“[A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.] LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me. Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.” (Psalm 3:1–2)
David committed a great sin before the LORD by taking Bathsheba and causing her husband Uriah to be killed in battle. Afterward, his son Absalom rebelled, drove his father out, and tried to make himself king. When the hearts of Israel turned to Absalom, David left the palace and set out on a journey of flight, not knowing where he would go.
At that time, many people said of David:
“There is no help for him in God.”
David’s suffering certainly had an aspect of discipline for his own sin. He was rebuked for his sin through the prophet Nathan, and as a result of that sin, great suffering came upon his household and his kingdom. But this event is also a foreshadowing that points us to Jesus Christ, who would come and suffer.
David suffered because of his own sin, but Jesus suffered in our place for our sins. When Jesus was nailed to the cross, people mocked Him as though He had been forsaken by God. Not only passersby but also the chief priests, scribes, and elders insulted Jesus, and even the thieves crucified with Him reviled Him.
“He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.” (Matthew 27:43)
These words are strikingly similar to what people said about David: “There is no help for him in God.”
The devil whispers the same things to us today.
“You will receive no help from God.”
“God has abandoned you.”
“You have no hope left.”
What the devil wants to take from us is not merely peace or joy. What he seeks to take away is our very hope in God.
“But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.” (Psalm 3:3–4)
When David left Jerusalem, driven out by Absalom, he went up the Mount of Olives weeping, barefoot, with his head covered. David, who had been king of a nation, was now driven from his palace and experiencing shame and humiliation so deep that he could not even lift his head.
Yet even in such circumstances, David confessed that God was “the lifter up of mine head.” It was a confession he could never have made by looking only at his circumstances. David could make this confession because of the promise God had given him:
“But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.” (2 Samuel 7:15–16)
Although David was receiving God’s discipline for his sin, he believed that God had not nullified the covenant He had given him. Though he was now fleeing in tears with his head covered, he trusted that God would lift up his head again in due time. And in the end, after much suffering, David returned to Jerusalem and recovered his kingship.
In this event, we find a remarkable foreshadowing of Jesus Christ, who was to come.
Just as David went up the Mount of Olives weeping, Jesus, who came as David’s descendant, prayed in deep anguish at Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives before the cross. So great was His agony that Scripture says:
“And his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” (Luke 22:44)
But Jesus experienced a far deeper humiliation than David. David suffered because of his own sin, but Jesus, who was without sin, suffered to bear our sins. He was despised and rejected by people, and finally He died on the cross and descended even into the grave. Jesus descended to the lowest place.
But God did not leave Jesus in that lowly place. He raised Him from the dead and exalted Him to the highest place. God lifted up the head of Christ.
Philippians 2:8–9 says:
“And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name.”
And amazingly, God lifted up not only the head of Christ but also the heads of those of us who are in Christ.
Because of our sins, we were people who could not lift our heads before the holy God. But when Jesus was raised from the dead, God also made us who are united with Jesus alive together with Him and raised us up with Him.
“And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:6)
So David’s confession, “the lifter up of mine head,” becomes a precious confession for us as well. God has forgiven us in Christ and raised us up, we who could not lift our heads because of sin.
“I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about.” (Psalm 3:5–6)
David could remain unafraid even when tens of thousands encamped around him because he knew that God had answered his cry. Earlier, David had confessed:
“I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill.” (Psalm 3:4)
The holy hill refers to holy Zion, where God’s presence and kingship were revealed. There God established David as king and placed the ark of the covenant, revealing His presence and rule. The presence of God manifested in Zion and the kingship of David were a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ, who was to come.
David was a sinner who had committed a great sin, yet he cried out to God. He could cry out to God despite his sin because he believed in the Christ who was to come. David knew the gospel that a person is justified not by his own works but by the grace of God, who forgives sins. That is why he confessed in another psalm:
“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity.” (Psalm 32:1–2; Romans 4:7–8)
God heard David’s cry from the holy hill and answered him. That David, though a sinner, could receive God’s answer was not because of his own righteousness but because of the atonement Jesus Christ would accomplish on the cross.
So the answer that came to David from the holy hill was a gracious confirmation that he had not been forsaken by God. And through the fact that he lay down to sleep and woke again, David realized that God was still sustaining him.
Because we woke up yesterday and woke up today, we assume that we will naturally open our eyes tomorrow morning too. But waking again tomorrow is not guaranteed to us either. It is because God sustains our lives and shows us grace that we can fall asleep and open our eyes again.
Because David had committed a great sin, he would have had nothing to say even if God had put him to death. Moreover, before him were countless enemies seeking to kill him. Yet the night passed, and he opened his eyes again. The fact that he was still alive was evidence of grace, proof that God had not abandoned him but was still sustaining him.
Because he believed that the God who sustained him last night would sustain him today as well, David could confess:
“I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about.”
“Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah.” (Psalm 3:7–8)
Scripture says that there is a time for everything under heaven and a season for every purpose.
“A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up.” (Ecclesiastes 3:2–3)
God does not remain silent forever; there is a time when He rises. When God rose for judgment, the world of Noah’s day was covered with water, and the voices that opposed God vanished. Sodom and Gomorrah were likewise judged by God and destroyed with fire and brimstone.
David did not try to save himself by his own strength, because he knew that his salvation belonged to the LORD. So he pleaded with the LORD:
“Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God.”
And he confessed that God had struck all his enemies on the cheek and broken the teeth of the wicked.
When the people of Israel suffered in slavery in Egypt, they too cried out to God. God heard their cry and sent Moses to deliver them from Egypt. God does not turn away from those who cry out to Him.
Yet David’s prayer does not end with his own deliverance. Even when many had betrayed him and followed Absalom, he prayed for God’s people:
“Thy blessing is upon thy people.”
In David’s prayer, we see the heart of Jesus. Jesus also said:
“Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44)
And on the cross, He prayed for those who were nailing Him there:
“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)
The heart of Jesus, who sought forgiveness and grace even for those who opposed Him, was already reflected in David’s prayer asking God to bestow His blessing upon His people.