Psalm 4

We know that King David went through various and difficult trials throughout his lifetime. If you were a king in a monarchy, the only way someone else could be king was if you gave it up, or if you died. Absalom, King David's son, wanted the throne and he was willing to have David killed if it mean he could become king. Can you imagine that trial? Not only did Absalom want to be king in his father's place, he wanted him dead. And he gained other followers who went against King David. This was possibly David's circumstance as he wrote this psalm. There's also a hint of the lack of plentiful food... perhaps a famine.

This is not a simple trial that David is speaking about. As we study this text tonight, no that nothing I say is meant to make lightly of your trial. It is not easy to go through pain and suffering. It is not easy to be depressed. I know that. But David is speaking of a terrible trial. He is speaking from his own experience. And the wisdom that he gives us comes from God.

If there's no joy and peace for you in your trial, then you should pay attention to David and how he responds to his trial. Learn from David and imitate his responses. Tonight I want to offer 4 ways David responded to trial because he knew that the Lord alone made him live in safety.

Do you see that in verse 1? He prays to God.

When you're going through a trial you should pray to God. Now, this seems simple enough. We all know this right? We ought to pray to God. But how often do we say we're going to pray and then don't. How often do we know we ought to pray and not? The response isn't knowing that you should pray, but actually praying.

What do you do when you a trial comes to your life? What are you tempted to do? My first response to pain is not to pray but to take a pill. I was confronted with this reality when I was in Africa was malaria. The people I was with didn't have direct and immediate access to pain relievers. They couldn't just think, "Oh I have a headache. Let me go get some Tylenol." When I asked for some medicine because I was feeling terrible, the African pastors were happy to get me some, but their first response was that we needed to pray for relief.

In my sinful nature, prayer is not what I do first. If I have a problem I Google it. No need to wait on God to answer a prayer, Google gives me answers immediately! What's your first instinct when something goes wrong? Do you call your friend? That one you always call immediately and gives you comfort. Do you go get ice cream and eat your sorrows away?

When you hear the bad news sometime in the future, don't go first to pills, or food, or beer, or friends, or families. Go to God in prayer! He's the one you need. He's the one who can give you the answer you need. He is the one who can do something about it. And what a great relationship we Christians have with God through Jesus Christ! We have been brought into God's family by the blood of Jesus. When we call to the Father in prayer, He hears us because we belong to Him.

David prayed to God in the midst of his trial. But not only did he pray, he also examined himself.

Look at verse 4: "Be angry and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent."

In verses 4-5 David is exhorting others to respond appropriately to their trials. There were others with David who weren't responding in the right way. Some commentators think that these others started going after and worshiping other gods (v. 2). Some were beginning to believe the lies about the foreign gods. Baal was a fertility god. Perhaps, if they worshiped and offered sacrifices to Baal, their land would be healed and they would be safe.

You don't tell someone to do what you're not trying to do yourself. So David is encouraging these men to respond to this trial as he does. He examined himself.

A better translation of verse 4 is "Tremble and do not sin." It is the idea of trembling before the Lord and forsaking your sin. "Ponder in your own hearts on your beds and be silent."

This verse addresses two common mistakes we make when we're in the midst of our trials. 1) Thinking that we are completely innocent. 2) Speaking wrong things about God.

We've all heard the question "Why do bad things happen to good people?" Maybe though, a more fitting and relevant question is "Why do good things happen to bad people?"

We all ask the question many many times each day, "How are you doing today?" or "How's it going?" Whenever CJ Mahaney gets this question he answers "Better than I deserve." Would you be able to honestly give that answer and believe it? Or do you believe you deserve better?

You see, the Bible paints a terrible picture of what we all deserve. The truth is that we each deserve punishment in hell... where, as the Bible says, the worm never dies and the flames are never quenched. Not one of us has deserved the last breath of air we took. Not one of us has deserved the last bite of good food we ate. Because of our sin, we deserve eternal death and suffering.

Yet God gives us grace! Grace after grace after grace... gift after gift He blesses us. Why do good things happen to us bad people? Because of God's grace in the face of Jesus Christ.

Your suffering may not be directly linked with some sin you've committed. It wasn't in the case of Job. It wasn't in the case of the blind man Jesus healed. It may not be in your case either. But each of us can be sure that we are doing better than we deserve.

Along with thinking we're completely innocent in our trials, we may be tempted to speak wrong things about God. When we're in the midst of suffering we don't think clearly. We mix things up. Sometimes we even begin to think wrong and unbiblical things. We may think or say that God is unfair. Maybe we say He is absent or unloving. David's exhortation for this is simple: Ponder in your own heart and be silent.

And whatever the reason for your trial, God wants to use it for good. He wants you to grow from your suffering. He wants you to learn from it. He wants to use it to help you identify sin in your heart. He wants to use it to get a bigger understanding of who He is. Therefore, in your trial examine yourself.

