I like reading the Psalms, especially with the corresponding date of the calendar. Finding nuggets of God’s truth and traits of His character aways excites me and gives me encouragement .

Today, as I read through Psalm 3 several times, I decided to circle action words. Doing so helps me to ‘digest’ and better absorb the depth behind the words in each verse. This type of exercise also forces me to single out key words and their definitions. In verses 3  throuh 5 thisis what I discovered. God is: a shield ** a bestower ** a lifter ** an answerer  **a sustainer. I decided to define these  traits a bit further and made an expanded list: By shielding He is protecting **by bestowing He is gifting, giving honor, granting **by answering He is replying  **He hears my questions  **by sustaining He fills me with strength to keep going when I am weary.

David wrote this Psalm when he was fleeing  from Absalom. Knowing that kind of fear–the kind when an enemy is in hot pursuit–isn’t a level I can comprehend. The closest I can relate to David is my commitment to be ‘in health’ and overcome some chronic pain issues that plague me. Depending on my decisions pertaining to proper nutrition, exercise and rest each day has the potential to present challenges. On particular uncomfortable days, I turn to the Psalms for encouragement, strength, and hope.

Additionally, when David penned this psalm, not only did he remind himself of ‘what’ God can do, he turned his fearful circumstances into a prayer. Knowing he could cry out to God had to have given David a sense of deep hope. In verses 7 through 8 David asked God to: deliver **strike all his enemies **break the teeth of the wicked because he knew that would bring ‘deliverance’…..freedom. Upon reading these latter verses one might think that David’s prayer was asking God to be pretty harsh with his enemies. We must remember that David was a seasoned warrior and he had a heart after God’s. Being bold and fully honest, David was also describing and teaching us (me) that as one of God’s children–caught in a bad place–surrounded by enemies or battling physical struggles–we (I)  can ask for extreme help!

I want an ‘extreme’ God. I want a God who is extravagant with everthing good that He ‘has’ for me and ‘does’ for me. I want to be behind His ‘shield’ of protection and stand with open hands to receive my ‘bestowed’ gifts. Furthermore, I want to live a life of ‘deliverance’ from sin and the ‘freedom’ that comes with His gift of redemption. As I continue to pursue health–making wise choices in conjunction with seeking wisdom from Him–I will: lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. (vs. 5)