Triumphant in Trouble

Psalms 3, “O Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.” Selah But You are a shield around me, O Lord; You bestow glory on me and lift up my head. To the Lord I cry aloud, and He answers me from His holy hill. Selah I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. I will not fear tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side. Arise, O Lord! Deliver me, O my God! Strike all enemies on the jaws; break the teeth of the wicked. From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessings be on your people. Selah” We are born into trouble,” as it is said in Job 5:7. Even righteous ones have troubles because this world is sinful (Psalms 34:19), How do you respond when you get into trouble? How do you behave?

The above Psalm is an excellent teaching on how to triumph when we are in trouble. The palm is written in a difficult experience David had with his rebellious son Absalom (2 Samuel 15). What did David do in order to be victorious even facing trouble? As we look at the Psalm (v. 1-2), we see that David had many foes (as many as tens of thousands as stated in v.6) who rose up against him; many were saying of him, “God will not deliver him.” What hurt him most was what they said (v.2b).

Though the one rebelling against David was his son, others were trying to tell David that he was no longer worthy of God’s help and God’s blessings. It is true that wounds made by the sword heal quickly whereas the wounds inflicted by the tongue fester in the soul and heal only with the help of God.

How many of you are suffering from wounds that have been inflicted by the tongue? And every time you try to rise up, somehow you remember what has been said and it puts you down. David’s problem here was not a foreigner but his own flesh and blood, his son Absalom trying to usurp authority and overthrow his kingdom. What hurt David most was said by his enemies. Today, Satan is having much success in the church among God’s people because he is the accuser of our brothers (Rev. 12:10).

He always whispers in our ears that our Lord does not love us anymore, and that is why we face such troubles and struggles through such hardship. How do we rise up above these situations? We can learn from David’s experience. There are four facts that David understood and put into practice in this Psalm (v.3-5).

1.     Trust in God:

David in those troubled times, suffering from wounds made by the tongue; trusted in God. He said in was God Who was going to be his shield. He responded in the midst of such hardship with confidence and faith. In fact, his confidence in the Lord was such that he was able to lie down, and he could go to sleep (v.5).

In Mark 4: 38, during the storm, Jesus himself was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

He had such confidence in God that the boat would not sink that He went to sleep, but having been awakened He rebuked His disciples for their lack of faith, and then He calmed the storm. There is another beautiful illustration in Peter’s life that we read in Acts 12: 6, when Peter was the taken and put in jail, after James had been beheaded. Peter was the next one to be executed, yet bound in chains he was able to sleep between two soldiers, and with sentries standing guard at the entrance. Peter had confidence in God just like David when he penned the words for a song “My glory and the lifter of my head” (v.3)

2.     Communion with God:

Prayer is a spiritual thing. David knew how to pray. “Arise, O Lord! Deliver me, O my God! For You have struck all my enemies on the jaw; you had broken the teeth of the wicked!” or jaw and break the “teeth” of the enemies (v.7). “A slap on the mouth!” because that is where trouble begins. God always deals with the heart or root of the problem, while men deal with symptoms.

3.     fellowship with godly people of the same faith:

As we look at the background in 2 Samuel 15, David knew how to surround himself with men who feared God. In time of troubles, not only do you need to trust God and pray but you also need to fellowship with those who are of the same faith. Through them you are going to receive strength, which is also why we need to attend life group meetings for through these we will be encouraged. We may know people in church, but do you fellowship with them?

4.     Finally, get a good night’s rest:

It is necessary for us to rest physically because we are human. David knew how to sleep well. God gives sleep to His beloved. David knew how to say “God, I trust You, I have prayed, I have surrounded myself with men of the same faith, I have done all this and Lord, there is nothing else humanly possible to do, I will now rest, so that when the time comes for me to enter into my victory, I am strong and healthy” Just like Elijah, the Prophet of God in 1King 19, He had tremendous pressure put upon him by challenging the worshippers of Baal. After the great victory at Mount Carmel, God sent an angel to bake a cake and bring Elijah a jar of water to refresh him after sleeping. He was restored physically, mentally and emotionally, he was able to continue to serve and live in obedience to God’s Word.

The story ends after David had truly rested in God, with God’s deliverance from his rebellious son Absalom (2Samuel 15). After Absalom was destroyed, David returned to the throne. You can triumph over your trouble because you have a God who is able to deliver you.

“Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3: 20-21). (All the above quotes are from The New International Version)