Dear Friends,

This is the second message of a two-part series on lessons of prayer and praise found in Psalm 3 written when David was in retreat from the havoc caused by the rebellion of his son, Absalom. Last week’s message was about the power of praise to relieve darkness when we can’t even pray.

This week’s study begins with verses 5 and 6.

I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, for the Lord sustains me.
I am not afraid of ten thousands of people
who have set themselves all around.

David was a fighter, often on the run in the early days of his adulthood. He was on the run again late in his life when he wrote these words.

Lying down to sleep is both a luxury and a vulnerability for a combatant. There are two times a soldier puts down his weapons– when he eats and when he sleeps. Those are times of vulnerability because they are times of intimacy, peace and rest.

There are times when our agitated spirits refuse rest in the delusion that we can force the change of hearts and minds through our increased efforts. When my son, Andrew, was a toddler, the more he tired the more he tried to do in a frenzy of action. We sometimes could do no more than watch him turn in circles in the living room until he collapsed in exhausted sleep.

Other times we will awaken in the night with grinding teeth, clenched fists, tears and sinking hearts because of a powerful wrong that we have done or that has been done to us or because we fear that we have not done enough. We may find the same toxicity seeping into our prayers.

When we lie down to sleep we put down the weapons of our defensiveness and surrender our cares to rest in the trust that tomorrow will be another day and the Lord will see us through no matter who or what we may encounter. Coming to quiet and calm in prayer requires the same surrender. Spiritual advice from the 17th Century French writer Fenelon to one who sought his counsel is instructive about this submission to God in our prayer.

I have noticed a tendency in you to talk about problems rather than abandoning yourself to God and leaving them with Him. And you will be better off both physically and spiritually when you quietly place everything in God’s hands.

As the saying goes, “Let the water flow beneath the bridge.” You can’t change men from being men. People will always be weak, vain, unreliable, unfair, hypocritical and arrogant. The world will always be worldly. And you cannot change it. People will follow their own inclinations and habits. And since you cannot recast their personalities, the best course of action is to let them be what they are and bear with them. Do not allow yourself to be troubled and perplexed when you see people being unreasonable and unjust. Rest in peace in the bosom of God. He sees it all more clearly than you do, and yet He permits it. So be content to do whatever you feel you should, quietly and gently and don’t worry about anything else” (Let Go [Springdale, PA: Whitaker House], p. 36).

Not infrequently this submission to God requires us to experience hand to hand combat between His spirit and our flesh to give up what we would rather thrash and subdue ourselves. Annie Lamott says, “Most things that I hand over to God have my claw marks on them.”

David was willing to let the Lord take over:

Rise up, O Lord!
Deliver me, O my God!
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;
you break the teeth of the wicked.
(v 7)

We want out of the messes and conflict that we find ourselves in–we may not know how to get out–but we definitely want out! “Rise up, O Lord! Deliver me, O my God!” is a complete prayer in and of itself.

Nothing packs a punch with God like a short, honest prayer request. He doesn’t sponsor speech contests or talk shows.  In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them because your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Mt 6:7-8). “Forgive…Don’t worry…strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well…Do not judge…first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye…Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you” (Mt 6:14, 25, 33; 7:1, 4, 7).

Are you struggling with insults and fear of further wounds by enemies? God knows what you’re feeling and thinking. “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me,” he says (Rom 15:3). He can take care of the cheek slapping and de-fanging of those whose words and actions threaten to poison or devour us. More often than not, I find the Lord accomplishes this by transforming my spirit from its aggression fueled by the aggrievement of my limited, but prideful perspective into his peace. He alone is capable of turning my proud anger into a thankful acceptance that depends on the wise peace of his presence rather than my own agitated planning and calculation.

Paul was pointing to this transformation when he wrote, “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:6-7).

David wrestled through his own thoughts, doubts and concerns to the conclusion that neither he or any other person was going to save the people he loved or himself from the devastation facing them. His own sovereignty and strength as a ruler, a father, and a man had obvious and finite limits. Even he, “a man after God’s own heart,” knew military, political, and relationship failures and moral lapses with shameful consequences.

Neither David’s kingly authority, personal capabilities, nor his spiritual performance could deliver him or his people. The authority and power for deliverance belongs to his God, Yaweh, who had brought the world into being and delivered his ancestors from captivity and the consequences of their own selfish choices again and again. God did all of this because it is his nature to want to save his fallen and lost children and his singular power to do so. David conceded the jurisdiction of salvation to the Lord in the last verse of Psalm 3.

Deliverance belongs to the Lord;
may your blessing be on your people!
(v 8)

We too easily forget that “Deliverance belongs to the Lord.” Evil is the realm in which humanity attempts to live without God. Notice that “evil” is “live” spelled backwards. We get life entirely backwards from the way it was meant to be lived when we attempt to live for ourselves in our own wisdom and power, even when we have the best of intentions.

