Psalm 4 Pt. 2
Good Morning.
I have often spoken of some of the lovely sunrises that God has sent our way this summer. This photo was taken by Dan Meyers in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is simply titled "Country Sunrise."
The photo reminds us that God has granted us another day of life and breath and that is filled with endless possibilities. The child of God should seek to use each day wisely.
In the Biblical sense this means that we recognize that we cannot take another breath if our Wonderful God does not sustain us. We look to Christ in dependency and seek to serve Him faithfully.
The photo above reminds us that each day can be a beautiful day of praying to Jehovah, of reading and meditating on the Word of God, of singing and praising Jehovah and of serving Him in what ever capacity that we can. Each day is full of potentially beautiful moments for serving Christ.
Psalm 39:4-5 LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.
Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity.
Living this life without making the LORD the top priority is a life spent on vain things. Instead, our Lord Jesus reminded us to "seek ye first the kingdom of God." This perspective changes our entire outlook on life because we are living the way that God designed us to live.
Psalm 90:12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
His thoughts for us are good ones. His position is that of a loving Father who wants to bless us and who lovingly corrects His wandering child.
I think we see this attitude of Jehovah first consistently lived out in King David's life. Let us now look again into Psalm 4 to see what the LORD has for us.
In the first 3 verses we saw David expressing confident prayer to His God. His heart was burdened for those men in leadership positions who did not know David's God. The King is really praying that they will see the folly of serving self and that they might seek after Jehovah.
David then expressed both truth and praise by pointing out that Jehovah will set apart the Godly man for Himself. He will use the Godly man. King David was a living example of Jehovah taking a humble shepherd boy and making him King over His people. David never forgot the overwhelming goodness of God that he received.
Verse 4
Psalm 4:4 Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah
In verse 3 David is sitting before the LORD completely overwhelmed with what Jehovah promised to the king. Verse 4 seems to be a natural extension of that moment of reflective worship.
The phrase "stand in awe" is from a Hebrew word that has 2 primary meanings. First, the word means to shake with fear and trembling. It reflects a soul that is in upheaval in responding to the LORD. It also means a soul filled with great excitement and stirred passions for God. There is only 1 other place that this phrase is found as noted in the text below.
Psalm 34:8 Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
Standing in awe is the evidence of a heart that has been turned toward the things of God. I think that all Christians have a desire for the whole world to know the glory of God. We want all people to know their Creator.
Standing in awe means having reverence and respect for Jehovah. It means that we will begin to see our sins as He does. It leads to trembling in our hearts because of our sins and know that we are worthy of judgment. It also leads to great excitement knowing that He has removed our sins from us as far as the East is from the West.
Life without Jesus Christ is nothing more than aimless wandering while seeking temporary satisfaction in the culture. Christians must be willing to share the gospel of Christ with those who are lost because our Great God is still saving souls. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. We need to share the living truth with others.
David continues in verse 4 and tells us we need to commune with our own heart on our bed and be still. He is calling us to a quiet time of reflection where we think seriously about sin, salvation, sanctification. It is a time when we reflect upon the tremendous blessings God gives to His children at a great personal cost to Himself.
Surely if I am bought with a price then I can gladly serve Christ until He calls me home! Surely I need to despise my sins because they offend my Holy, Loving Father in Heaven.
David concludes this verse with a "selah" that reminds us to stop and think about the goodness of God in giving us another day to live.
Verse 5
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.
But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;
To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.
I have often spoken of some of the lovely sunrises that God has sent our way this summer. This photo was taken by Dan Meyers in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is simply titled "Country Sunrise."
The photo reminds us that God has granted us another day of life and breath and that is filled with endless possibilities. The child of God should seek to use each day wisely.
In the Biblical sense this means that we recognize that we cannot take another breath if our Wonderful God does not sustain us. We look to Christ in dependency and seek to serve Him faithfully.
The photo above reminds us that each day can be a beautiful day of praying to Jehovah, of reading and meditating on the Word of God, of singing and praising Jehovah and of serving Him in what ever capacity that we can. Each day is full of potentially beautiful moments for serving Christ.
Psalm 39:4-5 LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.
Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity.
Living this life without making the LORD the top priority is a life spent on vain things. Instead, our Lord Jesus reminded us to "seek ye first the kingdom of God." This perspective changes our entire outlook on life because we are living the way that God designed us to live.
Psalm 90:12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
His thoughts for us are good ones. His position is that of a loving Father who wants to bless us and who lovingly corrects His wandering child.
I think we see this attitude of Jehovah first consistently lived out in King David's life. Let us now look again into Psalm 4 to see what the LORD has for us.
In the first 3 verses we saw David expressing confident prayer to His God. His heart was burdened for those men in leadership positions who did not know David's God. The King is really praying that they will see the folly of serving self and that they might seek after Jehovah.
David then expressed both truth and praise by pointing out that Jehovah will set apart the Godly man for Himself. He will use the Godly man. King David was a living example of Jehovah taking a humble shepherd boy and making him King over His people. David never forgot the overwhelming goodness of God that he received.
