For the director of music; with stringed instruments; A psalm of David.
A
cry from the heart.
Answer me when I call to you, O my
righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and
hear my prayer. How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame?
How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?
Selah
A
promise in the heart.
Know that the
LORD has set apart the godly for himself; the LORD will hear when I
call to him. In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds,
search your hearts and be silent.
Selah
A
gift from the heart.
Offer right
sacrifices and trust in the LORD. Many are asking, "Who can show
us any good?" Let the light of your face shine upon us, O LORD.
A
certain peace in the heart.
You have filled
my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound.
I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me
dwell in safety.
Remember last time we discovered
that Psalm 3 was for the morning and that Psalm 4 is for the evening.
Some believe the Psalms to be related due to the Selah (or “pause
for a moment and then continue”)
at the end of Psalm3. Psalm 4 in that case does not randomly follow
on from Psalm 3 but that they belong together. Psalm 4 is
David’s prayer for protection before going to sleep.
Absalom is
outside lurking in the shadows and awaiting his chance to kill his
father; whether that is true or not is open to conjecture and really
does not matter that much anyway. Verses 3-4 clearly tell us that it
was written with night-time in mind therefore it is a helpful Psalm
to reflect upon in the night especially when fears are preventing
sleep. We all have worries that from time to time cause us to lose
sleep and even though the Lord tells us not to worry and that
worrying makes not one iota of difference to the situation.
Proverbs
instructs God’s people to cast our cares upon God who cares for us;
this is exactly what David is doing in this Psalm. By his experience
and example we learn what it means to cast our cares upon God because
He does care for us in whatever circumstance we find ourselves in!
The
first thing that we see is that David makes:
A
cry from the heart.
The
Psalms are the songs of the bible but they are much more than popular
songs. I suppose some of the Negro spirituals that come from extreme
suffering of an oppressed people come close to the Psalms. Psalm 4
is a plea from the heart of the David; this is a prayer of David to
God whom he fully trusted in and knew personally as we learned from
Psalm 3.
It is helpful for our own prayer life as we learn how this
saint of old prayed to God.
David
cried out to God from his heart. Last time we discovered that we must
come boldly to God in prayer. He does not expect us to come as some
type of Uriah Heap who prided himself in his false humility and who loves
to tell of his unworthiness but really he was revealing an evil and
arrogant pride which made him a most unlikeable fellow. Some
Christians believe God expects of His people to be so humiliated by
their sin that they resemble Uriah Heap. Nothing could be further
from the truth. Our sin as was David’s has been dealt with and so we
can and must approach God boldly! Of course that does not allow us to
come arrogantly but carefully as did David. This is a great lesson to
us.
David came boldly to His God who listened to his requests and
answered His bold friend.
We
therefore see the respect that David had for God. We also must come
respectfully to God recognising His righteousness. Even David King of
Israel came in praise and wonder of God in heaven. Getting the right
balance in life is always difficult. As we have said we can be
arrogant in our humility but it is equally wrong to be arrogant in
our boldness. David in this Psalm displays the right balance; we must
come to God always in the right way. Jesus taught that God wants
His people to worship Him in spirit but also to be guarded by truth.
We
must pray biblically.
As
David was praying and asking for God to hear and grant mercy to him
his attention went out to his enemies. He addresses them in his
prayer displaying the conversational aspect of his prayer life. He
could not directly address his enemies but he could talk to the Lord
about them and expose his heart before the Lord.
David was God’s
appointed king; God’s glory was with him and it was this that was
under attack. They were fighting David but in reality it was God they
were standing against. Remember the time when Samuel judged over
Israel, the people demanded of him a king like the nations around them
had. Samuel was hurt at their rejection of him but God said to Samuel
that it was not him that was being rejected but God Himself. This is
a similar situation the leader whom God had appointed was under
attack and being rejected. In reality Israel would rather have the
good looking and youthful usurper than God’s man. David had every
right to be angry at what they were doing and to speak indignantly to
God in his prayer about it. We also know what God has appointed for
His people, we are under attack from all sorts of outside forces that
would usurp God’s authority in the church. Rather than lose sleep
over it as David did we must commit it honestly to God in prayer.
That is true also for all of the issues that we experience as
individual Christians.
The
amazing thing about David is that he was concerned about his enemies.
They loved delusions and sought after false gods; they knew all about
the truth and rejected it and so they refused to follow God. David
loved his enemy and wanted only the best for them and so he prayed
“how long before you
come to the truth and your senses?”
What an example of true godliness, there is no wonder that David is
a type or fore-runner of Jesus who came because He loves those who
are His enemies.
Lesson:
As
Christians we are the people of God and as such we also can come
boldly requesting that His name might be glorified even in those who
would despitefully use us. Do we love the enemies of the church and
the gospel enough to pray for them as David did?
The
Selah that follows is probably a musical term, which means pause for
a while and ponder before continuing. In other words:
“Stop
and wonder at what God has done for His people!”
A
promise in the heart.
David
recognised his relationship with God in verses 3-4; he had been set
apart for service to God and His people! Being “set
apart” is a
reference to the articles used for worship in the tabernacle. All of
the bowls etc that were used had to be made of pure metal and before
use they had to be made ceremonially clean. David is using the same
terminology here when referring to the Godly. In the New Testament we
discover that the articles set apart by God are all who are
Christians. Those who have been saved by Jesus’ death are set apart
and are made holy for God’s service!
Our
relationship with God is not one-sided, we do not speak to a god who
cannot hear or speak. David tells us that our God who is in heaven is
righteous and just and He hears the prayers of His friends even in our ramblings as
we lie on our beds at the end of a difficult day.
