Psalm 04

Turn with me to Psalm 4. The last psalm we looked at was Psalm 3 where we saw David fleeing from Jerusalem as his son Absalom, led a coup against him. David cried out to God trusting God to hear and answer him. Psalm 4 has some similar characteristics to the previous one as this psalm. As a result, some believe it to have been written during Absalom’s revolt as well. However, the problems are different. In Psalm 3 David is concerned about a physical attack. Thousands of soldiers had aligned themselves with Absalom against David. David needed God to be a shield against his enemies. In Psalm 4 the problem is verbal. His enemies were spreading malicious slander and lies about David. Now it’s his reputation that is at stake instead of his physical body. As a result, David doesn’t need God’s physical deliverance, but a sense of God’s presence and approval.

This psalm also starts with an inscription. While we don’t count it as part of the psalm (verse 1 doesn’t start until after the inscription) it is in Hebrew.

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm of David.

This should remind us that the psalms were the songbook for the Jews. That this psalm was to be accompanied by stringed instruments perhaps tells us that others were accompanied by non-stringed instruments and perhaps by no instruments.

The Bible begins in Genesis 1 with the words:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

This verse, as does the rest of the Bible, doesn’t argue for the existence of God but instead assumes God’s existence. What the Bible does is argue for the character of God. The glory of the Bible is that it reveals to us that God is personal and desires to enter into a relationship with us. Throughout the Bible, God is in constant communication with his people as they are with him.

This is true for Psalm 4 as well. The psalm begins with David calling out to God for help, pleading with God to answer him and bring him help. The psalm then ends with David’s confidence in being heard and answered. Because it is a very personal prayer we see changes in subject matter and mood, but in the psalm, we see the living relationship between God and his servant David.

First, we see David’s confidence in God.

1 Answer me when I call to you, my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; have mercy on me and hear my prayer. (Psalm 4:1)

David is confident that God hears his prayer. Three times he refers to that confident assurance.

Answer me when I call to you

Hear my prayer

The Lord hears when I call to him

David is certain that God will hear and answer his prayer. God can be depended on even when people cannot. So he identifies God as being righteous. To be righteous is to do that which is right. God keeps his covenant with his people, upholds his moral law, and fulfills his promises. God will always do what is right. God knows the truth and makes sure that justice will triumph.

David then appeals to God’s past actions. In the past, God has helped him by giving David relief from his distress. That’s the situation David found himself in when Absalom leads in a revolt. That was stressful. Since God had given him relief in that situation, David was confident God would do so in this situation too.

That’s the way our faith in God works. As we trust God he comes through for us. The next time we face a difficult situation it becomes even easier to trust God because we’ve trusted him before. Satan wants to make us forget how God has answered our prayers in the past. But because we remember how God comes through before we can know he will do so again.

In verse 2 we find the problem David was facing as he addresses those causing his distress.

2 How long will you people turn my glory into shame? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods? (Psalm 4:2)

In verse 1 David speaks to God, but beginning with verse 2 he speaks to his enemies. They ignored the good things David had done and exaggerated the bad things. No one is perfect and David wasn’t. But they were ruining his reputation with groundless accusations. David then asks, “How long are you going to keep this up?”

Then, in verse 3 David reminds them that he belongs to God.

3 Know that the Lord has set apart his faithful servant for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him. (Psalm 4:3)

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what they say about him or do to him. It doesn’t matter because he belongs to God and David knew that it was God who put him on the throne. If God wanted another king God would easily replace him. It wouldn’t matter how hard he fought or how many soldiers he might muster to help protect him. David’s reign would end as soon as God wanted it to. As Paul wrote to the Romans:

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. (Romans 13:1)

This has sometimes been a difficult lesson for me. When I graduated from seminary I was ready to find a church and start preaching. I started sending our resumes two months before I finished school so I’d have a job after graduation. But that’s not what happened. Since I didn’t have a job we moved in with my mother. As I continued sending out resumes and waiting for replies I got a job at Chick-fil-A. It was almost a year before we moved to Elizabethton. As hard as it was to wait I knew that God would open the right door in his timing.

David had learned that as well. As a young man still in his teens, Samuel had anointed him to become the next king of Israel. But it was years before he took the throne. If I were David I would have preferred God to wait and tell until it was time to become king. You’ll remember David’s story of how he went to Saul as a musician, and then he killed Goliath. David became an officer in Saul’s army before Saul started trying to kill him. In all of that David was learning to trust God. So when these yahoos started spreading lies David didn’t like it, but his position on the throne was secure. He didn’t worry about it because he trusted God.

