Psalm 4

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!

Here the first verse has the additional line. There are different ways of translating the first line, “O God of my righteousness” or “My righteous God”. In the first, David is declaring that his cause is just in this case. He is righteous (compared to his enemy), so the God of his righteousness should respond appropriately. In the second, David is appealing to God’s justice to right the wrong in this case. The impact is similar, it’s just that the first translation sets us back because we think of the latter statement Psalm 14 and 53 -- “there is none righteous, not even one”. David appeals to God on the basis of God’s past actions. God has given him relief in the past when he was in distress. The request is a bit ambiguous -- does David want relief in distress or relief from distress? I assume he wants the stress to go away, but sometimes God answers such prayers by relieving us of distress while we’re still in a distressful situation. There are three requests sandwiching a statement of God’s past faithfulness. Remembering the past seems to be a key part of making requests. It’s an appeal to the known when the unknown is before you. Consider your distress today and ask God to give you relief. You will still have the same responsibilities that are causing you stress, but God will be with you through them. 

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

The previous psalm asked, “How many?”, and this song asks, “How long?” These are rhetorical questions of course that are expressing the anguish the psalmist feels over the quantity and persistence of his troubles. At face value David is concerned with his own honor and this situation (probably Absalom’s coup) in which David’s family and his name are being denigrated. In the previous psalm he spoke of God as his glory (and the lifter of his head), so is it possible that David is speaking of God’s honor here as well? The honor of the king and the honor of God were woven together, so David’s disgrace was God’s disgrace as well. David’s foes love empty words and they pursue lies. This sounds like politics, where men will say anything to advance their power. How difficult it must have been to correct such lies in the public imagination. This was true then as it is now. How did David get his message out? What media did they have other than word of mouth, notoriously subject to getting it wrong (think:Telephone game). Now the challenge is that there is too much media. Information (and lies) can be spread much more easily and widely. Of course, so can the efforts to counter such lies. In this election cycle, verse 2 is more real than ever. 

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

David reminds himself and his readers that YHWH has set apart the godly for himself and he confidently declares that YHWH certainly hears when we call to him. The word godly at its root means kind or pious, devoted to God, those that strive to be like God in character. What does it mean then that YHWH has set apart the godly for himself? It has the sense of possession. God owns us, and that which he owns he cares for. Just as we take care of things we own (as opposed to something that we rent I suppose -- think rental property), God takes care of us in a special way because he owns us, we are his. Of course there is not a square inch in all of creation over which Jesus Christ who is lord of all does not declare “mine”, but this is a different sense of God’s ownership. The godly have freely chosen to belong to God and to align their lives with his ways. So of course God will care for and listen to those who understand their limits and know that they belong to God. What would it look like today if you consciously embraced God’s ownership of your life, your resources, your time? YHWH has set you apart for himself. Align your life with that reality -- you belong to him and he will take care of that which he owns. 

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

There is wisdom in the midst of this lament. The first was a reassurance that you belong to God and he will not forget you. The second instruction that the psalmist directs towards himself (and those that would pray this prayer with him) is to avoid sinning as a result of your anger. There are three directions that anger can go -- you can be mad at yourself, mad at others, or mad at God -- all of them can lead to sin. Self-anger can lead to self-destruction. Anger at others can destroy them, and anger at God can destroy faith. So deal with your anger as soon as possible. Don’t let it fester. This is Paul’s advice in Ephesians 4 -- don’t let the sun go down on your anger and don’t give the devil a foothold. Instead of venting that anger, ponder in your own heart on your bed and be silent. This is wisdom that is directed to others (because of the plural we know that David is not just talking to himself here). This can’t mean to stew on something all night, but it does mean to reflect on the situation and calm down. Let time soften the blows by helping you put things into perspective. Let reflection help you realize that the offending party may not have had malicious intent afterall (we suspect our enemies of much more conniving that we should give them credit for). And let your meditation bring you around to the conclusion that the last person in the world you need to be angry at is God. There are ways to avoid sinning while angry but they are rooted in taking time to cool off. 

