Making the Most of a Bad Day

is often titled “A Psalm for The Evening” because of where it ends up in verse 8, with lying down and sleeping. David expresses the ability to lie down and sleep, even though he was in the middle of facing some kind of attack on his character.

Some believe that and 4 are both linked to the time when David was fleeing from Absolom his son. In , he thanks the Lord for waking him up, and in psalm 4 he thanks the Lord for the ability to sleep.

It is not certain that the two psalms are linked to the same setting. In , the trouble David is facing does not seem as physical or pointed as in . Either way, what we see David doing in these times of trouble are inspired recollections of how he processed his troubles by the sovereignty of God, and even recieved the blessing of sound sleep, which is often alluding in time of distress.

I’ve titled today’s message, “Making The Most of a Bad Day” because David seems to be writing this Psalm at the end of one of his. It is normally at the end of the day when the emotions start running in, out brain starts churning thoughts and imaginations of just what a disaster the previous 16 or so hours have been. We convince ourselves that we are going to wake up in the morning to another disaster, that our life is a waste of time, that we have botched it, or that every other person in the known universe is out to get us and is not worth the time of day.

In David’s bad day, it seems like his problem is that evil men are slandering and maligning his name. In this Psalm we find that he is both lamenting, but also exhibiting confidence. Don’t confuse lamenting with complaining - they are different. Complaining is a sinful attitude of discontent or unrighteous anger in the heart, while biblical lamenting is a pure heart turning to God in trouble.

The sinful tendency at the end of a bad day is to complain to ourselves, then to others, to worry about things until we are sick, it is to turn to something that gives us a limited and temporary sense of comfort, like food, a certain tv show, a hobby, social media, books, anything. We love to self-medicate with these emotional bandaids and tylenol, only to turn into the same pattern again the next day. Even though the circumstances that led to the day being bad were outside our control, we actually compound the badness of the day by sinning with our reactions.

David is no perfect example of the opposite of this, by any means. But in the Psalms, we find an inspired recording of his human emotions and the spiritual victory he sees when he turns to the Lord. What I hope to point out in this Psalm is that a bad day does not have to lead to sinful response, sinful anger, sinful complaining, or sinful worry. It is possible to take a bad day and walk in the Spirit within it.

James 1:2–4 ESV

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

I believe James captures the heart of David’s emotion here in - So as we study this together, let us see this:

On days when you are at your lowest, the sovereignty and faithfulness of God can redeem your time and restore your peace.

1. A Dilemma that Turns to God. Vs. 1-2

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but ...........”

We all heard that, maybe even repeated that as children - but almost as quickly as we learned that trite saying, we learned that it was false.

Illustration of hurting best friend’s feelings and that saying.

Hurtful words come in many forms. Lying, slandering, insulting, insensitivity, scorn, purposeful discouragement, backbiting, mocking, the list goes on. Some are more offended by hurtful words than others, but we all have had a time in life when the words really did hurt.

Here, David finds himself having been shamed and lied about by evil men - slandered, misrepresented, an attack on his character. No matter how you slice it, the words hurt.

The dilemma that he finds himself in is not the fact that the hurtful words occured. The dilemma that he finds himself in is what he is going to do with his response. This is true of any offense or trial - the most trying dilemma is almost never the offense or the problem itself, but rather, the dilemma for the believer is how are we going to react to that? Are we going to react in the flesh, in the pattern of sin, returning evil for evil, or are we going to react righteously?

As has been said, David is no perfect example, but here he certainly reacts righteously. WE find that the dilemma turns his heart and mind to the LORD.

Psalm 4:1 ESV

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!

Psalm

He comes boldly to God - Answer me, O God of righteousness!

In response to unrighteousness, it is important to note that David turns to righteousness, not toward more unrighteousness.

He recalls what God had done for him in the past - you have given me relief when I was in distress. A wise believer will store and catalogue the goodness and mercy of God in their memory. Does this involve remembering the hard times and the trials? of course, it would be impossible to forget - but it also involves remembering them for a righteous purpose.