And then he tells his enemies what he already knew, God listened to his prayers.

It is God who put me here not you and God will answer when I cry out to him for help.

Second, we see David makes a call to trust God

After reminding his enemies that God takes care of his own, David encourages them to consider their relationship with God. He is encouraging his enemies to put their trust in God even as he does.

4 Tremble and do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent. (Psalm 4:4)

To tremble is to shake in fear. They are to tremble or stand in awe at the thought of God. Concerning this trembling, Solomon said:

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10)

Unfortunately, we don’t have much fear and trembling of God today. We have lots of fears though. Surveys were made by Pew Research to determine what scares us. Their results include:

42% are afraid of being a victim of a random mass shooting, up from 16% in 2015

57% of teens worry about gunfire erupting at their schools.

Washington D.C. gives many causes for concern.

74% are fearful of corrupt government officials

64% fear another world war will erupt in the next few years

Right now there is a great fear of COVID. But we don’t have enough fear of God. Jesus advised:

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)

David is encouraging his enemies to fear God. We might word it this way:

Stand in awe of God and stop sinning. The evil you are planning should be abandoned because God is against you in it. You should be able to see if you would slow down and search your hearts.

They need to search their hearts. As we read this morning, God says:

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. (Psalm 46:10)

And Habakkuk wrote:

The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him. (Habakkuk 2:20)

Those two verses explain very well what David was encouraging his enemies to do. They need to slow down and consider their relationship with God. It is good advice for us as well.

5 Offer the sacrifices of the righteous and trust in the Lord. (Psalm 4:5)

We know about the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament, but what are the sacrifices of the righteous? In the Old Testament, they would include those sacrifices, but it would be more. Let’s see what other sacrifices the Bible mentions.

Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. (1 Samuel 15:22)

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise--the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. (Hebrews 13:15)

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. (Romans 12:1)

To sum up those verses, we are not called to sacrifice animals, but ourselves. Our sacrifice it to be one of obedience and service to God.

The psalm begins with David expressing his confidence in God to hear and answer him in his time of need. Then he calls his enemies to stop their lies about him and do the same. The psalm ends with David offering praise to God.

Third, there is the confession of faith.

The conversation returns to God.

6 Many, Lord, are asking, “Who will bring us prosperity?” Let the light of your face shine on us. (Psalm 4:6)

This reminds me of the blessing found in Numbers 6:

24 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. (Numbers 6:24-26)

Many are asking if it is worth it to follow God. Look at all the problems in the world. “Who will show us some good?” It’s a good question and David knows it. So he calls on God to show forth his light. Light communicates holiness, purity, and majesty. God is light both in his character as holy and in his person. The absence of goodness in this world, the darkness of sin and ignorance, is met in the light of God’s countenance. As light, God dispels both our sin and our ignorance. Our good and the world’s good is found in him. John wrote:

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)

And Jesus said:

I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. (John 8:12)

David asks God to show forth his light.

7 Fill my heart with joy when their grain and new wine abound. (Psalm 4:7)

I’m not sure about the NIV translation of this verse. In the NIV David is asking for joy while most translators have David thanking God for the joy he already has. I think those are better translations.

You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. (Psalm 4:7, ESV)

You have given me greater joy than those who have abundant harvests of grain and new wine. (Psalm 4:7, NLT)

It is God who gives joy. As C. S. Lewis points out, we will never know joy by seeking it. Joy or gladness comes as a side-effect of the presence of the living God. When Lewis became a Christian, he was in his words “surprised by joy.”

David’s joy is greater than even those with abundant grain and wine. His circumstances hadn’t changed yet, but his joy doesn’t come from circumstances. His joy is from God’s presence. The consequence of God’s presence is not just joy but peace.

8 In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety. (Psalm 4:8)

The focus is on peace, God’s shalom. Shalom is not just the lack of conflict, it conveys the fullness of God’s blessing that brings contentment and allows David to sleep. It is only the Lord who can guard him through the night. David knows he is far better off than his enemies. They may be spreading lies about him, but God still gives him peace.

We will never be immune from the trials and afflictions of life. So in difficult times, it is critical that we call upon God because only he can deliver us from troubles. But too many Christians internalize their anxiety rather than turning to God for relief and rescue. When deeply distressed we need to pray to God who is:

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1)

We have confidence that God hears us and will answer according to his perfect will giving us a calm assurance that transcends all human understanding.