God Helps People, If/When They Ask. So Ask (Psalm 4:1-8) Series

Today's psalm, Psalm 4, is a psalm of confidence. And what this means, is that this is a psalm that God has given to his people for when life is hard. It's designed to help you pray to God, and give voice to your problems. But the other thing that psalms of confidence are designed to do, is move you, when you pray them. Psalms, in general, are designed to leave you in a different place after praying them than when you started. You come out of them feeling differently about God, and the world, and yourself. The reason this psalm is called a "psalm of confidence" is because this is a psalm that's designed to give you a boost of confidence. Not in yourself, but in your God.

Verse 1 (in Hebrew) is the heading (following Hebrew numbering, sorry):

(1) Of/For the leader/director with stringed instruments. A psalm of/for David.

This heading doesn't necessarily mean that David wrote the psalm. The preposition "of/for" can mean this. But it could also mean that the psalm was written for David, or for David's collection. We simply don't know.

So when we read Psalm 4-- or another other psalm-- it would be a mistake to dig through David's life and try to come up with a historical context for when it was written. (1) We can't even be sure David wrote it. (2) It's inspiration doesn't depend on who wrote it. (3) The psalms came to be used in Israel's wider worship, and were used by everyone. In the psalms, it's the text that matters, and not the author.

In verse 2, the psalmist opens his prayer with a call to God, to get his attention (an "invocation"). Many psalms start this way-- they have a brief description of trouble, and an opening call to God. These openings are designed to get God's attention. It's like we are waving our hands over our heads, looking up to the heavens, and saying, "God! Hear me! See me! Help me!"

Verse 2:

(2) When I call, answer me, my righteous God.

In the tight/narrow place, make space for me.

Be gracious to me,

and hear my prayer.

When we find ourselves facing difficulties, what do we need? What we need, is for God to answer us when we call to him. We need God to hear us when we pray. There are times in life where God seems very far from us. We pray on our beds, or wherever, and it feels like our prayers bounce off the walls. They don't make it all the way to God. God doesn't hear them.

Now, sometimes we feel this way, and we know, objectively, that this is true. We are living wickedly toward God, and God is hiding his face from us. Deuteronomy 31:15-18:

15 Then the LORD appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood over the entrance to the tent. 16 And the LORD said to Moses: “You are going to rest with your ancestors, and these people will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them. 17 And in that day I will become angry with them and forsake them; I will hide my face from them, and they will be destroyed. Many disasters and calamities will come on them, and in that day they will ask, ‘Have not these disasters come on us because our God is not with us?’ 18 And I will certainly hide my face in that day because of all their wickedness in turning to other gods.

If we are living in unrepentant sin, seeking other gods, we shouldn't assume that God listens to us when we ask him for help. It may be, objectively, that He has shut his eyes to us, and closed his ears, until we repent.

But at other times, we know we have been living rightly toward God. We have been loyally serving God. We have been keeping our half of the covenant. That's where this psalmist is. And so what he wants, and needs, is very simple. "When I call, answer me, my righteous God."

Now, when the psalmist says, "my righteous God," what does this mean? We tend to think of "righteousness" in terms of a legal standard. It's like a ruler we have to measure up to. But "righteousness," in both the OT and NT, is a relational word. To be righteous is to act rightly toward someone within an existing relationship (Genesis 38:26; 1 Samuel 24:17). And so when the psalmist calls God, "my righteous God," the psalmist is affirming his confidence that his God-- our God-- is a God who acts rightly toward his people. God is faithful; God is committed to you. He can be trusted. He is the kind of God who, when you call to him, will answer.