In the Psalm David
reminds himself and therefore warns us that our thoughts at bedtime
can be very dangerous! You know what it is like when you go to bed;
if the day has been stressful we will ponder all of the difficulties
of the day plotting and planning as to what might happen tomorrow and
how we might do harm to those who hurt us! Whilst we are waiting for
sleep to happen we can indulge in the most awful sins. If this Psalm
was written at the time when Absalom was seeking David’s life then
it would have been very easy for David to wage a hate campaign
against Absalom! BUT David recognised this as wrong.
It
is important to note that David does not say do not be angry or that
anger is sin. It was right for him to be angry and as Christians at
times we ought to be angry. We should be angry about injustice and
all wrongdoing, how much more so for the wrong that is aimed at God
or His people, which may include ourselves.
God Himself is angry at
sin but His is a righteous anger with no hint of wrong or sin
involved.
We should be angry in the same way. God hates sin but
loves sinners and desires that they be restored into fellowship with
Him. David in writing this Psalm displays his God-like qualities. He
gives some sound advice to both himself and to his readers also. When
temptation to sin comes we should: “search
our own heart and be silent.” It
is better to be quiet than to say something, which will cause
bitterness and sin.
At
this point David instructs the reader to ponder and consider what has
been said but then to continue: Selah
Lesson:
As
Christians; we are in a personal relationship with God through His
Son the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a living relationship and so as His
family we can approach Him not only knowing that He listens to us but
that He also answers our prayers.
As His friends we are to be like
Him in all of our ways. Just as at times in His earthly ministry
Jesus displayed anger but did not sin. We also must deal with our
anger rightly and not sin. Remember that when the Lord interpreted
the commands He said that hatred was as bad as murder. David
throughout his life displayed a love for his enemy and so must we.
A
gift from the heart.
David
moves from the heart that sins to the heart that worships. His advice
is simply:
“keep
away from sinful thinking by offering something to God instead.”
When sin crouches
at the door of your heart look upwards and offer your sacrifice to
God! The question that needs to be asked is:
“what
are the sacrifices that David is talking about.”
The answer to that is found in Psalm 51:17 where David writes that
the only sacrifice that is acceptable to God is a broken and contrite
heart. He was guilty of gross sinfulness including adultery and the
murder of an innocent man as a cover up of his own evil deeds!
David had from this
learned that “at the time of great temptation” it is better to
offer the praise of your heart to God instead of acting upon desire.
But if we do transgress we can come before Him broken and asking for
forgiveness in order that you might regain fellowship with Him and
also with His people.
When we come
to this understanding then we can more honestly understand other
people when they fail. This is exactly what David goes on to say! It
is important that God’s people reflect the heart of God because
when things go wrong; throughout history people have asked the
question that David addresses next.
“Who
can show us any good?”
He
makes a request of God in response to the people’s need. They need
to see good in people, where should they see it? It should be clearly
seen in the people of God. Therefore the answer is for God’s people
to reflect God’s glory. David here was probably referring to Moses
who after meeting with God one day had to veil his face from the
people because his face shone due to him having seen the glory of God
that his face was radiant. In fact it shone so brightly that it would
have frightened normal sinful people to death. David was saying in
his prayer that the greatest need for Israel at that moment was for
God’s glory to shine upon him in order that they might see God’s
goodness through him.
Lesson:
People
today are confused as to what is right and what is wrong. Post
modernism (which is apparently the time that we live in!) tells us
that there is neither right nor wrong. Its protagonists tell us that
everything is ok as long as it does not offend anybody. In this they exclude
God who is offended by sin!!
How will anybody ever know truth, if
truth is not told?
The proclamation of the gospel is desperately
needed in our land TODAY! Not merely by our words but by every facet
and nuance of our very being.
How do we gain such a persona?
Do we
pray as did David that those opposed to the gospel might see truth
through us?
A
place in the heart.
It
is interesting to note that at the end of the previous section there
is no Selah. By this David is saying; “with
this in mind carry on and consider what is in your heart.”
When God shines His light upon His people it always has the same
effect:
WORSHIP!
This
is true of David; he was no longer concerned about the enemy or even
his personal sin. He had seen the glory of God; and that is greater
than a stomach full of good food or a heart merry with wine or even
greater than being a successful farmer or merchant. To have God’s
face to shine on you is absolute and total satisfaction, in the light
of this everything else pails into insignificance. This is true
peace, when we are at peace we can sleep well because God is our
security.
Thomas Cranmer’s brother asked him on the night before he
was martyred if he wanted him to stay overnight. Cranmer refused the
offer saying that he intended to have a better nights sleep than he
had ever done before because God would be with him. Cranmer could only say
such a thing because he had experienced a peace beyond all
understanding. Jesus said that He had come to bring such a peace into
the world. David experienced it, Cranmer experienced it, are you
experiencing it? You cannot gain it by what you do but by what has
been done on your behalf.
Psalm 4
Answer
me when I call, O God my help!
When
I in trouble was, you aided me.
Be
gracious to me; Lord, hear now my prayer.
Be
gracious to me; Lord, hear now my prayer.
How
long, you people; will you insult me?
How
long will you love lies and vanity?
Know
that God chose the ones who godly are;
He
hears me when I call unto His name.
Tremble
with fear lest you fall into sin;
Lie
quietly in bed, and think on this:
Offer
right sacrifice and trust in God.
Offer
right sacrifice and trust in God.
Many
pray, “We wish we could see some good.
Lift
up your countenance upon us, Lord!”
But
I’ve more joy than those with harvests great.
I
sleep in peace, for You, Lord, keep me safe.
To
the tune: Abide with me.
Meter:
10:10:10:10
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