Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God!

³ But You, O Lord, are a shield about me,
My glory, and the One who lifts my head.
⁴ I was crying to the Lord with my voice,
And He answered me from His holy mountain. Selah.
⁵ I lay down and slept;
I awoke, for the Lord sustains me.
⁶ I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people
Who have set themselves against me round about.

⁷ Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God!
For You have smitten all my enemies on the cheek;
You have shattered the teeth of the wicked.
⁸ Salvation belongs to the Lord;
Your blessing be upon Your people! Selah.

The heading of this Psalm says it was offered when David was fleeing from Absalom his son. The Lord had warned David that this would happen when he sinned with Bathsheba. We see that account in 2 Samuel 12.

 Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘It is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul. ⁸ I also gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you many more things like these! ⁹ Why have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. ¹⁰ Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ ¹¹ Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. ¹² Indeed you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and under the sun.’” ¹³ Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die. ¹⁴ However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die.” 

There are consequences to our sins. Even when we are forgiven there  will often be consequences of our actions that we will live with for the rest of our lives. That is not God's punishment. It is a result of our free will which God has given us. David understood that the problem he faced was not God's fault. Even when the child born to Bathsheba died as the prophet said, David did not get angry with God for what he himself had done.

2 Samuel 12:19-23      David perceived that the child was dead; so David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” And they said, “He is dead.” ²⁰ So David arose from the ground, washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he came into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he came to his own house, and when he requested, they set food before him and he ate.  ²¹ Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.” ²² He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows, the Lord may be gracious to me, that the child may live.’ ²³ But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”

In today's text we see the heart of David, of whom God had said: , He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, 'I HAVE FOUND DAVID the son of Jesse, A MAN AFTER MY HEART, who will do all My will.' (Acts 13:22)

If we will learn to fully walk in the forgiveness of God, if we will be like the psalmist men and women after God's heart, then we too will turn to God, not from Him. We will not seek to question or blame Him for our troubles, but rather like David, we will seek Him for our deliverance. As it was for David, we shall also experience the world and the enemy of our soul saying God won't deliver us.  Many are saying of my soul, “There is no deliverance for him in God. Yet as we walk in the fullness of God's forgiveness and all of His promises to us we find the confidence to say as David did:  You, O Lord, are a shield about me, My glory, and the One who lifts my head.   I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people Who have set themselves against me round about.  Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God! Salvation belongs to the Lord; Your blessing be upon Your people! Selah.

Selah means to pause and ponder or think about it. Think about all that God has done.

O give thanks to the LORD , for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting.(1 Chronicles 16:34)

Thank You Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior and Holy Spirit. You have not caused my troubles but You will deliver me from them all.  Rise up and defeat my enemies today. You are my shield, my glory and the one who lifts my head. Amen.