David’s prayer is simple - be gracious and hear my prayer. He does not ask for a repair kit for the problem. He does not as for the problem to even be removed. He does not ask for immediate relief, he simply asks that God will act graciously and hear his prayer.

Too often our prayers look less like prayers and more like board meetings. We are conditioned by our bosses to “come with a solution, not just a problem.” The only issue with that on this level is that our solutions to the real problems in life usually involve us acting unrighteously or returning evil for evil. David does not seek to do so here, but simply comes and asks for Grace and an open ear from His Savior.

Hebrews 4:16 ESV

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

David had never read , he didn’t even know such a book would ever exist, but he knew the God who inspired , and the solution was the same in David’s time as it is in our time. David’s dilemma pointed him in the direction of the one person who could do anything about it.

But we cannot simply spend all of our waking hours in prayer without interacting with anyone or anything else, can we? David turns in verse two and addresses others.

2. A Discourse that Teaches about God. Vs. 2-7

In David’s distress, he finds a teaching moment. He aims his discourse at two groups of people - the evil men, and those who are looking for hope. In addressing these two groups, he is himself learning these truths over again.

Vs. 2-3 - He turns first to the evil men who had slandered and maligned him. He asks them, how long will you love vain words and seek after lies?

he gets right to the point with his question, and it shows us the same sin that we often commit. When we use our words to harm someone else or to malign their character, that is a vain - empty - action. In those moments, we show that we are satisfied to live a life that has no substance, and to use our mouths to spread untruth. We show that we have no regard for integrity, no reasonable nature, and no mind for the truth. David here is not calling names or making false accusations, but he is pointing out evil for what it is.

He then turns to the matter of spiritual things - he reminds his enemies that he is a chosen child of God - a truth that the world hates. The natural man cannot stomach the fact that God does not simply pass over all sin and ignore evil. The natural man hates the fact that God has a chosen people - that God has shown mercy for thousands, but that his mercy is based on his sovereign and righteous salvation, not on man’s ability to earn righteousness.

In this David is teaching about His God - His God of mercy and forgiveness, His God of righteousness. His God who hears his children when they call. David prays for something just like this in his repentance prayer of Psalm 51.

Psalm 51:12–13 ESV

Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.

Our trials can often be used to display the goodness and glory of God, but this is not so if we react sinfully. This is very interesting, because in this case, David is clearly right and his attackers are clearly wrong, yet he still has the heart for them to learn the truth. He continues to show this in verses 4-5.

Verse 4 has a couple popular interpretations. The difficulty behind it is that the word for “angry” simply means to “tremble.” Now, it can be used to mean “tremble in anger,” but it also can be used to mean “tremble in fear.” David is teaching these evil men to “tremble, and do not sin.”

“Be moved to tremble.” What would cause them to be moved to tremble? Well, it is their sin. David had just pointed out that they were in sin, and that they were not in the favor of God. He is hoping that this would cause them to tremble in fear and in anger over sin; and in their trembling, he warns them not to let it drive them into more sin.

He calls on them to “ponder in their own hearts on their bed.” Here we find again that theme of thinking over your day as you try to go to sleep. He hopes that their evil and wrongdoing cause them to think. He hopes that it leaves them a little sleepless. He hopes that it gives them a reason for their mind to race.

And it is a good thing when our sin causes us to be restless and sleepless, as long as it turns us to what David says in verse 5.

He does not just accuse them of sin and hope it makes them sleepless, he invites them to turn to God. And in this, we are reminded also of our sin, and our need to turn to God. We should cherish the moments of spiritual conviction when we lose sleep and lose our train of thought over our sin, because as Spirit-filled believers, this should drive us again to God in repentance, knowing that in Him there is forgiveness.

This is a call for us - tremble before God and cease from the sin we are committing. You see how in teaching others, David is teaching himself? This is what happens when we walk in the spirit in our trials - we learn, others learn, and God is glorified in the midst. It reminds me again of David’s repentance in

Psalm 51:4 ESV

Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.

David then turns in his discourse to another group of people, and that is others who are also suffering do to the evil. Vs 6 describes people who ask, “who will show us some good?” In other words, is there any upshot? Is there any positive here? Is there anything worth moving forward for?

