God’s Word for You
Psalm 3:5-8 Salvation belongs to the Lord
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Sunday, November 6, 2022
5 I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, because the LORD sustains me.
6 I will not fear the many people
standing against me on every side.
7 Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
break the teeth of the wicked.
8 Salvation belongs to the LORD.
Your blessing is on your people. Selah
Out in the wilderness where David was running from his rebellious son, he was able to sleep without much trouble. He proclaims that it is the Lord who sustains him. He is saying: Why waste time tossing and turning and being sleepless when the Lord has given us the night for resting? A fresh mind will see things more clearly anyway. More often a problem that seems insoluble for many hours during the night is solved in a matter of minutes or even seconds after just a little sleep. David will say again: “I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety” (Psalm 4:8).
David’s third Selah draws our attention to the exiled king’s confession: “Your blessing is on your people.” God is in control of all things, and he works all things for the good of those who love him. David is also grateful that he has been shown his sin and his Savior, too.
“The Word of God must be rightly divided,” Luther said, “and with care, for there are two kinds of people. On the one hand, there are the contrite (repentant), who need consolation. On the other hand are the rigid ones, to whom you must apply the law, threats, examples of (God’s) wrath, the fire that Elijah called down, the waters of the Great Flood, and the destruction of Jerusalem. These people must be attacked at once and must be made to feel terror.”
This is the kind of pastor we all should want. That’s surely the pastor I need preaching to me, one who won’t tell me that everything is fine and that God winks at my sins. No, we must pray that our pastor will condemn our sins, show us how furious God is over our errors, and lead us to repentance and faith in Christ. Pray that your pastor will paint hell black and that he will shine a bright golden light upon every rampart, grove of trees, green field and banquet hall of heaven.
How would anyone feel if they were thrown into the pit of hell, where the worm that eats at them will never die, and the fire that burns their flesh will never be quenched, and where everyone else condemned to hell will look at them and be horrified by their suffering and won’t be able to do anything about it, where the Law of God will still reign supreme forever so that their sins are exposed, and then think to themselves, “But my Pastor said that the choices I made, the lifestyle I embraced, were nobody’s business but my own! Why didn’t anyone ever tell me to stop my sinning?”
Yes, yes, yes, we want to know about the joys of heaven. Sometimes it’s interesting to talk about Judgment Day. But what really matters, Sunday after Sunday, week after week, year after year, is my relationship with Jesus Christ. David cries out, “Rise up, O Lord! Save me, my God!” That’s the heart of the matter, every single day.
When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, how many of the petitions are about asking God for things that we need? Only one. How many are about our relationship with God in his holiness? The first three. How many are about our “keep me away/save me” relationship with sin and temptation? The last three. Surely we must see that the life we live here is filled with things to be avoided, filled with temptations that will ensnare us, like poor rebellious Absalom, caught up in his own rebellion, too green, too young, too naïve, perhaps, to really understand that anyone who declared war on David was declaring war on God! That’s why David grieved so for his son, O Absalom, my son! My son! when everything was over.
In the final verse, David says: “Salvation belongs to the Lord.” That’s another way of acknowledging what Jesus says in John 14:6: “No one comes to the Father except through me.” Think of the 360 degrees of a compass. In a theological compass, only one way, we’ll call it degree #1, points through Christ to eternal life in heaven. How many degrees does that leave that are pathways to hell? The devil doesn’t care if you get caught up backwards at 180° or veering off to the left at 270° or off to the right at 90°. In fact, he’d rather, he’d much rather, get you on the impossibly dangerous course of 359°, just a degree or so off, because you might think, your whole life, that you’re on the right path. But if it doesn’t point to Christ, if it doesn’t tear open your life of sin and salve your seared flesh with the medicine of the gospel of Christ crucified, then it’s the road to hell just as surely as if the devil himself were your driver. So David prays: “Save me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.” He wants nothing to do with any teaching, any spiritual advice or following, that leads anywhere but to God’s promised Anointed One, Christ. It is especially our concern that we understand the uselessness of looking over to ourselves to be saved, but only to Christ. Our Confession proclaims: “God provided the Gospel and the sacraments. Through these means (of grace) he gives the Holy Spirit, who works faith when and where he pleases, in those who hear the Gospel. And the Gospel teaches that we have a gracious God, not by our own merits, but by the merit of Christ, when we believe this” (Augsburg Confession V:1-3).
Lay your cares on Jesus. Lay all of your salvation on Jesus. He only asks that you put your faith in him, and trust in him.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.