Psalm 3

This week’s Song To Live By is Psalm 3

Tom writes:

David demonstrates what to do in dire straits. Psalm 3 is filled with deep personal betrayal, combined with insults that have left wounds, along with a smattering of slander. What song do you sing when others are coming up in your grill, when foes are frothing their mouth in your face, when it feels like the whole world is against you? The psalm does not pretend that such a situation is simple. It starts with hyperbole and horror. David’s whole soul is in question; this is an existential threat, an excruciating experience. The song of God equips you with language for lament; it urges you to open your mouth and speak, using the words of another to unfold in your mind an understanding of your plight.

As an Englishman such an approach seems a little melodramatic. I’d prefer to keep quiet and pretend I’m OK; that things aren’t that bad. But, in truth, often they are. Betrayal is toxic tragedy. Being sinned against is a torture that God never intended humans to have to undergo. To normalise or minimise such experiences is not a sign of strong faith; it suggests you believe that Darwin was right and that we really are in a survival of the fittest, that our best hope is ourselves and the strength of our gritted teeth. Lamenting and wailing and moaning to God is unvarnished, authentic, hope-filled faith. It says “life was never meant to be this way… please help me by changing it”. Jesus called it “deliver us from evil”. 

And as the song started in honest lament, it has picked up sufficient momentum to flow through into remembering. It reminds us that God has kept us thus far, He has lifted our head in previous discouragements, that He has proven to be a sustainer. In these rememberings, we can draw on histories of others; of David himself, of Jesus, of the victims of chattel slavery; the years of God’s people are chock-full of stories of the ransacked and ruined somehow, miraculously, rising up in glorious moments of God’s generosity. Fleeing David returns as King. Crucified Jesus rises from the dead. The victims of the transAtlantic slave trade birth the global Pentecostal movement. What is around your corner? What might God unveil on you if you call out to him and demand that he responds? Salvation belongs to God. What you are going through was never meant to be, and so Our God and Our Glory can break its teeth in just one moment.

A prayer

My Father, I disclose to you my darkest fears, the full extent of my pain. I reject self-reliance and a stiff upper lip and throw myself upon your mercy. Hear me. Arise and act in my defence. Throughout history you have turned around millions of lives, causing those who were despised to become a blessing to the nations. Please would you include me in that crowd by showing yourself to be my shield; the lifter of my head.