Psalm 4

Introduction

Wars. Lies. Slander. Nerves. Chaos. Angst. Protest.

All of these things have taken place in a big way this very week. This has not been a peaceful week. Many around the world — perhaps even you — are wondering how you can “in peace lie down and sleep.” Don’t you want that? I do.

I am always struck by the humanity we find in the Psalms and in the life of David. Cruz talked about that last week. In the person of David we find a man who is extremely relatable to us. He has the highest of highs and shows joy that we have all felt. He also experiences the lowest of lows, and like us, sinks into a fog of depression that we are familiar with. Maybe more than anyone else in the Old Testament, we can relate to David.

In today’s passage, we encounter David as he is writing a song. This Psalm is directly written to the choirmaster, and was therefore meant for the congregation of Israel to hear and sing it. And people have not changed since David’s time. We seek to sing relatable songs. We want to gather together for worship and sing songs that ignite feeling within us. We want to proclaim lyrics that say true things about God and true things about ourselves. So when the congregation would gather to sing this song, they could know that David was a real person who really experienced the content of this song, and then wrote it down poetically and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This was relatable.

Let’s look at this passage then, at Psalm 4:

Psalm 4 ESV

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of David. 1 Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer! 2 O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah 3 But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him. 4 Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah 5 Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord. 6 There are many who say, “Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!” 7 You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. 8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Let’s pray:

Father, we are so grateful that you have gathered us here this morning. As we seek to understand your Word more deeply today, guide us into the truth through the work of the Spirit and affect us as we understand. Shape and fashion us in your likeness, not for our own glory, but for yours alone. Grant us godly wisdom, humility, and a Spirit-fueled life that is concerned most chiefly with your glory in our lives. Now, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.

John Calvin says, “To be free from all fear, and from the torment and vexation of care, is a blessing to be desired above all other things.” Free from fear, living in peace and blessing. This was David’s desire when he penned this song. He was going through some sort of acute suffering. We aren’t told the context, and we don’t need to spend any time speculating about what he was suffering from here. David lived a life of suffering, and this Psalm could be applicable to one of many different seasons in his life.

We are going to follow this entire Psalm, and in it, we see that David makes an appeal to God, an appeal to his enemies, and ends with a reminder of God’s promises to his people. And this is what the Holy Spirit through David is saying to us today: God hears the prayers of his people and gives them joy, peace, and protection. And this joy, peace, and protection is realized most fully and finally through the work of Christ on the cross. So let’s look now at David, in the midst of a trial, in his appeal to God.

An Appeal to God

The Psalm begins with David crying out to God: “Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!” At first, this can seem demanding or presumptive of David, right? We may shy away from this language. I know I am often tempted to skip over language like this when reading scripture. How could I, a creature, tell God, the Creator of all things, to answer me?

But in David, we have an example. David is going through a struggle. We find out more about that in verse 2: a group of people (presumably leaders) had turned David’s honor to shame. In other words, they were speaking ill of David, who was reigning as king. God had placed David on the throne and because of that, he was due honor and respect from God’s people. But some were speaking lies and slander about and to the King. Showing dishonor to God’s anointed. And David was angry. He was frustrated. Probably disheartened.

And what does he do in that state of despair? He calls out to the Lord. He makes an appeal to the sovereign God. And he makes the bold statement: “Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!” The word for righteousness here is the same word for vindication. David is in distress, and his name is being slandered. And as the King, he says, Answer me, O God, the one who knows me; the one who can clear my name! Vindicate me!

David knew that he was a man after God’s own heart. David knew that he was loved by God. He knew that he had been placed in his place as king of God’s people by God. He knew that to dishonor God’s anointed was the same as dishonoring God himself. And so when he calls out to God, he is calling him to vindicate David, and by doing so, glorifying his own name.

God’s chief concern is for his own glory. All things in the universe redound to the glory of God. So when God’s people show honor to one another, they are giving glory to God. When they show honor to a God-appointed leader like David, they are giving glory to God. But when they profaned David, they were profaning God’s name as well. And David knew this. David was concerned — imperfectly — with God’s glory. And so he knew that if he called on God to vindicate his name, he would. He had done it before: verse 2: You have given me relief when I was in distress. He had seen God prove his own glory and vindication of his people. And so he asks: Be gracious to me. Hear my prayer.

