Psalm 3:5-8 - Salvation belongs to the Lord

Please read Psalm 3.

Yesterday, we began our study of the first 4 verses of this Psalm. If you haven’t read that devotional, please do so before continuing with this one. Today we will study the conclusion of this Psalm, verses 5-8 (you may want to reread them now).

After describing his many enemies who are pursuing and antagonizing him during the coup led by his son Absalom, David reminds himself that God is still in control—that God will still answer his prayers.

As he rests in God, the Lord allows a blissful peace to come over him and David can lay down and sleep. Even while his enemies are all around, pursuing him, shouting at him, and threatening his life, David can rest in the Lord. When he awakes, he finds that he wasn’t attacked during the night, but “the Lord sustained me.”

This reassurance by the Lord encourages David. Now he declares, “I will not be afraid of many thousands of peoples who have set themselves against me all around.” It doesn’t matter how many people are attacking; the Lord is with him. It doesn’t matter if thousands are attacking; the Lord has tens of thousands of heavenly angels to come to his aid. It doesn’t matter if his enemies have surrounded him like a pack of wolves surround their prey; God will not allow any harm to come to him.

Just as God has sustained him in his sleep, so God will sustain him when he is awake, for “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4)

In verse 7, David calls on God as he places his hope in God. He knows that God only has to act, to rise up, and David will be delivered from his enemies. Those enemies who have spoken such wicked words against him and caused him to doubt his salvation will be stricken on the check. Those wolves who surround him and are poised to attack will be rendered impotent as their teeth are broken.

David is powerless to do this; David cannot save himself—Salvation belongs to the Lord!

This is the cry of every Christian today: salvation belongs to the Lord! Thank God for saving me from my sin! Thank God for sending His Son to die in my place! Thank God for continuing to sustain me with His Holy Spirit, for providing for my every need, for saving me from my enemies and delivering me from my temptations. Thank God for all that he does in my life.

Salvation belongs to the Lord!