435_Trusting God’s salvation in distress Psalm 3 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.” Selah 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. Selah 5 I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. 6 I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. 7 Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked. 8 Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people! Selah Years ago, in the Korean War, a young soldier found himself surrounded by the enemy. His entire unit had been wiped out, and he was the only one left alive. Wounded, cold, and terrified, he crawled into a foxhole and whispered. “God, if you’re real, please help me.” Somehow, coat tightly wrapped around him, he fell asleep, despite the gunfire in the distance. Morning came, and to his shock, he was still alive. The enemy had passed him by in the dark. Later, he would often say, “That night, I knew God was my shield. I should have died—but I slept like a child.” These words echo the opening verses of Psalm 3. “I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.” The psalm dates from the darkest moments in King David’s life—a time of betrayal and humiliation by his own son Absalom, who claimed the throne. Yet it testifies to his trust in God's salvation in deep distress. Psalm 3 and 4 are often referred to as the morning and evening psalms. The attempted coup by Absalom was the bitter fruit of David’s earlier sins. Years before, David took Bathsheba to his bed while she was still married to Uriah, one of his greatest soldiers. He fathered a child by her and plotted the death of her husband lest his own sin be discovered. For nearly nine months, David continued as if nothing had happened—until the prophet Nathan confronted him. When Nathan said, “You are the man,” and David realized that God had not overlooked his sin all along, his heart broke in repentance. Ashamed and penitent, he pleads, in Psalm 51, “Create in me a clean heart, O God… restore to me the joy of your salvation.” Although David was forgiven, Nathan also declared the consequences for the blasphemy he had brought on the Lord’s name, since he was known everywhere to be the Lord’s servant: “The sword shall never depart from your house.” His daughter Tamar was violated by her half-brother and his eldest son, Amnon, who was killed in revenge by Tamar’s brother Absalom. Now Absalom had stolen the hearts of the people and was hunting him down. David fled Jerusalem barefooted and weeping. As he and his loyal men crossed the