When Trouble Gets Close to Home
Psalm 3:1–4
When we think about David, it is easy to think about the big moments. We think about David standing in front of Goliath with a sling in his hand. We think about King Saul chasing him. We think about David the warrior, David the king, and David the man after God’s own heart.
But some of David’s hardest battles weren’t fought on a battlefield.
They happened at home.
That’s where we find David when we come to Psalm 3. His own son, Absalom, has turned against him. Absalom wants the throne, and he has managed to turn a lot of people against his father. Things have gotten so bad that David has to leave Jerusalem.
I can’t imagine what that must have felt like.
David had been hated before. He had been hunted before. He knew what it was like to have enemies. But this was his son.
There’s just something different about being hurt by somebody you love.
And when you look at David’s life, you see that this wasn’t his only family struggle. Some of the hardest and most painful things David ever went through happened within his own house.
That’s the background when he says,
“LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me.”
Psalm 3:1 KJV
I think most of us have had moments when we could relate to that, even if our situation looked nothing like David’s.
You get one problem taken care of and here comes another one. Something is going on at work. Something is happening at home. One of the kids is struggling. Somebody says something that hurts. You are worried about something you can’t control.
Before long you find yourself thinking, “Lord, this is a lot.”
That’s basically what David is doing.
He’s not trying to make it sound spiritual. He’s not pretending that everything is okay. He is talking to God about what is actually happening in his life.
I think that’s worth teaching our kids too.
You don’t have to pretend with God.
If you’re scared, tell Him.
If you’re hurt, tell Him.
If you don’t understand what’s happening, tell Him that too.
David keeps going in verse 2.
“Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.”
Psalm 3:2 KJV
So now David isn’t only dealing with what is happening to him. He’s also dealing with what people are saying about him.
They’re basically saying, “David, even God isn’t going to get you out of this one.”
Then comes verse 3.
And I love the first word.
But.
“But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.”
Psalm 3:3 KJV
Everybody else had something to say about David and his situation, but David knew who God was.
“But thou, O LORD…”
That changes everything.
David calls God his shield.
When we’re teaching this to younger kids, that’s a picture they can understand. A shield protects you.
But there’s something in that picture for the adults too.
If you need a shield, that means you’re probably still in the battle.
David didn’t say God was his shield because all of his problems had disappeared. He said it while he was still running from Absalom.
Sometimes that’s how God works in our lives.
Of course we want Him to fix it. We want Him to change the situation, open the door, heal the hurt, solve the problem, and make everything right.
And sometimes He does.
But sometimes we have to walk through something for a while, and we find out that God is just as faithful in the middle of the trouble as He is when it’s over.
Then David says God is “the lifter up of mine head.”
I really love that description.
You can almost see it.
When we’re discouraged, our head goes down. When we’re embarrassed, hurt, tired, or overwhelmed, our head goes down.
And David says, “God, You’re the one who lifts my head.”
Not because everything is suddenly perfect.
Not because there isn’t anything left to worry about.
But because God is still there.
Then we come to the verse that drives it home:
“I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.”
Psalm 3:4 KJV
That’s the part I really want our kids to get.
David prayed while the problem was still a problem.
He didn’t wait until Absalom stopped chasing him. He didn’t wait until he was back in Jerusalem. He didn’t wait until he knew how the story was going to end.
He cried unto the Lord right there.
And God heard him.
There are going to be things our kids face that we can’t fix.
I don’t particularly like thinking about that as a parent or as someone who works with children. We want to protect them. We want to have the answer. We want to make things better.
But we won’t always be able to.
That’s one reason I believe so much in what we’re doing through Bible Quizzing.
Yes, we’re learning verses. We’re practicing. We’re learning beginnings and references. We’re trying to get faster on the buzzer. We’re getting ready for tournaments.
And yes, we want to win.
But that’s not the biggest reason we’re doing this.
We’re putting the Word of God into our kids.
Today Psalm 3:4 might be a verse they’re trying to get word perfect.
Ten or twenty years from now, they may be sitting somewhere with tears in their eyes and no idea what they’re supposed to do next.
Mom and Dad might not be able to fix it.
Their coach might not even know they’re going through it.
But somewhere down inside of them are words they learned when they were a kid:
“I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me…”
That’s what I want them to remember.
You can cry out to God.
You don’t have to have the right words. You don’t have to have everything figured out first.
You can just call on Him.
He hears you.
Talk About It
Junior Quizzers
- David said God was his shield. What does a shield do? How can God be like a shield for us?
- If you were having a really bad day, what are some things you could talk to God about?
Remember: When I’m having a hard day, I can talk to God. He hears me.
Senior Quizzers
- David had dealt with enemies before, but this time the trouble was coming from his own family. Why do you think it can hurt so much more when the person who hurts you is someone you care about?
- David called God his shield before the problem was over. What does that tell us about trusting God when we’re still waiting for an answer?
Remember: Trusting God doesn’t mean everything is going to be easy. It means I know who to turn to when it isn’t.
Parents and Coaches
- We’re spending a lot of time helping our quizzers memorize Scripture. What can we do to help them understand that these aren’t just verses for a quiz, but words they can hold onto for the rest of their lives?
- When our kids watch us deal with stress, disappointment, and things we can’t control, what are they learning from us about trusting God?
One Thing to Remember This Week
As we work on Psalm 3:1–4, let’s not get so focused on getting every word right that we miss what those words are saying.
David was hurting. His family was a mess. He didn’t know how everything was going to turn out.
But he still knew this:
God was his shield.
God could lift his head.
And when he cried unto the Lord, God heard him.
That’s worth memorizing.