Verse 4
Psalm 4:4 Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah
In verse 3 David is sitting before the LORD completely overwhelmed with what Jehovah promised to the king. Verse 4 seems to be a natural extension of that moment of reflective worship.
The phrase "stand in awe" is from a Hebrew word that has 2 primary meanings. First, the word means to shake with fear and trembling. It reflects a soul that is in upheaval in responding to the LORD. It also means a soul filled with great excitement and stirred passions for God. There is only 1 other place that this phrase is found as noted in the text below.
Psalm 34:8 Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
Standing in awe is the evidence of a heart that has been turned toward the things of God. I think that all Christians have a desire for the whole world to know the glory of God. We want all people to know their Creator.
Standing in awe means having reverence and respect for Jehovah. It means that we will begin to see our sins as He does. It leads to trembling in our hearts because of our sins and know that we are worthy of judgment. It also leads to great excitement knowing that He has removed our sins from us as far as the East is from the West.
Life without Jesus Christ is nothing more than aimless wandering while seeking temporary satisfaction in the culture. Christians must be willing to share the gospel of Christ with those who are lost because our Great God is still saving souls. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. We need to share the living truth with others.
David continues in verse 4 and tells us we need to commune with our own heart on our bed and be still. He is calling us to a quiet time of reflection where we think seriously about sin, salvation, sanctification. It is a time when we reflect upon the tremendous blessings God gives to His children at a great personal cost to Himself.
Surely if I am bought with a price then I can gladly serve Christ until He calls me home! Surely I need to despise my sins because they offend my Holy, Loving Father in Heaven.
David concludes this verse with a "selah" that reminds us to stop and think about the goodness of God in giving us another day to live.
Verse 5
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.
David turns to offer us some practical application of these truths. The King exhorts us to offer the sacrifices of righteousness. I don't think King David is focused upon offering the specific animal prescribed for a sin that we have committed.
In our studies so far this year I think that we are all aware that God is always aiming at our heart. I think David is calling us to commune on our beds in humble recognition that without Him we will perish.
In our studies so far this year I think that we are all aware that God is always aiming at our heart. I think David is calling us to commune on our beds in humble recognition that without Him we will perish.
David speaks of this in more detail in Psalm 51 which is his confession to Jehovah regarding his sins with Bathsheba and Uriah. When our spirit is broken hearted over our sins and our heart is humble and contrite, we will find Jehovah is welcoming to us and that He is willing to restore the joy of our salvation.
Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart,
O God, thou wilt not despise.
The prophet Isaiah brings this truth before us. God is highly exalted and He is holy. God dwells in eternity (Jehovah, I Am). Yet He cares about you and cares about me. He will draw near to the those people who are repentant and and have a contrite heart.
What does He want to do in our hearts? Jehovah wants to revive us. The word revive means to take something that is dead or dying and to make it alive. It means to impart vibrant God oriented life in the soul of man. God is still in the business of reviving the repentant souls of people like you and me.
Isaiah 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose
name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him
also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the
humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
King David finishes this section by urging His readers to put their trust in Jehovah. The word "trust" is a word that communicates a strong feeling of safety and security because we are relying upon someone else who is much stronger than we are.
When we were children, our Dad was the one we relied on to keep us safe and secure when a violent storm would come through. Our Dad's would run beside us as we learned how to ride a bicycle and we had confidence knowing that our Dad would catch us if we started to fall. Small children feel safe and secure in a crowd when they are hanging on to Dad's hand. They know he won't let go or lose sight of them.
The Lord Jesus Christ compared the faith of the born again with that childlike faith we had growing up.
Matthew 18:2-4 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and
become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
This is the kind of trust that David is calling us to have toward Jehovah. Everything that we know to be true of Jehovah indicates that He will love and protect every single one of His children. Notice how King David describes the heavenly Father's love in Psalm 103.
Psalm 103:13-18 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them
that fear him.
For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that
we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.
But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;
To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.
Here are some additional references that show our Heavenly Father's love toward His children.
- Luke 15:11-32 is the parable of the prodigal son.
- 2 Corinthians 6:11-18 call for separation and promise of God to be our Father.
- Galatians 4:4-7 God's Spirit is sent into our hearts and we cry Abba, Father. That word is the most tender Greek word for a Father.
Points to Ponder...
- You have been given a brand new day from God. What will you do with it?
- We can choose to live our lives for His glory and serve Him with all of our mind, soul, body & spirit. Will you?
- Have we thought about the brevity of life and the fact that at death we will stand before the Lord of Glory? What will we hear Him say to us in that day?
- Do we stand in awe of our Great God? If we don't have great awe for Jehovah then how can we expect others around us to desire Christ?
- Have you offered the sacrifices of righteousness King David spoke of? A contrite spirit and humble heart will always be accepted by Jehovah.
- Will you give it all to Jehovah and earnestly seek His reviving work in your soul? We all need this.
- Are you trusting the Father in heaven like a child trusts its Dad?
We only covered 2 more verses in the Psalm because it is full of rich food for our souls. We need to take all of this in and slowly think about it and ask God to show us how it applies to us individually. The text of Psalm 4 is a real soothing balm for our souls. I hope that you are being lifted up by this as I am.
Bob
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