A Devo From Scot - Psalm 3
Dear Church,
Consider the perplexing pain of running in worried fear from threats of your own child. That is how Psalm 3 begins. “A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.” Think about that for a second.
While David was literally the runt of his sibling litter, Absalom was quite the opposite. He was the third son of David (3rd out of at least 23!!) and there was “no one as handsome as Absalom, so highly praised; from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no defect in him.” Wow. Quite the physical resume. David loved him. But violations, murder, abandonment, neglect and estrangement over at least nine years tore father from son. This led to patient conspiracy and rabid coup. Thus David “fled from Absalom his son.” Can you imagine that?
With that background in mind, I invite you read the words of Psalm 3. Read them with an understanding of the pain in which David wrote or sung them, likely through fits of weeping. Perhaps you are familiar with that emotional state. Perhaps you’re in it now. Maybe you know someone who is. The deeply personal and Spirit-inspired words of Psalm 3 will prove ready language for anyone who enters this kind of story. I pray they become the foundation of a new kind of prayer for you today.
“But You, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, the One who lifts my head.”
And that’s just a sample of the goodness in Psalm 3.
I love you church,
Scot
Consider the perplexing pain of running in worried fear from threats of your own child. That is how Psalm 3 begins. “A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.” Think about that for a second.
While David was literally the runt of his sibling litter, Absalom was quite the opposite. He was the third son of David (3rd out of at least 23!!) and there was “no one as handsome as Absalom, so highly praised; from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no defect in him.” Wow. Quite the physical resume. David loved him. But violations, murder, abandonment, neglect and estrangement over at least nine years tore father from son. This led to patient conspiracy and rabid coup. Thus David “fled from Absalom his son.” Can you imagine that?
With that background in mind, I invite you read the words of Psalm 3. Read them with an understanding of the pain in which David wrote or sung them, likely through fits of weeping. Perhaps you are familiar with that emotional state. Perhaps you’re in it now. Maybe you know someone who is. The deeply personal and Spirit-inspired words of Psalm 3 will prove ready language for anyone who enters this kind of story. I pray they become the foundation of a new kind of prayer for you today.
“But You, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, the One who lifts my head.”
And that’s just a sample of the goodness in Psalm 3.
I love you church,
Scot