Our own knowledge of good and evil is no substitute for the power of God. Even our best efforts are evil without God. “No one is good but God alone,” Jesus told the rich ruler who was seeking to secure eternal life by following a formula for good performance rather than follow Jesus.

Jesus went on to explain that no matter what good the powerful man did, no matter how obedient he was to virtue and to Scripture, and regardless of how much wealth he possessed or controlled, he was always going to lack what it takes for salvation. “Then who can be saved?” was the question of the shocked onlookers. Jesus told them, “What is impossible for humans is possible for God” (Luke 18:26).

Frank Sinatra crooned, “I did it my way,” but Frank Sinatra eventually died in the way of all flesh. Our way is always going to be terminal.

Deliverance belongs to God who is lavish in providing it to us in the very life of his Son, Jesus Christ, not only for eternity, but to make it through what we are suffering here and now. Scripture is explicit that Jesus Christ is more than our Savior. He is salvation personified (1 Cor 1:30).

We are aggrieved. Our wounds are real, our fears not unfounded, and our judgments are not formed without reason. But if we really could do something on our own to bring about lasting healing and peace and to live together in community in love without conflict, why has this not happened? Why are our happiness and security no more permanent than the next criticism or loss we receive? Why aren’t there more happy and satisfied people on this earth? Why is the battle so desperate along the line between the “haves” and the “have nots”? Why do you not feel in control of everything and everyone who concerns you? Why do we keep trying the same things for the same reasons, expecting different results?

David concluded Psalm 3 with a request to God, “May your blessing be on your people.” It was humbling for a king to recognize that his power to protect and help was so transitory and weak. It is acutely painful for any parent to realize that the rebelliousness and actions of a child are causing so much destruction and dislocation in the lives of others and that even your own household isn’t safe. We are so tempted to seethe and criticize and destroy in such moments, to eliminate who troubles us and confronts us with the awful facts of our own broken humanity and mistakes. Yet, the humbled and loving heart seeks the very best for those we love, flawed as they (and we) may be.

I recently read a little story that kicked me in the gut with the truth that what upsets me so much in the inadequacies and failures of others and myself is really a gift of discerning grace that should drive me to my knees in prayer.

One of the most formative experiences in my wife’s spiritual pilgrimage happened on a Pioneer Camp canoe trip as a teenager. Two of the girls were criticizing a third. But the counselor, a spiritually sensitive woman, said, “Have you considered that God has given us a spirit of discernment not to criticize but to pray?” Touche’. Priests are people who progressively relinquish their tendency to assassinate the character of others verbally–either directly or indirectly in their absence–in order to touch God on their behalf through prayer. Priesthood, we have recognized, is both touching people and places for God, and touching God on behalf of people and places. Intercession is one of the deepest ministries of the Christian priest. (R.Paul Stevens, Seven Days of Faith [Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2001], p. 117-118).
You can read Psalm 3 through from beginning to end and watch David’s mind change in progression from outraged anxiety over the number and vileness of the attacks besetting him to a trust that God was the answer no matter how bad the situation to a restful vulnerability in the truth that God was in control to a desire for blessing of his people rather than a lust for vengeance.

I have to go to the same well of prayer as David did almost every day. I know for a fact that this transformation of Spirit over flesh through prayer to the One who can really do something in me, if not around me, is possible because he loves me. He loves you too and that’s why I am writing this to you.

“O taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy are those who take refuge in him” (Ps 34:8).

Under the mercy of Christ,

Kent

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Please note that the content and viewpoints of Mr. Hansen are his own and are not necessarily those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. We have not edited his writing in any substantial way and have permission from him to post his content.

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Kent Hansen is a Christian attorney, author and speaker. He practices corporate law and is the managing attorney of the firm of Clayson, Mann, Yaeger & Hansen in Corona, California. Kent also serves as the general counsel of Loma Linda University and Medical Center in Loma Linda, California.

Finding God’s grace revealed in the ordinary experiences of life, spiritual renewal in Christ and prayer are Kent’s passions. He has written two books, Grace at 30,000 Feet and Other Unexpected Placespublished by Review & Herald in 2002 and Cleansing Fire, Healing Streams: Experiencing God’s Love Through Prayer, published by Pacific Press in spring 2007. Many of his stories and essays about God’s encompassing love have been published in magazines and journals. Kent is often found on the hiking trails of the southern California mountains, following major league baseball, playing the piano or writing his weekly email devotional, “A Word of Grace for Your Monday” that is read by men and women from Alaska to Zimbabwe.

 

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