Psalm 3
O LORD, how
many are my foes!
Many are rising
against me;
2 many are saying of me,
there is no help
for him in God.
3 But you, O
LORD, are a shield about me,
my glory, and
the lifter of my head.
4 I cry aloud to the Lord,
and he answers
me from his holy mountain.
5 I lie down
and sleep;
I wake again,
for the LORD sustains me.
6 I am not afraid of ten thousands of
people
who have set
themselves against me round about.
7 Arise, O
LORD!
Deliver me, O my
God!
For you strike all my enemies on the
cheek,
you break the
teeth of the wicked.
8 Deliverance belongs to the LORD;
your blessing be
upon your people!
David originally wrote and prayed this Palm when he has in
battle, being attacked from all sides. When we pray it today the Psalm takes on
a much different meaning in our lives. The foes that we face are usually not military
enemies but those many sins that surround us daily. Those temptations that lurk
around to attack us at just the right time. As we are told in Genesis, “sin is
crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over
it.” (4:7) This is what the Psalm is calling us to do, to rule over and master sin.
Not to be afraid if the many attacks that it makes upon us day and night. The
awesome reason that we can do this, is because we stand on the other side of
the Lord’s great “arise”, his lifting up at the Resurrection to redeem all
people. It is there that we have received our “deliverance and blessing.” The
deliverance from sin and it mastery over us and the blessing of life in God’s
new age, where he is only Lord.
Think about
the power of this transformation in the world. God is not far off, he has
brought his holy mountain to us in the man Jesus Christ. We do not have to go
off looking and searching for him. He is right here, as St Paul says, “The word
is near you, on your lips and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which
we preach); because, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and
believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
(Romans 10:8-9) The Lord has brought his glory to us, now we have to get on
with the call to share that same glory with those in our lives, those in our
world. That is the main reason the Lord has come to us on the first place, to
set us free and send us forth to be the people he created us to be. As Jesus
tells us himself in John’s Gospel, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent
me, even so I send you.” (John 20:21) Through our hearts and lips we make Jesus
and his Resurrection known to all people. We have nothing to fear, the Lord has
“risen”, now we too must arise and go to work in the Kingdom of the Living God!
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