It is very hard to keep up with posting blogs, but I hope to get these out more regularly, it’s just during the summer that posts are more sporadic. Don’t forget that you always have the Bible to read from and glean inspiration.
We’ll look at Psalms 4 for this post. I encourage you to read all the way through the Psalms. We don’t have time to make a post for every one of them, just the ones that spoke to me as I read them.
Psalm 4:1-8.
1. “Hear me when I call,
O God of my righteousness!
You have relieved me in my distress;
Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.
2. How long, O you sons of men,
Will you turn my glory to shame?
How long will you love worthlessness and seek falsehood?”
Many of us can identify with the first two verses. Some of us very well. If you look back on your life you’ll find a time when you’ve cried out to God, He has relieved you from distress. For some people it’s harder to see, but the important thing is to remember and cherish those memories so that we know when we call out again, God will answer.
I’m sure many of us have experienced what David writes in the second verse. We can experience it in victim-blaming, minimization, ignorance, even shunning from our Christian family. But God has set us apart. It continues…
3 “…But know that God has set us apart
for Himself him who is godly; The LORD will hear when I call to Him.”
What a beautiful verse! God has set us, who follow Him, He has set us apart and will hear us when we call.
4 “Be angry, and do not sin.
Meditate within your heart on your bed and be still.
5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.”
I think it’s alright to have justified anger. We have every right to be angry with what has happened to us in the past, but we’ll told not to sin. Consider this with your feelings and thoughts. That would be worth it’s own separate blog.
But there is a solution to those negative thoughts. Philippians 4:8 says that “Whatever things are true, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy-meditate on these things.”
The psalmist is saying not to dwell on anger. In Ephesians 4:26 Paul basically says do not go to bed angry. Instead meditate on those good things, and be still and you can see the LORD how He has worked and is working in your life. By you living according to His word and by putting trust in Him you are making a sacrifice that He appreciates and can honor.
6 “There are many who say,
‘Who will show us any good?’
LORD, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us.
7 You have put gladness in my heart,
More than in the season that their grain and wine increased.
I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; For You alone, O LORD make me dwell in safety.”
God will pour out His peace on us, if we allow Him. He can lift up our countenance and put gladness in our hearts. I think the most beautiful thing in this Psalm is the scene I can picture.
We may be in distress as we’re trying to go to bed. We cry out to God to have mercy on us, we remember all He has done for us in the past. We meditate on those good things and we are still. As we pray to God, as we meditate on those pure things, God takes away our distress. He makes us lie down in peace. He helps us to sleep soundly.
I pray that whenever you’re feeling too stressed to sleep, you’ll remember this Psalm. God makes us lie down in peace, and sleep. He alone is God and makes us dwell in safety.