Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.” But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain. I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side. Arise, Lord! Deliver me, my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people. (Psalm 3)
King David wrote this psalm when his third-born son Absalom had rebelled and was trying to take over the kingdom for himself, attempting to kill David and a number of his brothers in the process We read about the narrative of these events in 2 Samuel chapters 15-18, but this psalm gives an insight into how David was feeling at this time.
He had numerous enemies as it says in verse 1 - more of the Israelites were against him than were for him (2 Sam 15:12, 17:11). They were saying that God would not deliver him (v. 2). One example of this was Shimei, the man who followed David and his armies as they were retreating; throwing rocks at them and saying, “The LORD has given the kingdom into the hands of your son Absalom. You have come to ruin because you are a murderer!” (2 Sam 16:8b). Yet in all this, David still trusted in God to shield him (v. 3), called out to the Lord (v. 4), and was even able to lie down and have a proper sleep (v. 5). I doubt that you have ever had enemies chasing after you to kill you, but you’ve probably been in other - less stressful - situations, and can remember how hard it is to sleep in those. It takes complete trust in God to stop worrying and stop doing and stop preparing, and just sleep.
Now like nearly all of the psalms, Psalm 3 is steeped in Messianic meaning and prophecy. Like David, Jesus had experienced one of the worst forms of betrayal. David was betrayed by his own son, who wanted to kill him, while Jesus was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, one of his closest disciples (cf. Ps 55:13). The entire population of Jerusalem was against him, cheering on his execution, while even his own apostles deserted him (Mark 14:50).
Have a look again at the second verse of this psalm: “Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.” ” Jesus went through the exact same thing before his crucifixion, as it says in Matt 27:41-43:
“In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” ” (Matt 27:41-43 NIV)
Now what was David’s response to these attacks and accusations from his enemies? The same as Jesus’ response to his accusers. It was to trust in God as his protector and the one who would exalt him. As it says in 1 Pet 2:23, “he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” He called out to God, committing his spirit to him (Lk 23:46).
Jesus did not fear, even though mobs of thousands of angry people assailed him on every side at his public trial, because he knew that the heavenly armies at God's command were much larger. Like Elisha in 2 Kgs 6:17, he could see the true reality - not just the way things appeared to be. Jesus knew that if he called to God for help, he would send tens of thousands of angels to his rescue (Matt 26:53).
If we return to Ps 3:7, David calls upon the Lord to deliver him, to strike his enemies on the jaw and break the teeth of the wicked. This is the power of God - he can do this in an instant. Yet rather than call for vengeance on his enemies, Jesus chose to forgive them (Lk 23:34).
So were these jeerers correct, the ones who said, “God will not deliver him”? They would have said yes, because God didn't save Jesus from the cross. He didn't come and take him down and strike all his executioners dead.
But this shows the great mind and the great love of God. Can you imagine for a moment, Satan or one of his minions, trying to work against God and defeat his plan. You have worked out the prophecy from Gen 3 that something is coming to defeat you, and you have waited over 4000 years for this moment. Now you have stirred up the crowd against this Jesus and made one of his disciples betray him. Your evil scheming has finally come to fruition. And then Jesus dies and you are celebrating. You think that you have won.
Until Sunday morning.
Instead of deserting him, God did deliver Jesus. But not in the way anyone expected - not the prophets, not Satan, not even the angels. And through this way in which God delivered Jesus, he also did more - rescuing us from our sins which separated us from him.
As Peter says of Jesus, ““He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” (1 Pet 2:24-25).
So we too can be confident that God will deliver us - because he already has.