Imagine getting fired as the CEO of a company, in front of all your employees, by your own son. This is similar to the experience David lived through that gave us Psalm 3. His son Absalom conspired against him, forcing him to flee from Jerusalem. While travelling barefoot away from Jerusalem, David and his loyal servants cover their heads—a portrait of shame, humiliation, and disgrace (2 Sam. 15:30). Then it gets worse: a man from the house of Saul named Shimei walks alongside David and his servants, throwing rocks and flinging dust, cursing and mocking. He calls David “worthless” and a “man of blood,” claiming David is experiencing judgment from God himself (2 Sam. 16:7-8). David’s servants implore him to kill the man, but David refuses, claiming God sent Shimei to curse them (2 Sam. 16:9-13).
This is King David in all his shame: fleeing from his kingdom, weeping, and enduring pebbles and taunts along the way.
However, in this terrible circumstance, David turns to God, and the result is Psalm 3. This psalm has been a refuge for me countless times. First, a brief outline: in verses 1-2, he laments his situation before God; in verses 3-6, he declares what he knows to be true about God; in verses 7-8, he begs God for salvation.
The order here is striking. David asks to be rescued from his shameful circumstances only after he’s declared what God means to him amid them. Before he ever experiences God’s deliverance, while Shimei is still doing his worst, David can declare, “But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head” (Ps. 3:3).
In the most shameful place, David declares that God is his protection (“shield about me”), his dignity (“my glory”), and his healing (“lifter of my head”).
Read more at http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2013/07/24/naked-and-unashamed/