Psalm 3. The enemy surrounds us. What do we do? I think there are five things a person does when faced with battle. Lie down and play dead. I've heard this works. You don't look as if there is a bit of life left in you, so the enemy goes after someone alive.... Run!! This is effective if you are fast! Hightail it if you can outrun your foe. I actually did this once. I was jogging early in the morning. In the fog before daylight. A man got out of his car and chased me, trying to attack me. He was fat. I have never been so fast. He was waiting for me at the corner, though. "In the name of Jesus you will not hurt me!" I screamed. "In the name of Jesus, you leave me alone!!" The man stood there exposed, and did not move as I ran past him. Give up. Looks at the outset like the easiest way out, but then you are a captive at the mercy of the enemy. Hide. Ah, this is such a great strategy, but then neither side wants you. One can't find you and the troops you left can't stand to look at your cowardice any more than you can. Stand and fight. Only the bravest, best trained warriors can do this. Only those confident in the commander who gives the orders. Downside, you could die. Upside, you just might win.
David wrote this psalm when he was running away from his own son, Absalom. Absalom had taken the kingdom from his father, slept with David's concubine's on the king's roof for all to see, and shamed the king before all Israel. It is one thing for your enemy to be from another country, but when it is your own family, there is no bottom to the heartache. Do you stand and fight your son? Do you allow him to kill you? David fled while scoffers said, "God won't rescue you." He might have wondered about that himself. Absalom had hated his father since Amnon had raped their sister Tamar then thrown her away. David did nothing about this, and Absalom lost respect. Surely David carried the guilt of his own passivity. And he loved his son, Absalom. How do you pray to God to rescue you from this situation? Would that mean David's death or his son's? Neither option was viable, so David fled, leaving Absalom to flaunt his power throughout the king's mansion.
"God won't rescue you!" I have thought this because I have made a mess of things and should not even expect Him to hear me when I want Him to fix it for me. Jesus heard those words from the Romans and the Jews when He was hanging from the cross. "Where is your God now? Call Him to rescue you from this cross." David left Jerusalem in ignominy. But he said of his God in 2 Samuel 15: 26: "I will see what my Lord will do." He ran away from the enemy into God. That kind of fleeing is not cowardice, but real bravery, because we do not know what our God will do. All we know is that He WILL rescue us. Not because we deserve it but because He loves us and is committed to us as His children. David was "a man after God's own heart." We are His beloved children. Don't tell me, enemy, that my God won't rescue me! Play dead, hide, run, fight or even try to join the opposition, my God is faithful to bring me back.
When was your last big battle? They come daily, I know.
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