Psalms 3:7: “Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God: for thou has smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.”
“O this is poison of deep grief, it springs all from her father’s death, O Gertrude, Gertrude, when sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions.” Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act IV, Scene V.
So how is my year 2015 ending? At 10:00 PM my car broke down at the 7/11. But I was not dismayed, I belonged to the auto club. I called them at 10:PM and they said they would have a tow truck there in forty five minutes. The truck arrived at 8:00 AM. A couple hours later I get a call that my other car was in a wreck. Now remember this is just coming off of a two week period where our website came under attack and was shut down. As my financial reserves started quickly drying up…well let me just quote a line from Shakespeare: “When sorrows come they come not single spies in battalions.” Sound familiar, well I right there with you.
If you read Psalms 3:7 closely you will find something a little strange about the way this is worded. David is calling on the Lord to arise and save him and then he says, you have smitten my enemies. If the enemies are already destroyed, why is he calling on the Lord to save him?
Practically every translation puts the word smitten in a past tense. Indeed, that is exactly the way it is in the Hebrew, in the past tense. This inconsistency becomes even more glaring when you look at the words arise and save me. Both are in a piel imperative form. The word arise even has a paragogic Hei showing intensity. This would suggest that David was in a state of extreme desperation. A total state of panic.
Did you ever have a day like mine? Situations where it is like everything comes at you at once. Sort of like Claudius in the scene from Hamlet where he says: “When sorrows come they come not single spies but in battalions.” You scream out like Popeye, “That’s all I can stands cause I can’t stands no more.” We have times when we pray, “Oh, Lord, I need your help, help me now.” That was my prayer as I waited for a tow truck around midnight. By three in the morning my prayer went something like this: “OH LORD HELPPPPP!!!!” That seems to be the situation in this verse.
What is odd is that in that extreme state of panic and emergency, David is so full of faith, that he declares that God has already destroyed his enemies. Note that his enemies are not yet destroyed, but he puts that word smitten (nakah) is in a Hiphil form. So David is not speaking like a fool saying his enemies are destroyed when they are not, but he is speaking in faith and saying: “The moment I called on you, you have started the process of destroying my enemies and their destruction is as certain as if it has already happened.
I hear people say things like: “Well, that bill is paid,” or “I am healed,” which it obviously is not. That is not what is happening here with David. Remember in Daniel where Daniel prayed and the moment he prayed an angel was dispatched? The angel just got caught in traffic which caused a delay. Yet, the point is that the angel was not dispatched until Daniel prayed. So is it here with David, the process of his enemies destruction did not begin until he prayed. Remember Matthew 7:7, “You have not because you ask not.” You must ask as David asked before the process begins.
Remember too, in this case with David, the destruction of his enemies is in a Hiphil form, it is a process, God set into motion the events that brings this about. The stage is set for your answer to prayer and when you pray, God begins the play. Here is the point. You are never waiting for God to answer your prayer, it is answered the moment you pray. It is, however, just like a play, it sometimes takes a little time for the actors to get into position. Sometimes the angels get stuck in traffic, but that doesn’t mean your prayer was not answered. In Psalms 3:7 David knew his prayer was answered the moment he called out to God, but he also had enough faith to know that even though that prayer won him the gold medal, there was still a race to be run first before getting that medal. However, David knew the fix was in and he was a sure winner.
As we approach this new year and bad news become epidemic at the closing of the old year, I sense the enemy whisper in my ear; “Think this bad, just wait for 2016, you have no idea how bad it can get.” So I reached out to Psalm 3:7 and said: “No it is not either, I have just prayed it will not get worse and God has now begun the process of a victorious 2016.
Recent Comments