The next Psalm is also a psalm of David, and this time centres around the idea of security.
Psalms 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!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;
Psalm 4, ESV
for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
The opening of the Psalm makes it clear that David here is in distress.
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?
Psalm 4:1-2
How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah
In his distress he calls out to God – the God of my righteousness – this could be “my righteous God”, or the God who gives him righteousness. Both are true – our righteous God is the one who gives us righteousness – and perhaps here we are meant to see that the two things are closely tied together. God is our righteousness because he is righteous.
Either way David cries out for relief from his distress, for mercy, and for a hearing. He wants God to pay attention to him. And then he turns from God, to those who are causing distress. He asks the question we will hear many times in the Psalms: How long? Much of the time it is addressed to God, but here it is addressed to people.
He wonders how long people will turn his honour, which can also be translated glory, into shame. These people who are putting David under pressure are turning things that should be what gives him most honour into a source of shame. They do this because they love vain (or empty) words and seek after lies. The vain or empty words are the opposite of David’s honour – the word for ‘honour’ relates to the idea of weight or substance. By a delight in empty words they decide that David’s honour is really a source of shame.
We can see this happening when people decide that something that is virtuous and holy and good is actually a source of shame. Perhaps a refusal to take the easy way out of a situation by lying. Perhaps a refusal to join in with the same type of entertainment as everyone else. And sometimes perhaps we can be part of denigrating someone else’s choice to follow God. Sometimes we can make it harder for someone else to deny themselves for the sake of following Jesus.
And so the “Selah” invites us to pause and reflect. Am I ever bringing someone else into shame because I love lies and vain words? The Psalmist continues his address to those who are causing him distress:
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;
Psalm 4:3-5
ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah
5 Offer right sacrifices,
and put your trust in the LORD.
To cause distress to “the godly” is a serious matter. “Godly” is a intriguing way to translate this, because the Hebrew doesn’t have any direct link to “God” – it is a word related to the idea of “steadfast love” or “faithfulness” – perhaps we could think of “the faithful” – those who trust him. If we are trusting in Jesus then God is our security – and the one who hears when we call.
Therefore we should take heed of the next words. Be angry but do not sin. It’s not so much a direct command to be angry, as a “take care when you are angry, that you do not sin”. The Psalm writer is realistic – anger is inevitable – but in that anger we are not to sin. Instead we are to search our hearts and be silent. We are to take the Selah in the text as a reminder to pause and consider what we do not know about our hearts, and about God’s plans.
When things make us angry the first step is to stop and to be silent. When our hearts are in turmoil it is a good habit to get into to pause before we take any action. It is not easy – and many Psalms give us words for the anger we cannot get rid of, and by learning to pray them we can reach the place where we can finally be still – not because we pretend it is OK, but because we pour it all out to our loving creator who is also our Father.
We do not, living after Jesus’s death on the cross offer sacrifices, but we do remember his sacrifice for us, and we put our trust in God who can deal with whatever is making us angry.
The Psalm finishes by showing us what this life of trust looks like:
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;
Psalm 4:6-8
for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
There are many who say “who will show us some good?” – many who are looking for some kind of goodness in their lives. This seems like an accurate description of our society right now. We live in a state of confusion about what the good is. We live in a world where we think we can make up our own version of what is good. That we are wise enough to tell good from bad.
But fundamentally if we are creatures in a world with a loving creator then we need to look to our loving creator to show us, to reveal to us, what is good. We don’t get to make it up. It is only when we look to God to show us good that we will know what that good is. We need God to shine the light of his face, his presence on us. For when that happens we find true joy, a joy that nothing in this world can give us.
A life trusting Jesus needs to be rooted in seeing God show us what is good, and in God showing us himself – the root of all goodness. In knowing this God comes a peace that gives us the ability to lie down and sleep. This might feel a bit of an anticlimax – but anyone who has known a lack of sleep knows what a precious gift sleep is. And anyone who has lain awake at 2am with a mind racing filled with worries and concern knows that it is no small thing to be able to lie down and sleep in peace.
This Psalm then, is ultimately a reminder of the secure status we have as God’s children. We don’t have anything to prove. And so we can hold fast to God’s honour and glory, trusting that however appealing ways that disregard God and his word sound they are ultimately empty lies. In this Psalm we are invited to search our hearts and turn to God’s sacrifice for us – and then to lie down in peace, knowing we are secure in him.
As, hopefully, I go to sleep soon, that leads me to this hymn I remember from one church I used to be part of:
1. Glory, to thee, my God, this night,
For all the blessings of the light,
Keep me, O keep me, King of kings,
Under thine own Almighty wings.2. Forgive me, Lord, for thy dear Son,
Whatever ills this day I’ve done;
That with the world, myself and thee,
I e’er (before) I sleep, at peace may be.3. Teach me to live, that I may dread
The grave as little as my bed;
Teach me to die, that so I may
Triumphing rise at the last day.4. O may my soul on thee repose,
And may sweet sleep mine eye-lids close;
Sleep that shall me more vigorous make,
To serve my God when I awake.5. Let my blest Guardian, while I sleep,
Close to my bed his vigils keep;
Let no vain dreams disturb my rest,
Nor powers of darkness me molest.6. Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Thomas Ken
Praise him all creatures here below;
Praise him above, ye heavenly host:
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Joshua's Tree Rooted 