David’s appeal to God in this distressing situation is helpful for us today. We aren’t David. We aren’t in the same situations that David faced. We do, however, have struggles. We do face despair. We have that in common. And in times of despair, we can learn something from David and what he wrote for us in the Psalms. Remember: This is a song. It’s meant to be sung. So maybe today, you are in the midst of a trial. Maybe you walked into this gathering filled with despair or depression or suffering. There’s a good chance that someone in here is struggling. More than one, in fact. David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote this song for you. This is meant to give you a poem and a posture for your time of need. David was being slandered. I’ve been there. You have too. It hurts. We were probably all taught: Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. Right? Wrong! Words hurt us far longer than physical ailments or attacks. In the midst of the slander and attacking words, David takes a posture of calling upon the Lord; of appealing to the Lord’s concern for his own glory. If you are in Christ, you have that same privilege today. Call upon him. He will give you relief. He has before, and he will do it again.

I don’t know all of your situations. I know some of them. But I do know that when we are struggling or suffering, it can feel as those the walls of life have completely hemmed us in. It can feel hard to breathe under the weight of the attacks. You can feel hemmed in. In fact, the root of the Hebrew word for ‘distress’ here can mean to be wrapped up, tied up, hemmed in. But God in his grace has brought us relief, and the word for that in Hebrew shares a meaning with ‘being opened wide.’ So David says: You have broken me open out when I was hemmed in. Isn’t that a beautiful picture of God’s deliverance to us? Suffering can feel like being hemmed in and locked down. In chains. But God breaks us out. And David knew this. So he took a posture of appealing to God: Do what you’ve always done because when you bust us out, it brings you all the praise and glory and honor. Hear our prayers and answer us, because when you do that, you receive all the praise and glory and honor.

Brother or sister, in your struggle, take a posture of prayer, like David. Call out to the God who vindicates his people. He has given you relief before, and he will do it again, time after time.

An Appeal to the Enemy

After appealing to God, David calls out to the ones who have been causing his problem. Like I said earlier, we don’t really know David’s enemies in this situation. All we know is that they have slandered David in some way. And so he turns to them and begins to address them.

“How long will my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies?” The first part of this verse describes what they’ve been doing; the second part shows their heart motivation. They slandered David because they love it. They love vain words. They seek after lies. This is who they were. And such were some of us, says Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:11. We are born naturally bent toward turning honor into shame and loving vain words and seeking after lies. We are born this way. By nature we are not godly.

But then David reminds these people that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself. What does he mean by this? He says, “How long will you sin? How long will you act ungodly? But remember, God has set apart the godly for himself.” So he’s showing them that there is salvation in God and God alone. He’s letting them know that there is a way of salvation; to be set apart and to be heard by God. In other words, there’s a way to become godly.

The way to be known and heard by God is by becoming godly. And that can only happen through the naturally godly one, Christ alone. Christopher Ash explains it this way: “Christ is this godly one by nature; David was this godly one by grace, as is each of Christ’s people today, set apart for devotion to God and for the privilege of heard prayer. To know this will disarm my anger.” In order to be heard by God and to be set apart for God, you must be in Christ, who was godly by nature. As the perfect Son of God, Christ was perfectly godly and never turned honor into shame or love vain words and sought after lies. Christ always acted perfectly godly and was by his nature set apart for God.

How then do we access this godliness? How do sinful people go from verse 2 to verse 3? David shows them the way and it’s pretty simple: repentance and faith.

Repentance

David tells his foes to be angry and don’t sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Paul repeats this verse in Ephesians 4:26 “26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.” Be angry - do not sin. This verse says that it’s okay to be perturbed about the state of the world. It’s okay to feel righteous anger about even our own rebellion and sin. It’s okay to be angry when we look at our lives and don’t see peace. The Lord has made us emotional people. He has created us in his own image and that includes our emotions. Anger is not always sinful.

But he wants us to have an emotional response to his kindness to us. He wants us to go from being sinfully angry at him to righteously angry at our own sin. There have been times where I have dishonored God and his people and his purposes. Often. But there are then moments, when God in his kindness and goodness to me, grants me repentance, and the first step in repentance is a righteous anger toward our own sin. The way to full communion with God is to be angry at sin.

David then tells his foes to consider on their bed and ponder their lives and their sin. Jim Hamilton says, “The image of someone speaking in his heart while being quiet on his bed creates a mental picture of a man who has been in rebellion realizing his error, reflection on the judgment he faces, and thinking his way through to repentance and submission. David advises his enemies to go through this process to get over their rage against Yahweh and his anointed.”