Perhaps David is thinking here of his friends who were experiencing the same attacks. David turns again to God on their behalf. David knows that when we are looking for “good,” what we actually are looking for is God Himself. And that is what David prays for.

“Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord.” This is a short quotation of the Aaronic blessing from , one of the more recognizable benedictions in scripture.

Numbers 6:24–26 ESV

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Numbers

Aaron’s words in that benediction, and David’s as he repeats it, are not just a trite saying or a quick fix for people with a depressed spirit. Those words turn the mind back to the substance of our very joy and existence. It is the presence and countenance that give us blessing and peace.

Interestingly enough, in David’s own “down in the dumps” moment, he does not do what we normally do. Normally when we are experiencing anxiety or depression, we want nothing to do with spiritual things. We want nothing less than to hear God’s word. We think, “that’s nice, but that won’t help me right now.” We choose in stead to surround ourselves with people who will perhaps say nice things and comfort us in the moment, but they can give no relief. Friends can be an encouragement and a help, but only insomuch as they turn us back to the goodness of God. Anything less is a nice gesture, but it is not a remedy.

Vs 7 gets at another root of our sinful reaction to trials - we often seek to rest in our possessions or substance. David here says something that is not in keeping with our flesh, but something that believers should strive for - that God’s presence would fill us with more joy than any of our substance.

Substance, friends, and temporary solutions to our troubles may bring a relief for symptoms, but Gods children must yearn for relief in Him. We as believers must seek earnestly in our hearts to be satisfied by God Himself. And when that is true, we find ourselves where David ends up in verse 8.

3. A Denouement that Trusts in God. Vs. 8

Solomon said to everything there is a season, and to everything a time under the sun.

Well, eventually it is time to sleep, right?

Every day comes to an end eventually. The clock keeps ticking toward midnight even when our minds tells us that we’re not finished with the day yet. The sun sets even when we haven’t tidied up our emotions, problems, and tasks yet. And the dawn appears in the morning even if we didn’t sleep.

Lamentations 3:22–24 ESV

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

God’s mercies are new every morning. God who authored the universe and designed us to exist in little 24 hour increments knew that we need a time to reset. He designed us to rest and sleep. He designed our bodies and our minds to function properly when we have enough rest. Rest is as much spiritual as it is physical. And sometimes the most spiritually beneficial thing we can do is allow God to shoulder our troubles so we can sleep.

But God also knows that our frail and sinful minds are prone to worry, and that often the first thing we lose in this case is our rest. Which is why Jesus said in

Matthew 6:34 ESV

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Experiencing feelings of anxiety is not sinful, but the trouble comes when we are tempted to dwell on our anxiety and hold on to it. It is always more beneficial to trust God and rest than it is to wrestle with our troubles, feeling like we can conquer them.

David learned the secret to sleeping peacefully is resting in God’s sovereignty. Were his troubles gone? Absolutely not. Did he experience prolonged seasons of depression and anxiety? Absolutely. Did he ever allow himself to sin in his worry? Of course; but he knew the only way to make it through - to rise above - is to find peace in God’s watch care over his life. To be able to lie down, sleep, and wake up to face tomorrow is something that we find in the mercy of God.

Interestingly enough, the same principles that David followed to get through one bad day are the principles that we follow to get through our entire earthly life.

We start with a crisis that turns us to God - this is our point of conversion in life, where we recognize the dilemma of our sin and turn to the savior.

We then seek to spend our days both learning about and teaching others about God and his forgiveness.

And at the end, we realize that even though we don’t have it all figured out and made our fair share of missteps, that God has rest for his children. And eventually, in stead of pillowing our head for a few hours of sleep in the middle of a troubled life, we will step into eternal rest with our savior.

One day walking in the Spirit depicts our whole life - the pattern is that simple. Turn to God, seek God, and trust God. The Christian Walk really is a day-by-day experience. Tomorrow will be tomorrow, but it will not be outside of God’s sovereignty. Evil men will get worse and worse, but we will not be outside of God’s peace and protection.

So may give this reminder.

On days when you are at your lowest, the sovereignty and faithfulness of God can redeem your time and restore your peace.