Psalm 4, “Faith in a Cynical Age”

In 2018, CNN ran a headline, “How 'thoughts and prayers' went from common condolence to cynical meme”

We live in a cynical age. No one trusts anyone else. We are all skeptical of anything we see or hear, unless it’s on our favorite news channel, then we turn off our brains and eat it up. People have become shallow in their thinking, and more easily believe lies, and at the same time, more people are cynical. This cynicism keeps us from flouring in regards to qualities like hope, joy, selfless love, and especially faith. So, how do we not just survive, but thrive in our faith, hope, and love, and have joy in a shallow and cynical age?

Our psalm today offers us 5 practices that build your faith in a cynical age.

Pray for Grace

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!

Verse 1 is directed to God. Seems a little demanding. But this is something God invites. This is a prayer to the “God of my righteousness”. He has established a covenant with “the righteous”. The righteous are those that fear and love God. They are people who do justice, love mercy, and walk in humility in ways that lead to generosity, kindness, and purity. He can work with these people. He promises to guard and guide them. So this is an appropriate prayer, for God to fulfill His promises.

Sometimes it’s helpful to have a guide to prayer. We don’t always know what to pray. The Bible is your best teacher. In this case, you can follow the pattern of verse 1: Call to God for an answer based on His covenant promises, look back and recount the ways God has helped you in the past, then ask for grace in your present situation. As the writer of the New Testament letter to the Hebrews says, God’s throne is a throne of Grace, and because Jesus is our High Priest,

English Standard Version Chapter 4

16 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.

We can expect God to help us. Just like any gift, His grace may be unexpected. He may not answer in the way we were looking for, but He provides the grace we need.

Psalm 4:2 ESV

O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah

David’s prayer closes, and in verse 2, he opens his eyes to see people around him. Have you ever prayed before your meal in a restaurant and opened your eyes to see people staring at you in a weird way? When David opens his eyes, he sees all his detractors. And as we found out in Psalm 3, they’re throwing shade on his faith in God. He says they love “vain words and seek after lies”. They have settled for shallow thinking, buying the lies sold in the party line with their empty words. If we were to discern the party line in this case, David’s detractors are probably saying something like, “trouble in your life is a sign of God’s disfavor”, or maybe that God doesn’t exist at all.

Answer Shallow Liars with Faith

Two part answer...

Psalm 4:3 ESV

But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him.

1. Your identity determines your allegiance

David says, “I belong. I belong to God.” He has set believers apart for fellowship with Him. David says in verse 2, this is his honor. This is the word we saw last week you can also translate, “glory”. It literally means “heaviness”. It is the accumulation of everything about you that makes you unique or distinct. David’s uniqueness is God’s presence in His life. This is true for every believer. The identity God gives you as His own is your glory. The shallow in our culture try to turn our glory into shame. Your allegiance to God, your discipleship to Jesus, your obedience to the Holy Spirit, these are your glory. They are the gift God has given you, they are eternal life. But seen through the eyes of the shallow in our world, they are laughable. Your allegiance to God does not fit into their system.

You and I are being called on every day to declare our allegiance to some cause or another. Pick a side in some debate. Fall in line with the latest trend. And if you don’t you will be shamed, yelled at, unfriended (not just on Facebook), and belittled. But our allegiance to God, our discipleship to Jesus, and our obedience to the Holy Spirit, will sometimes not allow you to pick one of the sides that is offered to you. What will you do then? You need an answer for those that will shame you for not picking their side.

What is the answer David gives? I belong to God. I’m set apart by the LORD to be godly, to seek His will, walk in His ways, to the glory of His name, to the expense of every other cause that isn’t His.

2. Your confidence is in a God who cares about you

Others may mock us, but the God of the Jew and the Christian is the only one that cares about people. He hears me when I call to Him. Those people who want you to support their cause, where will they be when you are in need? Our allegiance to God may cost us on the human level, but this is one allegiance in which the benefits far outweigh any cost. God’s cause in your life is for your eternal flourishing. Can that be said for any political action committee or trade union or Facebook group?

This psalm is so appropriate for our times. As you think about all those causes out there, shaming you if you don’t join them, and think about the fear they’re trying to stoke in your mind, and the anger that produces in you, then look at verse 4, you see how appropriate it is.

