David runs in fear, then prays with weak faith. Psalm Three

Psalm Three: David runs scared

David ran away. His once great faith was shattered by life’s challenges.

Sometimes we need help. Other times we need a lot of help.

Sometimes we feel strong enough to face our troubles. Other times we run in fear; our troubles seem too great for our weak faith.

In this Psalm David, the King of Israel cried out to God for help. David was a very proud and accomplished king. To this day he is still known as Israel’s greatest king. He fought in and led the armies of Israel to many victories. From his youth, he never saw a challenge as too big. His God was bigger than any who ever stood in his way.

Giant Slayer

He faced the giant warrior Goliath who had the entire army of Israel hiding in fear. David ran toward Goliath with only five stones and plenty of faith to face any giant. He wrestled bears and lions to defend his father’s sheep. He feared no man and no difficulty because he feared God Almighty and trusted him for protection.

In this Psalm, we find that David’s faith had weakened. Life has a way of wearing all of us down. In Psalm three we find the inevitable erosion of faith had begun to take down the great king of Israel. As waves beat daily upon massive stones along a beach, the waves of life’s challenges can beat down even the greatest faith.

Inevitable erosion

The faith of David began to erode under the pounding

I call it the “inevitable erosion” because of the frailty of our humanity. Like David, sometimes our faith feels unshakeable. We fear no foe. Other times we run in fear of our own shadows. Our faith crumbles under the relentless pounding.

When David was young, he ran toward the giant with unbeatable faith. Now, when he is old, he runs in fear for his life. His faith had begun to break and crumble under the relentless crash of waves upon his once unbreakable faith.

But it was no giant or marching enemy he ran from. He ran from someone he loved dearly. He ran from his son. His son had incited a military takeover of his kingdom. He chose to run instead of calling on the Almighty to once again defeat his foes.

The trouble, in this case, he didn’t want this foe defeated. His foe was his own child whom he loved deeply.

His Son, Absalom, had turned on him, becoming an enemy he refused to face. David ran in the opposite direction but that weak faith was never gone.

His faith was once a raging fire that no ocean could quench. Now only embers remained, but when he ran from his son those embers began to glow. He called to The Almighty for help. The call is always answered when offered in faith. Even weak faith.

Psalm Three

A song of David when he ran away from Absalom his son.

1 LORD, every day I have more enemies.
Many people fight me.
2 Many people say about me,
“God will not save him”. SELAH
3 But LORD, you are a shield over me.
You are my glory.
You have lifted up my head.
4 I shouted aloud to the LORD.
He answered me from his holy mountain. SELAH
5 I lay down and slept.
I awoke because the LORD kept me alive.
He kept me safe.
6 I will not be afraid of 10 000 enemies that are all round me.
7 LORD, stand up! My God, save me!
In the past you hit all my enemies in the face.
You broke their teeth.
8 It was the LORD that saved us.
Lord, do good things for all your people. SELAH

Words to remember when we are running in fear.

Pray, and let God worry. – Martin Luther
Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. – Corrie Ten Boom
Don’t ask God to guide your steps if you’re not willing to move your feet. – Unknown
The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be. – Anne Frank
Faith talks in the language of God. Doubt talks in the language of man. – E.W. Kenyon

Don’t run from the waves, ride them.

David prayed to the Great God when waves of doubt threatened him.

The waves are going to crash. They are relentless, we should learn to expect them, and even enjoy them. If we are smart we’ll learn to surf them.

It can be fun if you learn to trust the One who made the waves and sets limits for how far those waves can go.

Enjoy the surf. Trust God and grab a board.

A disciple of Christ

This book presents to you the teachings of a very old disciple of Christ. The old disciple’s name is Hippolytus. He was an ardent defender of the teachings of the early disciples. He was an early disciple himself, but he was very well aware of the many false teachings that were creeping into the church and affecting the truth of scripture. One of his more renowned writings was called, ‘Against Heresies.’ In it, he defended the word of God and the word of the first Apostles.

Hippolytus lived from around A.D. 170 to A.D. 236. He was a contemporary of a more famous Irenaeus and learned under the teaching of Polycarp and Justin Martyr. He was born only seventy years after the death of the last original disciples of Christ, the Apostle John.

The words and first manuscripts of the early church were readily available to a young eager student like Hippolytus. Reminds me of myself.

He was eager to learn and a staunch supporter of the Bible as the only important document when considering God’s truth.

What I have presented to you are his own words, originally in Greek, translated into English. The subject is the Antichrist, but I can assure you there is nothing about spinning heads or spewing vomit. He uses the scriptures only in drawing conclusions and leaves wild conjecture for us to get into.

David runs in fear, then prays with weak faith. Psalm Three