In our journey through the Psalms together hosted by Erica at Butterfly Kisses, we’re looking at Psalm 4 this week. I hope you can join us!
1 Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.
2 O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah.
3 But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him.
4 Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.
6 There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.
7 Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.
8 I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.
Once again David calls out to the Lord in his distress. From past experience he knows that God can and will hear his prayer and help him.
In verse 2-5 he addresses the “sons of men” — apparently those who were causing his distress. He asks how long they will continue in their ways, turning glory into shame, loving vanity (uselessness, futility, emptiness), seeking leasing (deception and lies, according to the Strong’s definition). He exhorts them to know something: that the Lord has set apart the godly for Himself and will hear their prayer. He admonishes them to stand in awe of Him and to commune (to say, to answer, to say in one’s heart, to think, to command, to promise, to intend, according to Strong’s definition) with their own hearts, to be still, to offer sacrifices of righteousness and trust in the Lord. In other words, “God will hear my prayer because I am His. Be still, be quiet: think about these things. What your living for is useless, vain, and false. Turn to Him; trust in Him.” David here issues an invitation, or an exhortation, really, to the ungodly to come to the Lord as well.
In verse 6 he addresses the Lord again. Perhaps his statement, “There be many that say, ‘Who will shew us any good?'” is based the response he got, or thought he would get, from the sons of men. He asks for God’s countenance on Him and is glad in his heart, gladder than what the others have to celebrate about. He sleeps in perfect peace, knowing that His safety is in the Lord.
This Psalm reminds me a little of the first few verses of Psalm 37:
1 Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.
3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
4 Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
6 And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.
7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.
We don’t have to fret, worry, or stew about what the ungodly are doing, even when they set themselves against us. If we belong to the Lord and our hearts are right with Him, we can trust Him to take care of us and of them.
Stray Thoughts 
I am glad that my heart is right with Him. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on Psalm 4…
Blessings on your week and always…
I just discovered your blog and so far I like it. I actually only discovered it yesterday, so I’m still trying to get to “know” you. Your post reminded me of a question I have. I could ask my pastor, but I just don’t think of it from day to day. SO, I’ll ask here to see what you think. Ps. 37:1 — can the evil doers be righteous people (saved) who are not doing right at the time? You know, First or Second (can’t remember which) Peter calls Lot “just” or righteous, but we know he wasn’t living right. His sons in law thought he was joking when he began to say that God was going to bring judgement. He was definitely messed up and being a “worker of iniquity.” When Psalms refer to the wicked, I usually think of someone who is not saved. But recently I was reading Ps. 37 and thought of fellow believers who do seem to prosper even though they are living for the things of this world. What they are living for will “soon be cut down.” It’s just wood, hay, and stubble. (I hope this makes sense! If not, don’t worry about it!) So, is it wrong to think of those in Ps. 37:1 as children of God who are not doing right? Thanks for considering this question.
Thank you for showing the similarities between Psalm 4 and Psalm 37. I love all of your Strongs references. I hope to have a concordance soon. I know I would never grow tired of looking through it. Thanks for posting. :o)
AMEN!
thanks so much for your congrats!
A great big amen to this, bless you.
Thank you for sharing your study of these verses. You went deep into it with the word study. Kudos!
I may have addressed Jolene’s question in my own Psalm Sunday post. There are evil doers on both sides of saving grace.
Hi, Jolene,
Thanks for visiting my blog! I’d have to do a bit of study to see for sure whether the Bible ever uses the term “wicked” or “evildoers” for saved people, but, as you pointed out, saved people are far from perfect — some, like Lot, are so far from what they ought to be that no one would know they were believers. I don’t think we would have ever thought of Lot as righteous or godly if Jude hadn’t said he was. So I think the principle still applies, even if the one doing wrong in a particular case is a believer. God promises to chastise His children, so we can trust Him to deal with them.
I think with believers there is also an added dimension of testimony involved. In other words, if someone has been acting toward me personally in an evil way, it may be that, like Joseph in Genesis, I’m just supposed to bear up and do my best with what the Lord has allowed. In certain public situations, though, like the ones Paul addresses in the epistles, he had to call out people and name names both so that people would recognize where they had gone wrong and be warned and not follow them, and also for the testimony of the Lord’s church and people, so that the world would know that that wasn’t what Christians were supposed to be like.