Give It to The Lord

Friends, grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. So today, I want to walk through Psalm 4. If you're a note-taker, grab your bulletin or open up to Psalm 4 in your Bible. We're just going to walk through this Psalm because it gives us a way to pray, a way to pray for peace and joy. It's also an invitation to bring whatever you have to the Lord in prayer, like we just sang, 'Take it to the Lord in prayer.' Psalm 4 invites us to take whatever is distressful or difficult in our lives and give it to the Lord in prayer.

So, if you're at Psalm 4, let's read verse 1 together. Ready? It begins with, 'Answer me.' Let's read it together: 'Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.' Let's stop there. Notice what the psalmist does right away. Each Psalm is a prayer, like the Lord's prayer book inviting you to pray. And notice, he says, 'Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness.' He invokes his own righteousness. He doesn't just say, 'Hey God, you're wonderful,' though he is. He draws God's attention to his own righteousness, a gift from God. Righteousness means being in a right relationship. So, he's saying, 'Lord, you've put me in a right relationship with you.'

He also invokes what God has done in the past, saying, 'You have given me relief when I was in distress.' He points to God's past actions. You can even talk about who God is and what he's done for others, in the Bible, in history, in your own life, and the promises he's made for the future. He invokes God's character, saying, 'Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.' He's asking God to keep being the giver, the one who listens.

Friends, Psalm 4 is teaching you how to pray boldly, not meekly, but to call out who God is and what he's done for you. Say, 'Look God, I know you love me because you've made me righteous. I know you did all those things in the Bible, and you've done things for me, and you make these big promises. I know the kind of God you are, the God who does good things for his people and listens to them.' Pray boldly, bring your distress to the Lord. Call it what it is. If there's something bad, say, 'This is not how it should be,' and give it to the Lord.

That brings us to verses 2 and 3. Let's read them together: 'O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him.' The focus shifts, doesn't it? It's no longer addressing the Lord, but these other people, 'O men.'

Here's the problem with being a Christian, someone who prays: the world sees God's people and it looks like they have nothing. The world values big houses, cars, toys, money. They see the faithful who don't consider that as what brings joy, and it looks like we have nothing. The truth is, the world has given up on the Lord in their distress. They chase after emptiness and lies, and they shame the faithful. They turn our honor into shame.

But, the psalmist says, we know the truth: Yahweh, our Lord God, sets apart the godly for his delight and favor. We know what's important. We know what God does for us. We know the true source of joy. There's this contrast between the worldly and godly ways of looking at things. And look how the psalmist ends: 'The Lord hears when I call to him.' It's almost like he's saying, 'Hey, you better watch out, I've got a superpower, I can pray!' It's like he's threatening his enemies with prayer.

If you've ever been a little brother or sister, and someone's picking on you, you might say, 'I'm going to tell my big brother!' My God is bigger than you, I can pray! It might be the world, suffering, distress, hardship, Satan himself, and guess what, dear Christian, you can threaten them right back with prayer.

Verses 4 and 5: 'Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord.' Whereas verses 2 and 3 talked about the world despairing, chasing emptiness, because they feel God won't hear them, the faithful don't despair. They pray with hope in the Lord. Now, verses 4 and 5 call people to repentance.

There are two ways to take these verses. One, the psalmist is talking to the worldly, calling them to repentance. 'Be angry, and do not sin' can also be translated as 'tremble.' Tremble under God's power, stop sinning, lie awake in bed repenting, remember who God is, his promises, his love. Righteousness comes from him. The psalmist calls them to make right sacrifices, to have faith in the cross, in a relationship healed by trust. So, pray for the world to see the light.

The other way to take it is talking about us. 'Be angry' can also mean be angry about the distress in God's world. See how sin ruins our world, how death has its tentacles throughout our lives, sickness, disease. Be angry about the state of who we are and God's world, but 'do not sin.' Don't express that anger sinfully. Pray angry. Take that anger and give it to the Lord, ponder it in the light of God and his promises. Trust in the Lord, have faith in his cross, know God promises to heal all things, make all things new. Don't despair, give it to the Lord. Repent, turn away, turn toward the Lord.

Verses 6 and 7: 'There are many who say, "Who will show us some good?" Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord! You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.' Here's why you repent, turn to the Lord, pray angry, take your distress to the Lord: the alternative is to settle for vanity, emptiness, what the world offers out of distress, distractions, numbness. Netflix, ice cream, they speak to our sinful nature. We despair, find things to distract us.

The world sarcastically says, 'Who will show us some good?' It's mocking, a challenge, not a genuine prayer. They define good in worldly terms. God is only useful if he grants them happiness on their terms. But we're invited to pray, give our difficulties to the Lord. He promises to put joy in our hearts. Joy is a gift, repentance brings joy. You have more joy than when their grain and wine abound. Grain and wine bring momentary happiness, but the Lord gives joy no matter what. Joy is detached from circumstances, a gift of the Lord.

Verse 8: 'In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.' How do you sleep at night? Not because of a great mattress, but because you give it to the Lord. It's not your problem anymore. You call distress what it is, give it to the Lord, sleep well. You know God sets you apart, hears you, gives you safety, even in death. You know God will make all things right. You sleep well because you have peace and joy, more than grain and wine. You're plugged into the source, a right relationship with God.

Jesus prays each Psalm with us, and each Psalm is about Jesus. St. Augustine took this Psalm as a prophecy of Jesus' death and resurrection. Verse 8, 'In peace I will both lie down and sleep,' Jesus prayed as he breathed his last breath, buried in the deep sleep of death on Good Friday. He knew himself safe in God's goodness and promises.

Psalm 4 teaches us how to pray. In Christ, we boldly invoke who God is for us, our relationship with him, what he has done. We don't pray in despair like the world, looking for numbness. We pray giving our distresses, sufferings, sins to the Lord, praying for God's goodness. We pray dwelling safely in his peace and joy. Amen.