Psalm 4

vs.1-2

• The circumstances surrounding Psalm 4 are similar to those of Psalm 3.  However, things had simmered down, for Absalom failed to follow up his initial advantage and David had time to recruit forces of his own.
• The tone of this Psalm and the gentle, instructive nature with which David speaks, suggests that this Psalm is more personal in nature and, given the circumstances, may very well be David's prayer and instruction for his wayward son Absalom.
• This application would give some clarity to the idea of David's glory considering that the glory of an earthly father was in his name and carried through to the first born son, the heir.
• "How long will you love worthlessness" - is speaking of David's perception of his earthly royal power and position. 
• To David, who came from obscurity into the throne of Israel, the position of king was something fleeting.  Given one day and gone the next.
• Absalom's desire was to be king, to possess David's throne and scepter.
• In the second part of vs.2 David pleads with his son to see the foolishness of his own desire.

vs.3

• vs.3 holds in it the doctrine of sanctification.  Sanctification is separation from ungodliness and separation to God. 
• What does it mean to be separated to God?
• Think of it in terms of a can of green beans at the grocery store... there are hundreds of cans of vegetables on the shelf at the grocery store.  But when you go into the store to buy vegetables you only select one can of one type of vegetable.
• Then you purchase the can, with your money which you earned.
• After paying for this can of vegetables they are completely and fully yours to do with as you please.  They've been separated from the rest of the cans at the store, you can't take any of those cans home with you because they don't belong to you.
• But your can is separated from every other can to you... to your home, to your shelf, to your will.
• This is a simple illustration of what sanctification means in relationship to God and the individual.
• You have been separated from the lost, you have been purchased through the payment of Jesus' blood, you now belong to God.  He has possession and ultimate control over you.

vs.4

• "be angry" - is a phrase translated from the Hebrew word "ragaz" which literally means, to be agitated, quiver, quake, be excited, and/or perturbed.
• And note what follows this first sentence of Psalm 4:4... it's essentially, "calm down, be still, think about what your doing before you end up doing something destructive.
• Is there such a thing as righteous anger for a person?
• Go to Romans 3... beginning in vs.9 through vs.26
• There are two types of righteousness that we need to know about.
• God's righteousness - holy, justified, God's and God's alone
• Jesus' imputed righteousness - the righteousness by which we are made holy in the sight of God.  This is a righteousness given to us at the point of our salvation.  It is ours to claim when we stand before God the Father at the judgment seat of Christ.
• We do not become a righteous person at any point of our natural human lives.  However, we possess the righteousness of Jesus at the point of salvation.
• So, can we manifest God's righteousness and Jesus' righteousness by anger during our present lifetime before we are made perfect by God?
• Look at James 1:19-20 - "So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God."
• The simple answer is no.  We should be moved to action... we should be passionate and not passive, we should be upset and bothered by the condition of our world.
• However, anger is never the appropriate response.  Anger cannot manifest itself in a God-honoring way through fallen, imperfect people.
• All that to say that vs.4 of Psalm 4 might be better understood to say, "Don't over-react based on human emotion... that will cause you to sin.  Instead, calm yourself... separate yourself from other people.  Allow your heart (seat of the emotions) to quiet itself.  Just be still."

vs.5

• So what's an appropriate response when you feel yourself starting to get worked up?  vs.5
• "Offer the sacrifices of righteousness" - ask for forgiveness.
• "put your trust in the LORD" - remember your sanctification.  Remember that God is in control and that He is big enough to handle any stress or any challenge that you might be facing.  Trust that YHWH (the God of Covenant) will be good to keep His promise of protection, provision, and justice.

vs.6

• But what about when it's impossible to see God's goodness to His covenant promises in a given situation?
• The same question is asked and answered in the remaining verses, vs.6-8.
• In verse 6 we hear the struggling perspective of those who were with David, faithful to him and therefore in a similar life threatening position.
• Notice that their question is still a common one, "God works all things together for good to those who serve Him?  How is this good?  Where can you find any good in this situation?"
• I believe that this mindset is very clearly represented through the Exodus of the nation of Israel as they wandered through the desert.
• Many times you will hear the people complain about their circumstances and question the goodness of God saying, "Why did you bring us to the desert to die?  At least in Egypt, even though we were in slavery, we had enough food and a greater variety of food to eat."
• The problem now becomes one of perspective.  While David's friends reminisced and longed for the good old days, David focuses on and longs for the goodness of God.

