I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me.
David, stripped of his kingdom and hunted by his own son, had every reason to despair, yet he clung to God's promise against mockery and death itself. He makes no mention of his sins here, his adultery and the blood of Uriah, which means this psalm captures only one part of his prayer; the full anguish of God's punishment for those crimes came first.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 3:1-8
David's faith enabled him to lie down; anxiety would certainly have kept him on tiptoe, watching for an enemy. Yea, he was able to sleep, to sleep in the midst of trouble, surrounded by foes. "So he giveth his beloved sleep." There is a sleep of presumption; God deliver us from it! There is a sleep of holy confidence; God help us so to close our eyes!
In every difficulty David had been driven to his knees, crying to God with his whole voice, and God had always answered him from His holy mountain. When care and grief turn us to earnest prayer, not mere sound but real fervency of heart, God takes notice and accounts it to us.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 3:4-8