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.

In our journey through the Psalms together hosted by Erica at Butterfly Kisses, we’re looking at Psalm 3 this week. I hope you can join us!

A Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son.

1 Lord, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me.

2 Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.

3 But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.

4 I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.

5 I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me.

6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about.

7 Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.

8 Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah.

In this day and time in the U.S., many of us would have a hard time trying to imagine what it would be like to have to hide from an active enemy bent on destroying us. The fear and uncertainty would be multiplied in this case when David’s self-proclaimed enemy was his own son who raised up an army to overthrow him. But as was his habit, David encouraged himself in the Lord. He knew by previous experience that those who said, “There is no help for him in God” were mistaken. He knew he could call on the Lord for protection, safety, sustenance, and deliverance. He could rest his heart in the Lord.

What enemies do we have today? Our “adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (I Peter 5:8). “Friendship of the world is enmity with God” (James 4:4): there is a world system which has set itself against the Lord. There may come a time when we face persecution for our faith or a war on our soil. We may have smaller-scale “enemies” in the form of a rival who is after our job or a neighbor with a grievance. In every circumstance we can do as David did. Remind ourselves of God’s promises. Call out to Him for protection. Keep from falling for lies by relying on God’s truth and character. Trust Him for the outcome. Rest in His care.

In the Psalm Sunday series that Erica at Butterfly Kisses started, we are looking at Psalm 2 and 110 together this week.

Psalm 2:

1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,

3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.

5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.

6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.

11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

Psalm 110

1 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.

2 The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.

3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.

4 The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

5 The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.

6 He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.

7 He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.

I won’t go verse by verse and be as in-depth with these Psalms as I was with Psalm 1, partly because I am not as familiar with them as I am with Psalm 1, and partly because that would make this post much too long. There are a number of good commentaries that would go into much more detail much better than I could do, so I will leave that to them and just give a couple of impressions or thoughts after reading these two Psalms.

Overall these psalms don’t give us the warm fuzzies, do they? Sometimes we come to the Psalms for that, for encouragement and comfort, and there is certainly plenty of that in them. But there is this aspect, too. God is holy and righteous and as such is perfectly just to be angry because of sin, to be angry that people want to throw off His rulership.

I used to think that good Christians did not, or should not, get angry. But, really, the Bible doesn’t teach that. There are a lot of warnings about anger, but Ephesians 4:26 says, “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” There are many passages about God’s just and righteous anger. Our problem is that we’re angry over selfish reasons and not reasons based on God’s righteousness, or if we are angry over the right things for the right reasons, our anger can too often be mixed with pride or self-righteousness, or be expressed in a carnal way.

It might seem hard to reconcile God’s love with God’s anger. But, really, if we think about it, we get angry when those we love are rebellious and make foolish choices. In fact, if we didn’t love them, we wouldn’t care, would we? Even though God is angry when people rebel against Him and choose to go a way that will cause harm to themselves and to others, He has done everything in His power, sending His own Son to take on their sin and punishment, so they can be redeemed.

Another thing I get out of this passage is that, though the “heathen rage” and though we do see people these days wanting to “break His bands asunder,” they can only go so far. As one hymn says, “though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.”

And both of these Psalms point to the coming Christ. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

I saw over at She Lives that Erica at Butterfly Kisses is hosting Psalms Sunday for whoever would like to participate to study a particular Psalm each week and then post our thoughts on what we studied. That’s a wonderful idea! The Psalms are full of a lot of good instruction and inspiration. Thank you, Erica!

The first one is, appropriately, Psalm 1:

1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

I see this as a study in contrasts between the righteous and the ungodly.

The first contrast is what drives them, what they take their cues from, what they meditate on. I don’t think I would have ever noticed this on my own, but I have heard a couple of preachers point out the progression of the ungodly from walking to standing to sitting in verse 1. In my college days, we walked all over campus to classes, to the library, to the dining area, etc. It was one thing to walk along with friends whom I didn’t know very well, but we might have some point of contact — say, we sat near each other in a class, saw each other on the way to eat lunch, and struck up a conversation on the way. But if we stop at some point and talk, that indicates a little more involved communication, If we then sat down to continue our conversation, that indicates a little more attention, a little more involvement and purpose. We have to be careful about the counsel of the ungodly, less we get more and more entranced and entrenched.

The opposite of the “counsel of the ungodly” is the law of the Lord. It is interesting to me that the word “law” is used. Sometimes that refers to the specific laws in the Bible, sometimes to the Pentateuch (the books of Moses, the first five books of the Bible), sometimes it is a synonym for God’s Word in general. When this was written, the primary written word of God was Moses’ books and the earlier history books — the New Testament, of course, wasn’t written for centuries; the major and minor prophets came along mostly after David’s time. Job is said to be the oldest book in the Bible, so it might have been available. Proverbs and Song of Solomon would have been after David’s time. It’s funny that the word of God that they had available then that the psalmist delighted in is the part that most people get bogged down in these days. And I do have to admit that Leviticus, which is where I am now, is pretty heavy in places (so I am also reading a Psalm a day to supplement it. But “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (II Tim. 3:16). God’s law reflects the fact that God is righteous and holy and is interested in fair and just behavior. If “the law” in verse 1 refers to the books of Moses, we have the accounts of creation, early man and the entrance of sin, the promise of a redeemer, the history of God’s dealings with Israel, their exodus from Egypt, the Lord’s miraculous deliverance of them at the Red Sea, the characters of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, God’s leading of them, His patience in their stubbornness and unbelief, His giving of the law, the need of a blood sacrifice when that law is violated — much, much to meditate on and learn about God there! And of course we can extrapolate the blessings of meditation of God’s law to the whole of His Word that we are privileged to have today.

Meditation, by the way, is not the clearing the minds of all thoughts into a kind of nothingness that we hear about these days. It is an active use of our mental faculties, a mulling over of the truth in God’s Word.

The second contrast I see is in their stability. The ungodly have none: they get blown about in the wind (this just brought to mind Eph. 4:14). The righteous, on the other hand, are firmly planted by the river so that their roots are always near the source of the sustenance, and therefore they won’t “dry up” and wither, but rather are fruitful.

By the way, I don’t think whatsoever he doeth shall prosper is fodder for the “prosperity gospel.” This isn’t promising wealth and health. It echoes Joshua 1:8: “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”

The third contrast is their ending. The ungodly shall not stand; the ungodly shall perish. But thankfully the Lord knows the way of the righteous.

Now — does that mean the righteous have reason to think themselves so much better than the ungodly? No. We’re all ungodly (Romans 3:23). We are not to look down on them as if we are better. In fact, we should have that much more compassion on them, their state, their end, and share with them how they can be made righteous and forgiven by accepting God’s perfect sacrifice for their sins. And then they can meditate on God’s Word, have stability in their lives, and a better end. And they can tell the ungodly that they know.