Embrace the Word for Wednesday, January 7, 2026
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Psalm 3, along with Psalm 4, represent the first and second actual petitions that make up the Psalter. After the introductory Psalms of Psalm 1 and Psalm 2, the content of Psalm 3 and Psalm 4 are somewhat jolting. The idyllic image of a well-watered thriving tree concerning the righteous man from Psalm 1, coupled with the triumphal certainties of the anointed king from Psalm 2, are met head on with the historical realities of affliction and suffering. Perhaps we might have seen a hint of this as Psalm 1 spoke of the tree whose leaves do not wither. When we read Psalm 1, I suspect not much time was spent considering consider what factors would give rise to withering. Withering, stated almost in passing in Psalm 1 looms much more real in Psalm 3-4 and beyond. Perhaps what unfolds in Psalm 3 and 4 should have been further anticipated when Psalm 2 ended with the declaration, “Blessed are all who take refuge in him” (2:12). The promise of refuge implies the need for refuge. The need for refuge suggests a place of peace and safety amid a hostile environment. Psalm 3 and Psalm 4 introduce us to that hostile environment.
Actually, Psalm 1 and 2 inform David’s response to the opposition against him and affliction upon him. The prayers of Psalm 3 and 4 are grounded in David’s awareness that he knows how to be like a tree planted by streams of water, in spite of the ways of the wicked. Further, David is grounded by his awareness of God’s intentions to bless him as the installed king, in spite of the rebelliousness of the wicked. Psalm 3 and 4 describe the struggle that God’s king (and people) experience as they are opposed and are afflicted by the hands of wicked adversaries. David shows what taking refuge in the Lord looks like. Taking refuge in the Lord consists of crying out to the Lord in prayer amid hostility and distress.
Psalm 3 places us in the main flow of Book 1 of the Psalter. After the introductory orientation from Psalm 1 and 2, Psalm 3 begins the first historical recounting in the Psalter. This first segment of historical recounting of Book 1 ends with Psalm 41. The thematic movement of Book 1 is a lyrical record of David’s rise to power. Book 1 traces David’s sufferings from his anointing to his kingship. Of the forty-one Psalms in Book 1 all but four are attributed to David in their superscription. Arguably, all but Psalm 1 and 2 are David’s, for Psalm 10 and 33, which have no superscription, are commonly thought to have connections with their immediate preceding Psalm, Psalm 9 and 32 respectively. The superscriptions are a part of the Biblical text; they are inspired Scripture. All but seven of the first eighty-nine Psalms (that is, Books 1-3) have superscriptions. By the way, only thirty-three of the remaining 61 Psalms (that is, Books 4-5) have superscriptions. The superscriptions can provide information such as authorship of the Psalm, historical details concerning the Psalm, and/or musical notes pertaining to the singing of the Psalm. While the superscriptions are part of the Biblical text, the subtitles, usually provided above the Psalm, are not; subtitles are offered by the translation committee serving as a summary statement to the Psalm. Perhaps helpful, but not inspired Scripture.
The particular superscription for Psalm 3 sets the Psalm in the historical context of Absalom’s attempted coup of his father’s kingship (see 2 Samuel 15-18). Absalom’s rebellion, while historically much later in David’s life and reign, is placed intriguingly in the spot where we might think the historical context of Saul’s opposition to David would be located (see 1 Samuel 16-31). It was Saul who afflicted David during his rise to the throne, while it would be Absalom who afflicted David after he became king. When we get to Book 2, which traces David’s reign as king, we find Psalm 52 whose context is that of Saul’s persecution of David. In other words, the location of Psalm 3 and Psalm 52 are switched in terms of their historical placement. I am not suggesting an error in the Scripture, but simply that the reason for the swap is divinely ordered. The juxtaposition of Absalom’s rebellion and Saul’s persecution, at the very least underscore that the opposition to God’s anointed king is basically the same raging, vain plots in both historical situations.
Psalm 3 states the external opposition to David’s kingship as well as the internal struggles that stem from the opposition. Psalm 3 plunges us into the actual lived experience of the anointed king—the righteous man—who is surrounded by the wicked of Psalm 1 and under assault from the rebels of Psalm 2. David is surrounded by “many” foes and those “many” violently oppose him. They are many, mean, and mouthy as they say: “There is no salvation for him in God” (3:1). So the physical uprising against David is accompanied by sharp taunting. Perhaps their taunt is not expressing the thought that God can’t help David, but that He won’t help David. The prophet Nathan declared that David would face immense consequences for the whole Bathsheba/Uriah fiasco: “Thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house’” (see 2 Samuel 12:11a). Certainly David brought this upon himself, but it would not prove true that the Lord would not deliver him. David is the Lord’s anointed king and the Lord will prove faithful to His promises on the basis of what we know would be the faithfulness of the Lord’s true Son, and ultimate fulfiller of the Davidic covenant.
At the end of Psalm 3:2 we encounter the first of seventy-one times (over the course of thirty-nine Psalms) that the term “Selah” is used. I don’t think anyone knows with complete certainty what the term signifies, but it is most likely a musical annotation that calls for a pause. Such a pause in the Psalm suggests a moment of reflection on what was immediately stated before continuing further. Something like a musical interlude designed to encourage contemplation.