vs.7

• These two outlooks are compared in vs.7, which gives a classic contrast between inward and outward joy,
• Inward joy wells up steadily from God through every discouragement.
• Outward joy is most often the rare product of a pleasant set of circumstances.
• Notice also that outward joy hinges on things that are incredibly temporary while inward joy relies on the eternal and unchanging goodness of God.

vs.8

• Here again, as in Psalm 3, we see David resolve his struggle as he lays in bed and drifts off into a peaceful sleep.
• This is significant.  Some of our deepest fears and worries are realized in the solitude and quiet that we experience between the time that we finally lay down in our beds and the time that we actually fall asleep.
• Charles Spurgeon once wrote, "There is a trial in stillness; and oftentimes the chamber makes a larger demand upon loving trust than the battle field."
• I believe that we are never more directly forced to deal with the reality of our circumstances, our reactions, and our feelings than at the tail end of a day when we attempt to shut off our brains for the night.
• This may be the reason that people feel the need to work until they pass out from sheer exhaustion, drown all of their issues with the noise of television, and/or drink themselves into a mind numbing stupor.
• We run from solitude and quiet reflection.
• This, by the way, may be one of the many reasons we find it difficult and laborious to pray.  Prayer often demands quiet solitude.
• In order to find true, substantial rest one must rest in God.  In order to find rest in God, one must position themselves in a place and atmosphere that allows them to hear the quiet, gentle whisper of the Holy Spirit.

 

