A manual of the book of Psalms · Martin Luther
PSALM III.
_The security of God’s protection._ A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son. LORD, how are they increased that trouble me? many _are_ they that rise up against me. Many _there be_ which say of my soul, _There is_ no help for him in God. Selah. But thou O LORD, _art_ a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah. I laid me down and slept; I awaked: for the LORD sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set _themselves_ against me round about. Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies _upon_ the cheek-bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. Salvation _belongeth_ unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah. This Psalm is a prayer of David in the time of his greatest affliction, and under the severest trial he ever experienced. And here we have set before us a signal example of this greatest and most spiritual of men—David; how he, in the time of Absalom, when all Israel revolted from him and went over to Absalom; how this eminent saint, I say, who was now an exile, forsaken by all, betrayed by those of his own household, and in the midst of the most appalling peril of his own life and salvation; how, when sinking under this heavy calamity, and struggling in this agony, he prayed unto God in faith; and what a fervency of heart there was in these his cries unto him.
In a word,—in this Psalm, David, with a wonderful feeling of mind, and a signal experience of faith, extols, in the highest strains, the greatness of the long-suffering and goodness of God, when he says, “Salvation is of the Lord!” As if he had said, The Lord is he alone who has all salvation in his hand, and all the issues of life and death. He sets up and changes kingdoms in a moment, just as he wills. No peril is so great, no death so instant, from which he cannot deliver his own, if they but call upon him in true faith, and flee unto him alone. This Psalm has reference to the First Commandment, wherein it is said, “I am the Lord thy God;” and it is comprehended in the seventh petition of the Lord’s Prayer, where we pray, “Deliver us from evil.”
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.