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

The third piece of wisdom here is to offer the sacrifices of righteousness and trust in the Lord. This has less to do with ritual actions and more to do with simply doing the right thing. Psalm 51 tells us that the sacrifice of God is broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. Elsewhere, we’re told that to obey is better than sacrifice. What God desires is obedience, right living, and humility. David can’t just be saying “take another animal to the butcher”. That’s not going to get you through the crisis. Instead, the wisdom is simply, “do the right thing” even if it costs you. This is the lesson throughout human history. Great men and women are known as such for having done the right thing at great personal cost. This is character. Do what’s right and trust in God. This text has significant personal meaning for me when I was going through the most difficult emotional season of my life to that point -- a break up with a long-time girlfriend. This was the verse that helped sustain me when my heart was broken and a future uncertain. Looking back it’s such a minor thing, but God used this bit of wisdom to remind me to trust in him. And look at me now -- thirty-three years of marriage to a woman I still love dearly and two amazing children -- gifts of God. Yes, trust in the Lord indeed.

6 There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?  Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!”

The second rhetorical question of the psalm is found here. “Who will show us some good?” The implication is that the people (so David is not alone here) would like to hear some good news. Things are looking bad and they would like to see some good. Who are they expecting to show them some good -- other people? YHWH? The answer follows immediately. They call upon YHWH to show them the light of us face, to brighten things up. Times have not changed in many ways. There is no promise that the world will show us some good. People will be disappoint if you are depending on them to show you some good. God’s people have always been at odds with the world, the sinful nature being what it is, warfare has been a constant throughout history. Even though Christians were cultural insiders for a time in America, even then the world had its corrupting influence. The greatest good that we can seek is the presence of God, the light of his face upon us. This anthropomorphism reminds us of Moses’ experience in desiring to see the face of God. YHWH passes by and Moses gets a glimpse of his backside, and then Moses comes down from the mountain with his face aglow. As the sun lights up and warms up the world, YHWH shine on us and bring a smile to our faces again. Show us your glory in a way that will brighten our story. Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of this prayer. God showed us his face in Jesus. 

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

The harvest was the best time of the year. It’s hard for us to appreciate this in the modern world (although farmers might!). With refrigeration and international trade, we can have fresh food in abundance any day of the year. This has not been possible for the vast majority of the history of the world. The harvest was seasonal and while different crops were harvested at different times of the year, there must have been seasons of hunger and deprivation for the vast majority of the population. This is an assumption, but I feel like people were probably a lot thinner back in the day. Even black and white photos from WW2 show this. So imagine how happy you must have felt to have a full stomach and a full pantry that would last you for months. This is how the psalmist felt, only better. David expresses this as past tense. Is he reflecting on past times that he has been filled with joy, or is this a current state of mind in the midst of the immediate trial? In other words, is this a declaration of faith? Who is the “their” in this text? Is it the crowd from the previous verse who is asking for God to show them some good and let his face shine on them? More likely, it is a general statement about people experiencing the joy of the harvest. David is happy because he has arrived at a posture of trust. Having made his complaint and then instructed himself with wisdom, he is able to rest in God’s providence even though he hasn’t experienced it yet. How confident he is that God is with him through the trial. 

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

David closes his prayer with a declaration of confidence. He will lie down and sleep in peace for YHWH alone makes him dwell in safety. Going to sleep is an act of faith. When you are sick and dying, when you are hunted by an enemy, when you are a soldier in the field, closing your eyes in sleep may be the last conscious thing you do. You are at the mercy of your environment for 7 hours. The alternative is to stay awake constantly and human beings cannot survive that for more than several days. So at some point everyone has to exercise trust and just go to sleep. For six hours last night my eyes were closed and I was vulnerable. Of course one may have locks, alarms, and weapons, but these will not stop someone intent on harming you. Ultimately, my safety is in YHWH’s hands. Does that mean when someone is attacked in their sleep that God wasn’t on the job? No, human beings are still human beings, tainted by sin and gifted with free will. The best we can do is trust YHWH and close our eyes. The alternative is to trust yourself (your security, your weapons). I’d rather go to sleep knowing that my life is in God’s hands, not my own. ”If I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” The faithless do not have this promise.