"But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain. I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me."

Psalm 3:3-5

The events surrounding the writing of Psalm 3 (David’s flight from Absalom) are related in 2 Samuel 15–18. The king has to contend not only with the personal grief of his own son’s rebellion, but also with the disloyalty of many who sided with Absalom (vv. 1, 6) and their taunt that God has abandoned him (v. 2). Yet, his hope is in the Lord, who will protect, answer, and rescue him (vv. 3, 4, 7, 8). He is so confident of divine intervention that he can sleep peacefully in the knowledge of God’s sustaining presence (v. 5).

Closing Prayer

Lord, let me not be overcome by evil, but help me overcome evil with good (edited from Encounter with God).