Satisfied
When was the last time you felt truly satisfied, joyfully at rest in the knowledge that God is with you? Psalm 4 gives us a picture of the joy, peace, and hope we can have in the face of life’s difficulties.
We know that David, who penned this psalm, was facing difficulties, because he begins the psalm with a cry for help:
“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.” (v.1)
Notice his focus on God as His source of righteousness as well as his source of help in the past. David knew that God had helped him before and was well able to help him again.
Though pleading for mercy and help, David is not despairing at his circumstances. Quite the opposite, in fact. He has a message of hope to others around him:
“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. But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for Himself: the Lord will hear when I call unto Him.” (v.2-3)
Vanity here means worthless, empty, a thing without purpose, and leasing literally means untruth. David was looking around him, perhaps at his enemies, or perhaps even at some of the men who were supposed to be on his side. He looked around and recognized these men’s pursuits as being worthless and deceitful. Doesn’t that just remind you of the world in which we live?
The next verse has become very precious to me in recent years:
“But know that the Lord has set apart him that is godly for Himself: the Lord will hear when I call unto Him.” (v.3)
David saw a contrast between these men’s lives and his own. Theirs was defined by worthlessness, emptiness, and lies, but his was built upon the precious truth of God Himself. They were following the dictates of their own sinful desires, while David embraced the righteousness of God, seeking to live in accordance with the character of God.
Notice that David doesn’t envy these wicked men, nor does he gloat over them. Instead, he tells how they, too can have the peace and joy he has in God.
“Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still, Selah. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord.” (v.4-5)
Stand in awe
We don’t use the word awe much in our modern vocabulary, and if we do, we most often use it to express a sense of wonder and amazement. The Hebrew word in this verse literally means to quiver with violent emotion. It could be amazement, but it could also be fear or terror.
Whether God fills you with terror or wonder depends partly on your position before Him. The men to whom David is speaking in this verse appear to be committed to wickedness. They might easily represent unrepentant sinners.
When our hearts are full of sin, the idea of a just and holy God should indeed cause us to quake in terror. However, once we have experienced the fulness of God’s forgiveness and mercy, His holy justice ceases to be an object of terror. Our hearts instead fill with grateful wonder and amazement at the great salvation God has given us.
That sense of awe can often fade into the business of life, and we could all benefit from David’s recommendation to “stand in awe.”
Sin not
When our eyes are upon the just, holy, merciful, and forgiving God, we will necessarily be more aware of the sin that contrasts so starkly with who God is. 1 John 3:2-3 puts it this way:
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.”
The knowledge that we will one day stand before the Lord motivates us to please Him now. If we keep Him at the forefront of our hearts and minds, we will be far more willing to submit to the Holy Spirit’s leading when faced with temptation.
Commune with your own heart
The busyness of life not only dims our view of God, it also dulls our sense of the true state of our hearts. In the midst of a particularly busy season, God typically leads me into a situation in which I have nothing to do but sit and think. It is those times of communing with my own heart that God uses to show me where I am falling short.
How easy it is to be distracted by the busyness of life and feel that I’m doing just fine, when in reality, there is some sin in my heart I hadn’t stopped long enough to notice.
Be still
Here is what my Strong’s concordance says about the Hebrew word used here for still:
“to be dumb; by impl. to be astonished, to stop; also to perish: --cease, be cut down (off), forbear, hold peace, quiet self, rest, be silent, keep (put to) silence, be (stand) still, tarry, wait.”
To be still before the Lord means to stop, to make our busy minds be still. When we are still before the Lord, we are holding our peace, not reciting a list of things we want.
As much as I value lists as a way to remember the things I want to faithfully bring before the Lord on a regular basis, I often fall into the rut of reciting the words or names on the list without really thinking about it.
If your prayer life seems dry, boring, or ineffective, you might just need to spend some time being still before the Lord. Notice that the word for still can also mean to rest or to wait. When we quiet our hearts before the Lord, it’s not just some emptying of the mind. It is an expectant waiting for God to speak, to show us sin we need to confess, or to quicken a passage of Scripture to our hearts.
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness
In David’s day, God required literal animal sacrifices, which were a very visible, tangible symbol of what Christ would do. On this side of the cross, we look back to the sacrifice of Christ as a finished work, thus the animal sacrifices are no longer required. (Hebrews 10) But obedience still is.
In any age of God’s dealings with mankind, obedience has been a major theme. For the saved in Christ, it is no less important that we obey God simply because our sins have been forgiven. As we take time with God, the Holy Spirit will point out areas of our lives in which we need to obey what God has said. Sometimes it is admitting something is sin, sometimes it is an action left undone, sometimes it is an attitude of heart that we must get rid of. As the psalmist said,
“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23-24)
Once God searches and tries our hearts and shows us our sin, He expects us to confront that sin, agreeing with Him that it is sin, and accepting His grace to help us defeat it.
For the Christian, offering the sacrifices of righteousness looks like walking worthy of the Lord:
“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:1-3)
“That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us to be meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Colossians 1:10-12)
“That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto His kingdom and glory.” (1 Thessalonians 2:12)
Notice from the first passage that walking worthy will affect our relationships with others. The next passage reminds us that walking worthy of the Lord is not something we can do on our own: we must be “strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power.”
Notice also that walking worthy produces fruitfulness and is rooted in gratefulness to God for His mercy in calling us not only into salvation, but also into service. We have a vocation, a calling, to fulfill, and Spirit-led obedience is the way to fulfill it.
That brings us to the next verse:
“There be many that say, Who will show us any good? Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us.” (v.6)
David sees the need for God’s light to shine. These men around him needed the light of God’s countenance to shine on them, just as David himself did. This verse reminds me of 2 Corinthians 4:6, which says,
“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
As we look at the darkness of the world around us, we must always remember that what it needs is the light of Christ.
When we are walking in the light of Christ, we will experience His joy, as verse 7 illustrates:
“Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.”
The joy of the Christian is a remarkable thing. When we have little else but Christ, we rejoice more than those who have an abundance of riches, but without Christ. A good harvest is one of the most exciting things for an agrarian society, but David was far more joyful in the Lord.
How is our joy today? Do we need to get back to the basic causes for rejoicing? Forgiveness of sin and heaven awaiting us is more than ample reason to be joyful, no matter what today may bring.
I’ve been reading a World War II biography recently, and it detailed the thoughts and feelings of one man as he was taken prisoner by the German SS, later to be executed.
As he got on to the transport truck it was said that he was perfectly calm. He didn’t know where he was going or what was to happen to him. All he knew was that God would be with him.
For that man, facing the horrible unknown of Nazi imprisonment and all that might entail, God’s presence was enough.
David, too, faced situations of dire and daunting uncertainty, yet he was able to say,
“I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for Thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.” (v.8)
When the uncertainties and troubles of life keep us awake, let us remember this verse. No matter what circumstances we face, we can rest peacefully in the knowledge that safety comes from the Lord. It is He who watches over us day and night, and it is He who directs our paths, allowing into our lives only that which He means to work for our good.
The way to walk through this life satisfied, joyful, and at rest, is to take time to be close to God. As we yield ourselves, our lives, and everything else to God, He gives us a peaceful satisfaction we could never know apart from Him.