Psalm 4:4 ESV

Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah

Invite God to Help You Process Your Feelings (Before You Speak)

How much better off would we all be if everyone who was worked up about some way that “those people” are destroying our country would bring their anger to God and ponder what He has to say about it before they went venting on social media or shaking a fist in the face of their neighbor.

As David goes on to say in verse 5,

Psalm 4:5 ESV

Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord.

Being angry is not a sin. Anger is the appropriate human emotion you should feel when and injustice has been committed. But I am not always angry over true injustice. Sometimes I’m angry because I have been offended and I want vengeance or retribution. With this more self-centered anger, I tend to power up and try to control the situation or another person, and this leads into all kinds of sin. When you are angry with someone else, it’s time to check yourself. Make sure your own relationship with God is right. Am I living a life of worship that demonstrates my faith is in the LORD?

Being so angry that we sin by insulting others, belittling them, arguing with them, or whatever else, demonstrates that we do not trust that God can defend me and fight my battles. I can simply speak the truth and be at peace no matter the response from others if I really trust in the LORD. Is He big and strong enough to change hearts and minds with the truth, or not?

We’ve all heard the other Bible verse that say we should not let the sun go down on our anger. But the point there is that we are seeking peace and reconciliation with someone. But if your anger is leading you to sin, the most spiritual thing you can do is sleep on it, but after you have pondered for a while whether or not you are really trusting God in that situation.

Answer the Cynics with Joy

When you can discern what angers you about a situation, and when you can turn that into an opportunity to trust God, you realize you are allowed to be angry, but it doesn’t need to rob you of your joy.

Verses 6 and 7 are the perfect lesson in the the difference between finding your joy in circumstances and finding your joy in God. When the times are bad, the cynics pile on. They ask cynically,

Psalm 4:6 (ESV)

There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?”

Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!

Matthew Henry has a great commentary on this verse, which you should read when you can. But I’ll summarize. He shows the contrast here between the foolishness of worldly people, and the wisdom of the godly.

The foolish wish of worldly people:

1. “Grain and Wine” = wealth to enjoy sensual delights

2. Happiness without God

3. Good that may be seen, measured, and touched

4. Outward good, present good, partial good, not the chief good

The wise choice of godly people:

“Lift up the light of your face upon us, O LORD!”

The Lord’s favor, peace, acceptance, presence, and loving-kindness

These are words taken from the High Priestly blessing, “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.”

This is the way we receive grace and peace: God turns His face to us, turns His favor upon us. Ultimately, when God wanted to show us His face and favor in a full and complete way, He sent Jesus, as the Apostle Paul said,

2 Corinthians 4:6 ESV

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is God’s final blessing to us. He is God with us and God for us. Jesus is the Way to know God and experience His favor. He brings us into fellowship with God to satisfy us with God’s loving-kindness. And He leads us into joy and peace.

David’s comment in verse 7,

Psalm 4:7 (ESV)

You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.

reflect the heart that is satisfied in God. The godly equate happiness with seeing the face of God. The joy of fellowship with God is something that cannot be taken away by bad times. And the cynical might laugh at that, but David’s experience has taught him that the best feast at harvest time is nothing compared to the satisfaction of knowing God. Jesus promised that if we abide in Him, we will abide in the love of the Father, and our joy would be full.

Even in a troubled time, while all the clever people around you are choosing cynicism, you choose faith. Take a lesson from Jesus in how to lay down in a storm-tossed boat and fall fast asleep, knowing your Father cares for you.

The 5 practices that will build your faith in a shallow and cynical age:

Pray for Grace

Answer shallow thinkers with faith

Invite God to help you process your feelings before you speak

Answer cynics with joy

...

While the World Goes Nuts, Take a Nap

Find your rest in God.

Psalm 4:8 ESV

In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

David knew that the world did not need King David to keep it spinning in its orbit. Even when times are bad, if we choose faith over shallow thinking and cynicism, we find rest in God.

Questions for Discussion

What has brought you joy this week?

If you’re being honest, how would you rate your level of cynicism on a scale of 1-10 this week?

What are some practices that have helped you build your faith when you’ve been tempted to grow cynical?

In Psalm 4, David is growing in his faith in God while others around him are settling for vain words and seeking after lies. What are some ways David handled them that you find helpful?

What do we learn about God in this passage?

What do we learn about people in this passage?

How will you respond to this passage this week?

Who is someone you can share this passage with this week?