Verse 30 of chapter 15, So David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went up, and he had his head covered, and he went barefoot. Can you see David? The mightiest warrior. As far as we know, David was never defeated in any battle. He wasn't even ever wounded. Can you imagine no Kevlar, no body armor, no tank to go into battle with? David was never, as far as we know, ever even wounded in hand-to-hand combat, in arrows flying, spears flying, sling stones flying. You understand the nature of war? It was close-up war. It was not snipers at 1,700 yards and 20-mile howitzers. It is unbelievable what a warrior he was, but look at him now. He is walking barefooted with something over his head, crying. Why? His own son has turned against him. He's at the bottom of his whole life at this moment. He has crashed. Everything he thought, the succession of the throne taken away, So, there he is, weeping as he went up. Verse 31, and someone said, Ahithophel is among the conspirators. And that was kind of like the last blow. This was the wisest counselor of all time to the king. And now he's with his son in the insurrection. Look at verse 32. This is the setting this morning. Now, it happened when David had come to the top of the mountain. And this is what the authorized version says. It's clearer than in the NIV. It says, the top of the mountain where he worshipped God. Now, think about that for a moment. David used tragedy and disaster and loss as a time for worship. Do you remember how Job put it? When he learned of all the tragedies, his wife, his children, his own sickness. Remember what he said? The Lord gives, the Lord takes, and then what did he say? Blessed be the name of the Lord. He says, I will worship God, no matter what. David came to the top of the mountain, right up here where we are, the top of the Mount of Olives. He came up, crossed the Kidron, walking barefooted, weeping with his head covered. As he walked up, he paused on the top of the mountain and worshipped God. Wouldn't it have been wonderful to know what he was thinking right then? Well, if you want to write right there by verse 32 in your Bible, write Psalm 3. Right there, somewhere, if you can find a little spot, get your pen out, because Psalm 3 will never mean the same to you if you know the context like you do now. Psalm 3, and let's turn there. O Lord, how many are my foes? How many rise up against me? Many are saying of me, God will not deliver him. You are a shield around me, O Lord. You bestow glory on me and lift up my head. To the Lord I cry aloud. He answers me from His holy hill. I lie down and sleep. I wake again because the Lord sustains me. I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side. Arise, O Lord. Deliver me, O my God. strike all my enemies on the jaw, break the teeth of the wicked. From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on all your people. David is fleeing for his life from the city of David. He's brought his family with him. He has brought He's surrounded by his mighty men, but he's weeping and walking barefooted. He's going to sleep out in the desert, running for his life, in a tent on the ground, maybe even not in a tent, and he's got the whole army of Israel, led by his son, coming after him. You talk about anxiety. I mean, how would you even sleep knowing that your son and the whole army is chasing after you out here? Look what he does. At the beginning of the psalm, if you have the superscript, you have a psalm of David, and then what does it say? When he fled from Absalom his son. We know now what he was thinking in his worship. He wrote it down. You can send the whole army against me, David said. I'm not going to be afraid. Now imagine with me what happened. They got up here. David had those thoughts. He didn't write them down. He worshipped God right up here on top of the mountain. They kept walking. They got out in the wilderness. And Joab was setting the perimeter. He was getting all the archers ready and the spearmen ready. They were going to defend David at all costs. They were all looking for a strategic place. And he came in. And there's David sitting down with this skin unrolled. And he's got his little writing kit with him. And he's looking off in the distance. And he's writing something. And Job says, you working on a plan of attack here for how to overthrow Absalom? He says, oh, no, no. He says, I have some thoughts I don't want to lose. He said, I was thinking about something up on the mountain. And he wrote and wrote and wrote. And he rolled up that little scroll and tucked it in his pack. And Job went off to check the perimeter. And when he came back, right there in the center of the camp, rolled up in his blanket, was David snoring soundly. See, it's not just knowing the truth, it's applying it in our lives. David said, Lord, You're a shield around me. You're my glory. You lift up my head. I can lay down and sleep, even during trials. because the Lord sustains me. There's a key right there in that sustains. Have you ever met someone that they can hardly walk, it's like their first time out of bed, they had surgery, and they've got their little wheelie cart with the IV still in them, and the nurses, one is under each arm, and you know, they kind of got their arm around them, and the person's walking down the hall. Do you know how they're making it? They're being sustained. David didn't say, all my problems are gone. He didn't say, the Lord erased them all. He said, The Lord is sustaining me. I'm still on the IV. I can barely stand up. But the Lord sustains me. Psalm 3 When you face an unexpected, absolute, complete disaster, remember Psalm 3 that David wrote when he was being hunted down to be killed by his own son. And he says, Lord, You're my shield, my glory. You lift my head up. So I can look and see life correctly. And Lord, I trust you so much, I can sleep even in the face of danger. Let's bow before the Lord in prayer this morning. Father, right up here on the top of the Mount of Olives, we give thanks to you. But we want to go beyond just hearing this word. I pray that right now, at this moment, we would look into our hearts and our lives and see what the adversaries and enemies that are ten thousands of them coming against us right now and that we would say, Oh Lord, you're a shield about me. Help us not to merely be hearers. Help us this morning to do something. Help us to roll our problems, our burdens, our fears onto you and let you sustain us. Help us to feel You underneath our arms holding us up to help us walk with your arm around us. Help us to feel your everlasting arms underneath us this morning. And then Lord, when it comes time to sleep, help us to lay down and be able to sleep and let you carry the load through the night instead of us meditating on our problems, which is worry. Help us to meditate on your promises which is your shield about us. In the name of Jesus, we roll our burdens onto you, we pray. Amen.