In David's trial he prayed to God, he examined himself, and third, he worshiped God.

In verse 5 David tells the others to "offer right sacrifices." The problem was that they were going after other gods. Perhaps they had gone as far as sacrificing to Baal, the fertility god, in hopes that they would have a good harvest. They worshiped God when things were going well. But when it seemed like worshiping God wasn't "working" anymore, they tried worshiping other gods.

Now, I think this is a very real danger for us today here in the 21st century. And the danger has to do with how we view worship. Do we view worship as something we give to God so that He will give us good things in return? Do we view worship as a bargaining tool? We go to church, we give our money, we sing to Him, we read our Bibles... and He's supposed to give us health, comfort, and security in return, right? Isn't that the way it works?

No, we don't worship God because of what He can give us. We don't worship God because He guarantees we'll have an easy life if we do. We worship God because He is God! He is worthy of our worship! He is worthy of praise!

But sometimes when you're in pain and suffering you won't feel like worshiping God much. You'll feel like moping. You'll feel like sleeping. You'll feeling like doing anything and everything except worshiping God. That's what the devil would have us do. But you must worship even in the midst of your weeping.

David did that. He worshiped God by offering right sacrifices. So, how do you worship God in the midst of trial? How should we offer right sacrifices? In Psalm 51:17, David tells us: The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

As you go through your trial read your Bible, go to church, pray, sing praises to God, give your money for His work... but above all humbly offer yourself to Him. Offer your broken spirit up to Him, acknowledging He is your only hope.

In David's trial he prayed, examined himself, worshiped God, and finally he put his trust in God.

And this ultimately is where we will have to question ourselves. Who or what are we trusting in? The other people who were with David began to move their trust away from God. That will be our temptation too.

Have you ever said or heard someone say, Yes, I trust God, but if He could just give us a ray of hope, then we'd be okay. Yes, I trust God, but if He could just give us a sign or something, then we could really trust Him. Yes, I trust God, but why would He allow this to happen?

It doesn't really matter what follows the "but". If we truly put our trust in God, we'd know and believe that He's got us covered. He is good. He is righteous. He is all-powerful. He knows what He's doing, even when we have no idea.

Let me point out what I think is the problem here. We don't really trust God, but we want people to think we do. We say we trust God and His goodness and His perfect plan. But secretly we're worried that His good plan doesn't jibe with what we want to happen. That's not trusting God! That looks to others like we're trusting Him, but inwardly we want our will to be done and not God's.

Trusting God means that you know He's good, you know He's righteous, you know He's got a  perfect plan and you're going worship Him, love Him, proclaim Him, pray to Him, and tell others about His goodness no matter what happens. Trusting God means saying, Lord not what I will, but Your will be done, and being satisfied with that. Trust Him! He is trustworthy! You can bank your hope in Him!

David trusted that his safety was upheld only by God (verse 8). "You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." We think that locks on our doors are what make us safe. We think that our IRA's are what keep us safe. We think that have a lot of family around is what makes us safe. We think that having yearly doctor appointments are what keep us safe. We think medicine is what keeps us safe. These things can be helpful.

But if God isn't with us there is no safety! If God won't help us nothing will! If God won't save us no one will!

But He is with us. He will help us. He will save us. The Lord alone makes us live in safety. David knew that. And that's how David could lay his head down at night and sleep... no security system... no locked doors.... It didn't matter. He had God and God was all he needed. He could lie down and go to sleep in peace.

David's knowledge that God was all the safety he needed gave him great joy and great peace (verse 7). "You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound." Can you say that? Do you have joy in the midst of pain? Do you have joy in what seems like hopelessness?

You may be thinking, Yeah but David was an extraordinary Christian, a super-Christian. I'm nothing. I can't do that. But let me remind you that David was a lot like us... prone to wander off and sin... capable of great evil (like adultery, like murder). It wasn't necessarily the strength of David's faith that got him through these tough times. It was the strength and grace of his God!

And remember the great, great, great, great, great grandson of David. His name is Jesus. He came to this world as a humble servant. He was completely innocent and deserved only worship and praise. Yet He gave up the safety He had with the Father in all eternity to suffer and die. He went through the trial of all trials... the worst suffering of all time. 

Yet in His trial Jesus didn't doubt His Father, but perfectly trusted Him. He didn't sin in anger, but He waited patiently in silence. He didn't curse. Instead, He poured out blessings, saying, "Father forgive them for the don't know what they're doing." And He didn't go after or worship other gods. Instead, He offered the perfect sacrifice... His own blood... His own life on the cross. Anyone who now repents of his sin and trusts in Jesus will be saved. Because Jesus took the bad He didn't deserve, we can get the good that we don't deserve.

Jesus is the reason you can endure this trial. He gave up peace so you could have it. He gave up comfort so you could have it. He gave up His life so you could have eternal life. Look to Jesus in your trial. Christ alone makes us live in safety. Run to Him to give you peace and joy during this trial.

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