Bible Commentaries
Psalms 4

Verses 1-8

In the next Psalm you have a continuation of the same spirit of trust and confidence. You might call Psalms 4:0, “Confidence in God.” David turns to God as the God of righteousness, and knows he can depend upon him. “Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness.” Whatever righteousness I have I get from God. I have none of my own. “Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.” And then he turns to the enemies around about, like the remnant of Israel as they see the power of antichrist and the beast seeking to destroy them. “O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn My glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for Himself.” Who is the godly man? The man that gives God the right place in his heart, and the Lord says, I have set that man apart for Myself. “The Lord will hear when I call unto Him.”

Then follows the soul at rest, and David is just communing, as it were, with his own soul. He says, “Stand in awe, and sin not.” Just wait quietly for God to act. “Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord.” Notice the two things that are mentioned here, see that there is nothing wrong in your own life, and then you can put your trust in Him. If you are offering the sacrifices of unrighteousness, if there is wickedness and crookedness and unholiness in your life, it is no use talking about trusting God. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Psalms 66:18). But if I have judged everything that the Spirit of God has shown me to be wrong, I can offer the sacrifice of praise without a condemning conscience and can trust and not be afraid.

“There be many that say, Who will shew us any good)” David, you say the Lord is going to undertake? Let us see it. He says, Lord, You answer-“Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.” Men of this world are happy when things go well with them outwardly. We have often pointed out that there is a great difference between peace and happiness. Happiness depends upon the “haps.” The old English word “hap” means a chance, and with the world if the “haps” are agreeable, if the chance events of life are satisfactory, then the worldling is happy, and if the “haps” are not satisfactory, he is un-hap-py. But with the Christian, whatever the “haps” are, if everything he has counted on goes to pieces, it does not make any difference. God is not going to pieces. God is there just the same, and so the soul can rest in Him, Therefore, even though a fugitive as David was, or a sufferer under the hand of antichrist as the remnant of Israel will be, the believer can say, “Thou hast put gladness in my heart.” There is a settled peace there, “More than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.” And so again the Psalmist says, “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep.” I will just leave it all with God and go to sleep. That is faith. “For Thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.” I can just trust Thee, I can leave it all with Thee. One has to learn to hand everything over to God, for we cannot undertake for ourselves or for our own in any power we possess. God alone can undertake for me.