“[To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm of David.] 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. 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.” (Psalm 4:1–2)
David was being insulted and slandered by people. But before trying to prove his righteousness to them, David first went to God.
“Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness.”
David entrusted the final judgment of whether he was right or wrong not to people but to God. And he remembered how God had helped him in the past. The confession “thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress” carries the sense that God had opened up a wide space for him in a narrow, confined place. David remembered the God who had opened a way when no way was visible, and he sought His mercy once again.
David’s Adversaries: The Condition of Humanity Apart from God
Those who opposed David turned his glory into shame, loved vain things, and pursued lies. People who have turned away from God display the same characteristics.
Just as the Israelites, seeing that Moses was slow to come down from Mount Sinai, made a golden calf and called it the god who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, those who turn from God exchange the glory of the incorruptible God for images of corruptible man, birds, animals, and creeping things (Romans 1:23).
Moreover, because they love money, fame, power, and pleasure more than God, they forsake God, the fountain of living water, and dig broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
Not only that, but just as Adam and Eve followed the serpent’s lie, “Ye shall not surely die,” rather than God’s word, “thou shalt surely die,” they love falsehood more than truth.
As a result, Romans 1:28 says:
“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.”
God Has Chosen the Godly
Though God gave those who do evil over to their reprobate minds, He did not abandon them to the point of destruction. Just as God chose David and established him as king for the people of Israel, He established Jesus as the Savior of all people.
“But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him. Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.” (Psalm 4:3–4)
The word “godly” here is the Hebrew hasid (חָסִיד), which refers first of all to David, whom God had set apart for Himself. But David, chosen by God and established as king, foreshadows Jesus Christ, the true King whom God would establish.
Tremble, and Do Not Sin
David, chosen by God, warns those who oppose him: “Stand in awe, and sin not.” He tells them not to recklessly oppose the one whom God has established, but to fear God and turn from sin.
This warning is even more solemn when it comes to Christ. To oppose Jesus, whom God in His mercy toward humanity has established as Savior, is to despise and disregard the God who has shown mercy to us.
So David tells them not to act on their intense emotions, but to examine their hearts on their beds at night and be still before God.
Offer the Sacrifices of Righteousness
“Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.” (Psalm 4:5)
David tells those who opposed him to turn from sin, offer sacrifices pleasing to God, and trust in the LORD. The “sacrifices of righteousness” here do not simply mean observing the outward form of sacrifice. They refer to proper sacrifices offered with a heart that believes in God and obeys His will.
Samuel also said to King Saul:
“Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” (1 Samuel 15:22)
What God desires is not only the form of sacrifice but a heart that believes in Him and obeys His Word. Just as those who opposed David, whom God had established, needed to turn to God and trust in Him, we too must believe in Jesus Christ, whom God has established as Savior, and obey His Word.
Lift Up the Light of Your Countenance upon Us
“There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? 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. I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.” (Psalm 4:6–8)
To those who say, “Who will bring us something good?”, David says to God, “LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.” David knew better than anyone that when God shows grace, our hearts are filled with a joy the world cannot give. Moreover, he knew that even his ability to lie down and sleep in peace came from God, who made him dwell in safety.
So David urges people not to chase only the good things the world offers, but to seek the face of God, the source of all true joy and peace.