Psalm 4 Come Still the Dawn

"Let the light of your face shine upon us, O Lord."

1 Answer me when I call to you,
O my righteous God.
Give me relief from my distress;
be merciful to me and hear my prayer.
2 How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame [a] ?
How long will you love delusions and seek false gods [b] ?
Selah

3 Know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself;
the LORD will hear when I call to him.

4 In your anger do not sin;
when you are on your beds,
search your hearts and be silent.
Selah

5 Offer right sacrifices
and trust in the LORD.

6 Many are asking, "Who can show us any good?"
Let the light of your face shine upon us, O LORD.

7 You have filled my heart with greater joy
than when their grain and new wine abound.

8 I will lie down and sleep in peace,
for you alone, O LORD,
make me dwell in safety.

The wise and seasoned warrior cries out, “answer me when I call.” Our mightiest plots and noblest schemes are puny miniature battle formations compared to God’s glorious cavalcade. When we call on God, who is our righteousness, He takes tension, anxious wringing hands and troubled hearts into a wide space, and then shows the way to journey through. No man can lament long whose God is the Lord.
Men have always been tempted to worship the seen over the unseen. The gods of this world reap a harvest of worship from babbling fools. Don’t trouble yourself to follow their ways. They speak to stone, and entertain the wind! But know this, God sets apart from the sons of men, holy ones, who do His will. They will invest and reap a reward; they will speak truth and enjoy freedom to soar above the armies of night. God will hear their prayers! But how do I enter into that life of intimacy, where trust grows deep like fall potatoes?
Hold the Lord in holy fear, and do not let sin have dominion in your soul. Meditate in the quiet creases of night. Sense it’s penetrating heat softening your heart to be a conquered muscle trained to conquer in battle. Use the night watches to think upon this awesome God we love. The more we muse, the more we will understand that he wants nothing from us but our redeemed heart. The sacrifices of God are a broken and contrite heart. This is the first and most glorious faith we can possess. All other fruits and virtues flow from this fountain. Make sure that your fountain has its source in the Godhead!
All too often we hear men and women rail against God’s purposes. It reminds me of the story of the man who raced up and down a train platform grieving the loss of his son. He would stop people and ask, “where was God when my son died?” No one could answer him, and so on he ran searching for an answer in the faces of the crowd. Until he came upon an elderly gentleman, whose face radiated peace and calm, and he asked again, where was God when my son died? With a voice hewn through a life of pain and triumph, the old man responded, “I suppose the same place He was when His own son died.”
We will not hear God unless we look up and allow the light of His countenance to shine upon us. Trusting Him involves an act of our will to look up when we want to look to someone, or some thing to still our fears. God is enough! Do this, and the strands of your character will become gladness, peace and deliverance—the gift of sleep for those who know Him.

Am I experiencing a wide path of life, or has it narrowed and made me anxious?

This companion psalm ends the bookends that make up Psalm 3 & 4. Let the words become a part of your daily prayers and devotions. Our adversary cannot stand against the sound of God’s soothing lips pressed against our ear. Listen, He whispers to YOU!