Psalm 3:1-4 - The Lifter of My Head

1 O Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me;

2 many are saying of my soul, “There is no salvation for him in God.”

3 But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.

4 I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill.

In Psalm 3, David is being pursued by his own son, Absalom. Absalom’s saga against David began in 2 Samuel 13, when his half brother Amnon violated Absalom’s sister Tamar. Absalom avenged his sister two years later by having Amnon killed during a feast. Absalom fled and did not see his father for 5 years, and he harbored anger against his father because he believed his exile was an injustice. He orchestrated a rebellion against David in 2 Samuel 15, and David is forced to flee Jerusalem.

This is where we find David in Psalm 3. This wasn’t just a political rebellion, it was a father losing his son. Absalom and David later meet in battle, and David’s forces overcome his son’s, and Absalom is trapped while fleeing. David, loving his son to the last moment, ordered he should not be harmed, but Absalom was killed.

Many of us know how David must have been feeling. We’ve all been wounded by someone we loved. Imagine the sorrow David felt, after the years of tumult in his family, his own son usurping his throne. The fact David loved his son even to the end, and later wept over him upon finding Absalom dead, paints a vivid picture to the grief expressed in this psalm. In addition, David was likely feeling similar pain to when he had to flee his predecessor, Saul. The sorrow David felt in the time of writing Psalm 3 cannot be understated.

In the midst of this grief, David shows us hard-fought, quiet wisdom. Verses 1 and 2 are his lament to God, his expression of his sorrow. He doesn’t hold back anything from God, and we can learn from this. We need to express our sorrows and grief to God just the same in every battle we fight. God knows what is happening in our lives but that doesn’t mean He cannot be our counsel.

God desires a relationship with us. Any relationship takes your whole heart. God reveals this in Jeremiah 29:13: You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. God wants us to lay all our heart’s emotions out to Him, not just our Sunday best.

David’s wisdom continues in verses 3 and 4. He recognizes God’s protection, seeing Him as his shield. God is David’s glory; not his throne, or his royal palace he had to flee. God lifts David’s head from the grief that hangs heavy upon it. The image brought to my mind is of Gods outstretched hand lifting David’s head up, and David’s eyes lifting, looking up toward the heavens. God sees David amid his suffering and lifts his gaze to the heavens, reminding David of His promises.

David cried aloud, bearing his pain without shame to the Lord. And God heard David, and furthermore David writes He answered me. Some translations say He heard me. Spurgeon put it best in his commentary on this psalm “…for God to hear is, according to Scripture, the same thing as to answer.” Knowing that we have a living God who hears our cries and sees our pains is an answer in of itself. Furthermore, we have the benefit of knowing Jesus. God humbled Himself to human form, and bore immense suffering, pain and sorrow. In Gethsemane Jesus says, “My soul is sorrowful, even to death” (Mark 14:34). God has experienced the very griefs and sadness we have. God comforts us in that He has suffered alongside us.

Let us have the humility of David, to cry out to God. For we have a God who hears, answers, and has gone as far as to suffer the trials of life alongside us. When we are in the darkest moments, we can be comforted by knowing God hears our cries and He will lift our head.

“’He heard me.’ I have often heard persons say in prayer, ‘Thou art a prayer-hearing and a prayer-answering. God,’ but the expression contains a superfluity, since for God to hear is, according to Scripture, the same thing as to answer.” – Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David