As Psalm 3 continues, we find that David does not defend himself, nor was his first reaction to his taunters at all; David turns to the Lord in a very emphatic manner: “But you, O Lord” (3:3). David has learned who his God is, for David delighted in God’s Word and knew God intimately through it. David knows that the very God, who his enemies say won’t help, is the One to whom he can and must turn, for He will help. Through meditating on God’s Word, David’s prayer is shaped by a wonderful awareness of the God to whom he is crying out. The Lord is: David’s “shield” that is his protection; his “glory” that is what is most important to him; the “lifter of his head” that is the One who will restore him; and as the One who will answer him “from his holy hill” (3:4). The Lord is always and ever accessible to him. Even though David has been run off from Jerusalem, the physical location of God’s presence in the Tabernacle, David knows that God is with him while on the run.
David has a clearer focus on the Lord who is for him, than he has concerning his enemies who are against him: “I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around” (3:6). The results of David’s confidence in the Lord is that he awoke in the morning after a peaceful night’s rest. David is on the run, his sleeping accommodations would not have been optimal, but he woke up refreshed—no nightmares, no insomnia, no fears: “for the Lord sustained me” (3:5). David has been graciously given the right sense of things to know, that is, it is actually the Lord’s kingdom that he is serving in. And the Lord knows how to look after His own kingdom. We see how things play out in the historical account from Samuel. While David slept, the Lord stayed up and thwarted the plans of Absalom by turning his heart away from the counsel of Ahithophel (see 2 Samuel 15:31-16:14).
Psalm 3 concludes with the statement of David’s request: “Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God!” (3:7). The opening of Psalm 3 described how David’s enemies had risen up against him and taunted him with that notion that God would not save him. But David is not deterred; his requests are crisp and clear. David’s prayer is informed by his knowledge that the Lord’s anointed would see his enemies shattered: “You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (2:9). This promise gives rise to his request: “strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked” (3:7). David request is that the mouths of his taunters be silenced. David also acknowledges the Lord’s will to save—not only him personally, but all His people: “Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people” (3:8). David seems to be aware of the fact that the salvation of the king overflows to blessing upon the people.
Psalm 4 should be understood as a continuation of the crisis described in Psalm 3. These two Psalms are often differentiated only by the notion of morning and evening. David’s acknowledgement in Psalm 3 that he awoke in the morning from restful sleep is now coupled with his evening anticipation that he will sleep well once again: “In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety” (4:8). Whereas David’s actual petition is found toward the end of Psalm 3, Psalm 4 opens with his petition: “Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!” (4:1). Once again, David’s awareness of his God is driving how he approaches and addresses the Lord. David is confident that God will show that He will do what is right, for the Lord is righteous is all that He does. Prayer spends a lot of its verbal currency describing the nature and character of God. Thus, David is aware of what he needs from the Lord above everything else; David needs grace. David is aware of his desperate situation but also aware that he is undeserving in and of himself. Therefore, he requests that the Lord would graciously hear his petition and answer him.
Psalm 4 next takes an interesting turn. David goes from directly talking to the Lord, to talking to others around him in the presence of the Lord. Perhaps Psalm 4:2-6 is directed to his enemies or perhaps it is directed to those who are with him on the run and what he is saying to them before the Lord is in reference to his enemies. First, David acknowledges those who have slandered him but he responds by declaring what God says about him: “But know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself; the LORD hears when I call to him” (4:3). Now the term godly does not bring out the full significance of the word’s meaning; a better rendering would be something like the ones whom the Lord has set His steadfast love or lovingkindness upon. David is directing his companions to not believe what the slanderers say about him, but what the Lord says about him. David also directs his companions to refrain from sinful expressions of anger over the situation, directing them instead to seek the Lord: “Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the LORD” (4:4-5). David furthermore speaks to his discouraged companions by directing them to the Aaronic priestly blessing: “There are many who say, “Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O LORD!” (4:6; see also Numbers 6:24-26). While David is in the midst of his own crisis, the Lord has given him the grace to also build up those around him.
David concludes Psalm 4 with an amazing testimony of the massive joy that the Lord has graciously supplied him: “You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound” (4:7); but also a deep peace: “In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety” (4:8). David’s heart is filled with joy and flooded with peace; for “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither” (1:3). Joy is not contingent on the situation but genuinely internal and independent of circumstances; and peace is not the absence of turmoil, but an inner calm in the midst of turmoil. And with that, David, though still on the run, heads off to bed for the night.
As we reflect on how Psalm 3 and 4 apply to us. David’s trust in the Lord under pressure foreshadows the trust of Jesus and overflows to us in Christ. Through faith, we are joined to a Suffering Savior, A Man of Sorrows, and God’s true Anointed Son, who rendered a perfect trust and obedience on our behalf. He is now dwelling in the hearts of His people today, by the presence of the Holy Spirit. This Gospel hope empowers us to read these Psalms, consider the suffering and affliction that they describe, and experience the grace of Christ in turning to the Lord, who is the Father of our Jesus.
Today’s term for the sufferings and afflictions that David experienced is trauma. But in the face of the traumatic events of being on the run, hiding out in caves, and living in the constant threat that his enemies wanted him dead, David did not fight, flee, or freeze. David focused on the Lord and such focus was the means of gracious empowerment from the Lord. With such empowerment, we interpret our sufferings and afflictions in light of God’s promises, provisions, protections, and presence. So, David’s response to his traumatic events was determined by the operation of these realities in his heart. David found grace, and peace, and joy, and help in turning to the Lord. And so can we.