Isaac Watts’s paraphrase of Psalm 3 opens with an honest cry of dread. The speaker feels surrounded—enemies multiplying, a whisper insisting there’s no help from heaven, and sins too huge to forgive. Fear presses in. Yet he turns: God, his glory and strength, will trample the lying tempter, silence every accusation, and raise his bowed head. The panic shifts when he cries out and God listens from his holy hill, subduing the terror. What follows is startling: God grants him soft, safe sleep right among his foes. Waking, he wonders at the grace that guarded his rest. After that, even death and hell’s hosts can’t shake him. The mood moves from trembling anxiety to a sturdy, almost defiant confidence. The closing lines explode with praise—the serpent’s teeth broken, death’s sting gone, and blessings reaching beyond the grave. It’s a personal journey from fear to trust, anchored in the certainty that God hears and rescues.
Psalm III: My God, How Many Are My Fears — Summary
My God, how many are my fears! How fast my foes increase! Conspiring my eternal death, They break my present peace.
The lying tempter would persuade There's no relief from heaven; And all my swelling sins appear Too big to be forgiven.
But thou, my glory and my strength, Shall on the tempter tread, Shall silence all my threat'ning guilt, And raise my drooping head.
I cried, and from his holy hill He bowed a list'ning ear; I called my Father, and my God, And He subdued my fear.
He shed soft slumbers on mine eyes, In spite of all my foes; I woke, and wondered at the grace That guarded my repose.
What through the hosts of death and hell All armed against me stood, Terrors no more shall shake my soul; My refuge is my God.
Arise O Lord, fulfill thy grace, While I thy glory sing; My God has broke the serpent's teeth, And death has lost his sting.
Salvation to the Lord belongs; His arm alone can save: Blessings attend thy people here, And reach beyond the grave.