Faith

After appealing to these people to repent, David shows them the next step of communion with God: Faith. Offer right sacrifices and put your trust in the LORD. Now, at first reading, this comes across as a call to obedience rather than faith. However, when we survey Scripture, we see that obedience (offering right sacrifice) always comes from a place of faith and trust. In fact, what makes the sacrifices right is the faith that is placed in the LORD. I would argue that your obedience cannot exist apart from faith. Without faith in God, your works of obedience are in vain. You can sing all the songs, know all the prayers, listen to the sermons, and even give your tithes and offerings; but without true faith in Christ, your works are still going to be motivated by sinful desires. Saving faith in Christ turns our sinful works into ‘right sacrifices.’

So David is being evangelistic. This is the result of taking a posture of appealing to God as we talked about early. If, when we are faced with suffering and despair at the hands of those who oppose us, we spend time with God and appealing to him and calling on him and his faithfulness, we will become evangelistic. I’m convinced that you can’t spend time with God and come away not wanting to tell others about him. That’s David’s experience here. He spends time in prayer and comes out shouting the gospel of repentance and faith.

This is our response to our foes. David does not complain and cry and resolve to take vengeance. David does not resign to himself or return sin with more sin. He appeals to God, and from the overflow of that appeal, he appeals evangelistically to his enemies.

Is this your response then? When faced with suffering and slander, do you first take a posture of prayer and appeal to God? Or is your first reaction to try to take things into your own hands? Then, followed by that appeal to God, do you approach the situation evangelistically? The gospel is the balm that heals all brokenness. The gospel is salve that heals all suffering. The fact that Christ came and lived a perfect life and was the man who was godly by nature and then gave his own life for sinners like you and me — that is the gospel. And faith in that message is how we are granted the blessing of being heard by God. This was David’s approach, even though he was before Christ’s coming in time. He was trusting in God’s promises and responded to sinful men with the message of a saving God. Receive Christ today in repentance and faith and experience what David knew to be the promises of God. That is to where we turn for our final point.

God’s Promises

Spurgeon says, “They slumber sweetly whom faith rocks to sleep. No pillow so soft as a promise; no coverlet so warm as an assured interest in Christ.” I opened this sermon by appealing to our desire for peace. We all desire to lie down and sleep each night in peace. This Psalm contains the path to peace. David has appealed to God and then appealed to his enemies. He appealed to God in prayer and appealed to his enemies in proclamation.

After this, David enters the final three verses reflecting on God’s promises to his people in these times. In his distress, David needed the promises of God. In fact, so do we. David’s emotions are high. He reflects on three promises of God to end this Psalm.

God’s Provision

David’s first reflection of God’s promise is God’s promise of provision. This is not a promise of worldly provision. God promises to provide us with joy. “You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.” As those in Christ, our happiness in life — our contentment, our joy — is really not based in our external situations. In fact, Paul spells this out for us: Philippians 4:11–13 “11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” We can be joyful with nothing in fact! Why? Because we have Christ and, brothers and sisters, Christ is all that we need. God provides joy. He promises that! If you are lacking in physical possessions and treasure, you still have the greatest possession and treasure possible: Christ in you. That is the source of your joy. The moment we take our eyes of Christ as our greatest treasure, we become troubled and despair.

God’s Peace

God also promises peace. David says, “In peace I will both lie down and sleep.” The way to peace is the way of the gospel. True peace, true rest, is only found in being found in Christ through salvation. This means in time of slander, sin, and suffering, we can actually lay down heads on our pillows, close our eyes, and sleep. We don’t have to lose sleep over the status of the world or those who speak against us because our status in Christ doesn’t rise or fall based on our circumstance - it is secure in Christ.

God’s Protection

And that peace is realized in God’s protection. That’s the final promise we see given by God. He makes us dwell in safety. As Christians, we are protected even in death. Even if the struggle ends up taking our life, we are protected because we are in Christ. He will hold us in his hand and nothing can take us our.

God promises to his people provision (of joy), peace, and protection. And again, this is all realized fully and finally in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

So struggling Christian, today take heart.

“This is a Psalm with which the righteous may make their dwellings resound…They may sing it too, in the happy confidence of faith and hope, when the evening of this world’s day is coming, and may then fall asleep in the certainty of what shall greet their eyes on the Resurrection morning.” - Andrew Bonar

You can have real peace today. God has inspired a song for you. Appeal to him: Take a posture of prayer to him. He has been righteous to you and will continue to be. Then take a posture of proclamation, even to your enemies. Preach the gospel of repentance and faith to everyone. And always, always, always rest in the promises of God.

Let’s pray.