). Such divine uplift is what we are promised and may expect if we turn to God rather than away from him in times when our “enemies” seek to undo us.

-God “answers” David from his temple. God “answers” us in various ways (v.4). But he always answers if we are available to linger and listen in his presence. In every case, though, whether we get what we “want” from God or not, a Jobean reality underlies all our prayers and constitutes a basic answer to every prayer. The PCUSA’s A Declaration of Faith says it well:

“We do not fully comprehend who God is or how he works.                                                                                                               God's reality far exceeds all our words can say.                                                                                                                         The Lord's requirements are not always what we think is best.                                                                                         The Lord's care for us is not always what we want.                                                                                            God comes to us on his own terms                                                                                                                                        and is able to do far more than we ask or think.” (ch.1, par.2)

-God “sustains” David in rest and sleep (v.5). The “I am Nots” and “Not-Enough” worldview does not breed restfulness and confidence in the goodness of life and world and our well-being, today, tomorrow, and into kingdom-come. In God’s care, though, even amid difficulties and distress, we can rest, sleep, and live in a contentment that, in 14^th century mystic Julian of Norwich’s words cries, “All shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”

Finally, God defeats David’s enemies (v.7). Not in a minute or at the snap of his fingers (remember the context recounted above) but in and through the difficulties and distresses he weathered faithfully David lived into the victory of God for him. Not that he didn’t fuss and complain about his situation at times (we’ll see that in other psalms) or never doubted at points but he never gave in and capitulated to the “I am Not’s” or, in the words of Psalm 1, does

“not follow the advice of the wicked,
or take the path that sinners tread,
    or sit in the seat of scoffers.”

Such in the model David provides for God’s people living for God in a world that runs and hides from him and rebuffs the faithfulness of his people – even from within that people at times.