Psalm 1 presents Christ as the truly Blessed Man, delighting perfectly in the law of the LORD. Psalm 2 reveals Him as God’s anointed King who reigns despite the rebellion of the nations. In Psalm 3, we meet that same King in suffering—the righteous Son who is rejected, driven into distress, yet who entrusts Himself to God, lays down, and rises again by the Lord’s sustaining power.

Psalm 3 is the first psalm to situate us within a moment of concrete historical anguish. David writes as a king in flight, betrayed by his own son and driven from Jerusalem. As he departs the city, David crosses the brook Kidron, weeping as he goes (2 Sam. 15). The anointed king leaves the holy city under the weight of rejection, surrounded by enemies who interpret his suffering as proof of divine abandonment. In this, the psalm introduces a pattern that will echo throughout the Psalter: the Lord’s anointed is opposed, mocked, and seemingly undone, even as the purposes of God move steadily forward.

The opening cry is stark: “O LORD, how many are my foes!” David is not merely endangered; he is the object of theological judgment. His enemies say, “There is no salvation for him in God.” Suffering is treated as evidence of rejection, distress as proof that the Lord has withdrawn His favor. The psalm gives voice to a fear that has haunted the people of God in every generation.

David answers these many accusations with a single confession: “But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.” Stripped of his throne and cast out of Jerusalem, David locates his hope not in status or strength, but in the covenant faithfulness of the LORD. God Himself is his glory—the One who raises the downcast head and restores what shame has pressed low.

Here the psalm lifts our eyes beyond David to Christ. The greater Son of David also crossed the Kidron, leaving Jerusalem to enter Gethsemane on the night of His betrayal (John 18). Like David, He was rejected by His own, surrounded by enemies, and judged as forsaken by God. As He hung upon the cross, the accusation of Psalm 3 was spoken again: “He trusts in God; let God deliver him.” The King of Psalm 2 appeared defeated, and the Blessed Man of Psalm 1 appeared cursed. Yet the Scriptures were not being undone—they were being fulfilled.

This gospel pattern comes into sharp focus in the psalm’s quiet confession: “I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me.” From early on, the church heard more here than David’s nightly rest. Sleep becomes a figure of death, and awakening a sign of resurrection. What David experiences in shadow, Christ fulfills in substance. He laid down His life in perfect trust, entered the sleep of death, and rose again because the Father sustained Him.

For this reason, Psalm 3 is not a psalm of despair but of deep rest. Surrounded by danger, David sleeps without fear. His confidence rests not in the absence of enemies, but in the presence of God. In Christ, this rest is given to all who belong to Him. The One who passed through death and rose again now guards His people, granting peace even in the midst of trial.

The psalm closes with a confession that gathers the hope of the entire Psalter into a single line: “Salvation belongs to the LORD.” Deliverance is not seized by human effort or secured by earthly power. It belongs to the Lord, and He gives it freely to His people through His risen King. Christ’s victory is not private or temporary—it is shared and enduring.

Psalm 3 teaches us to read the Psalter, and our own lives, through the lens of Christ’s suffering and resurrection. The Blessed Man and reigning King is also the suffering King who crosses the valley, lays down, and rises again. As we pray this psalm, we learn to entrust ourselves to Him in the night, confident that the God who sustained His Son will also raise us, until the final morning dawns and faith gives way to sight.