Psalm 3

Psalm 3

Psalm 3 tells the story of 2 Samuel 15 &16

• vs.1-2
• According to vs.1,2 David's foes are not only numerous but they are also trying to undermine his trust in God.
• "There is no help for him in God."
• Has anyone ever mocked you for your beliefs?
• I find it fascinating how often those who believe in God live in fear of standing out from those who have no relationship with God.  Our tendency is to imagine groups of our friends standing in circles laughing at us while we are not around.  This is human nature, this idea that the world and that other people are consumed with thoughts and conversations about us.  The idea that we are the center of everyone's universe.\
• One of the most amazing things about the believers life is that the focus can be taken off of themselves and instead shifted to God.  We no longer have to live a life that is consumed with all of our personal hang-ups and imperfections.  Instead we can live out our lives with a divine consciousness.  A knowledge that the problems that we face each day (personal or public) are passing by and are equivalent to a thin mist that evaporates as the sun (SON) shines through.
• However, I'm certain that there are moments where believers are the center of everyone's focus and perhaps even their ridicule.  While these moments may be difficult to endure it is even more certain that in the private moments when we are thought of and/or focused on (which are much fewer than we might imagine) that those who might mock us outwardly, long for what we have.
• Think about it for a moment.  Do you know what a life of faith in God's promises and trust in the LORD's provision offers us?  It offers us a life free from worry, doubt, hopelessness, fear, anxiety . . . and the list goes on and on.
• Why wouldn't we want to live in such a way that exemplifies these truths, and in so doing, why wouldn't we want to be so transparently different from those who do not know God that surround us.
• The Christ-one's life is not something to be ashamed of, hidden and private.  Instead it should be something that we are excited to have brand us, that we are excited to carry as a banner for all of the world to see.
• Why would anyone really want to fit in to a culture where distractions are a necessity.  Where business must be maintained or else one might be forced to spend time in quiet reflection on their own humanity.
• What's of even greater danger here is the personal thought that this might be true.
• Charles Haddon Spurgeon wrote, "It is the most bitter of all afflictions to be led to fear that there is no help for us in God."
• The danger here is one of self-focus... see the next section.
• vs.3-6
• A lot happens between vs.1-2 and vs.3. 
• The first two verses are an expression of the crisis that come into David's life because of the uprising of a number of his enemies.
• vs.3 introduces a section of confidence in God.
• What produced this change?  David's attention turned from his enemies to God.
• Herein lies the same principle which helped David defeat Goliath.
• While the entire camp of Israel was consumed with visions of a giant, David saw past the giant and saw God.
• Obstacles and enemies always seem bigger and more impossible when they are all that you are looking at.  However, when a person turns their eyes and thoughts toward God, God is seen in his true, great stature, and the obstacles shrink to manageable proportions.
• vs.3-6 are the appropriate response to such moments of ridicule or self-doubt.
• vs.3 - The LORD is a shield.
• What does a shield do?  For a warrior like David this metaphor would have had some intense personal meaning.
• The shield David is speaking of here would have protected the entire body.  It would have protected David from any attack that the enemy would attempt.
• However, a shield only absorbs the initial force of the blow.  An attack from a powerful or close range weapon (like a family member, a dear friend, a trusted co-worker) would still be felt through the shield and might even damage, knock down, or wound the shield bearer.
• David is not saying that the person whose trust is in the LORD is indestructible.
• It's foolish to assume that a relationship with the LORD will ensure an end to every human suffering, that you will never be broken, wounded, or damaged by any of the evil's of this world.
• vs.3 - the One who lifts up my head
• 2 points of application here.
• 1) The head, in time of trouble and sorrow is naturally bowed down, as if overpowered with the weight of affliction.  To lift up the head, then, is to relieve David's distresses, or to take away his troubles.
• 2) To lift up the head would help David to change and maintain his focus on God.  The reader should be instructed to ask God, as head lifter, to help them obtain and retain the proper perspective.
• vs.4
• David is hurt in this Psalm.  He has been knocked down, he is vulnerable, he is in great need.  This is why, in vs.3, we hear David cry out to God.
• vs.4 - Selah
• We are not certain of the meaning of the word Selah.
• Selah appears a total of 71 times in the Psalms and only once, Habakkuk 3, in the rest of Scripture.
• Because of this we can be certain that Selah is a musical reference.
• Given it's placement in the Psalms, I believe that Selah serves as a crescendo mark in the music.
• Where previously the music had been soft David makes a note for the musicians to build it's intensity.
• Rarely does the word Selah appear at the end of a Psalm.  Most frequently it's found when the author wishes to draw special attention to the emotion with which a  promise is being claimed or a truth exclaimed.
• vs.5-6
• Have you ever been so troubled by something that you lose sleep?  If any person had a reason to lose sleep from worry or fear it was David.
• At any moment his enemies could have discovered where he was hiding
• Yet David sleeps peacefully.
• The looming attack.
• It's doubtful that any of us are faced with the potential military uprising of thousands at some point during our day.
• However, you may be facing a battle and enemies.  After all, how many enemies does it take to make life miserable and possibly lead to great personal loss?
• The restful night.
• The reader shouldn't be fooled into thinking that David simply prayed for safety and went to bed, sleeping like a baby.
• While this is certainly a possibility for the Christ-one, wrongly applied I believe it to be dangerous.
• David, and his small army of faithful men, would have taken great precautions before settling down for the night.
• They would have strategically hid themselves.
• They would have had watchmen, in shifts, all night.
• They would have had an attack and an escape plan pending any activity by the enemy.
• An important lesson to take away from this is that the LORD will give rest to the wise and diligent.
• David has done everything that he possibly could do.
• All that was left over was in the LORD's hands.
• Sometimes the only thing a person can do is cry out to the LORD.  There will come times when an individual is unable to do anything other than pray.  However, those times are few.
• Matthew Henry notes, Care and grief do us good, when they engage us to pray to God, as in earnest."  This is true.  I would add to this that trials and opposition do us good when they force us to practice personal discipline, when they make us honestly examine our lives, when they cause us to be more diligent in our Scripture reading, and so on.
• You can always rest on God, but God does  not always have to do all the work.
• A rejuvenating morning.
• Having rested in God and having survived the night David's trust and strength in the LORD is renewed.
• This should teach us to rejoice in the sustaining grace of the LORD.
• Although the problem had not been solved and the enemy was still in hot pursuit, David was refreshed to fight and struggle anew.
• Sometimes God's provision does not take the shape of a total solution to one's problems.  More often than not God will simply protect and sustain the believer during a trial.
• Victory in God, then, is more about the individual's response to their difficult circumstances than about the defeat of the circumstance itself.
• vs.7-8
• Strong battle and warrior imagery is used here.  The enemy is pictured as a wild animal attempting to devour.
• David, with his shepherding background, claims here that God has knocked the teeth out of the mouth of the lion or bear (his enemies) making their attacks much less lethal.
• The attacks would still come but they would be unable to harm David in the way that they intended.
• vs.8 Salvation belongs to the LORD
• This statement is true in the metaphorical, the literal, and the spiritual sense.
• The manner in which God chooses or allows an individual to be saved will change, but the power and the process of salvation belongs solely in the hands of the LORD.
• This statement should force us into the realization that turning to anything and/or anyone else for our salvation is foolishness.  We must begin by petitioning God.  The way out of any valley, out of any hopelessness, will always be found as we follow the leading of the Good Shepherd.