David felt the pressure. Again and again he faced evil and tragedy, but he tells us he didn’t lose sleep. He wasn’t sufficient for the challenges of life. He wasn’t strong enough to bear all his burdens. Even as king, so much was outside his control. He knew he didn’t have what it took. He knew God did.
When David wrote Psalm 3, his son, Absolom, had incited his people against him. David was on the run. Enemies were everywhere. Even those to whom David had shown great compassion rushed to ridicule him.
David couldn’t see any hope. David couldn’t anticipate any end to the hostility. The king had been a bad father. The king had made terrible mistakes. Maybe he did deserve this. Maybe God wouldn’t save him. Maybe his enemies were right.
They are right! The Lord and his Anointed One are the greatest threats in the universe. He does restrain our hearts. He does rebuke our desires. He does condemn our sin. He will hold each of us responsible for our failure to use and our abuse of his creation and our failure to love and the harm we do to each other. We should say, “Anyone but him!” But we cannot escape. We cannot hide. God reacts to our rebellion as we might react to the ferocious barks from an adorable little puppy, “Isn’t that cute!” The one who is seated in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them. (Psalm 2:4)
You want to be, we need to be standing with the blessed. God and his Word never change. His guidance for your life is always true. His promises never fail. He always forgives. He always listens when you pray. He always saves. He always welcomes everyone who comes to him in faith. He always sustains the blessed through all the changes of life.
Over the passed few years, I have made a concerted effort to include the Psalms in my daily meditation on God’s Word. More and more as I have faced challenges, hardships, asked bigger questions, even wrestled with doubts, the Psalms became more and more meaningful to me. Every question our hearts ask seem to be written in the Psalms. The struggles of life are described in those verses. My weakness are exposed, my doubts are spoken, my worries expressed, and they are answered in powerful truth. Then the Psalms teach my heart to respond to this life with joy.
