Let’s put this Psalm into the context of one of the modern lawyer/crime stories. It might have been written by David Baldacci or perhaps more likely – John Grisham. The hero is a lawyer, and, believe it or not, he is a good man, who has spent his career fighting crime and evil. But some terrible person – someone high in government or perhaps in the judicial system itself… Some evil person has framed our hero in order to disrupt his prosecution of a huge conspiracy. If he is found guilty he will spend the rest of his life in jail, and his case against the government collapse. The evidence in the case against him has been manipulated so that escape seems impossible. Perhaps, even worse than that, he might actually be murdered once he leaves the courthouse.
Picture our hero standing before the judge, someone before whom he has many argued other cases. And as it turns out, not only do the lawyer and judge know each other, this judge has even been the accused man’s mentor or teacher. The accused lawyer studied under this judge and patterned his life and his legal mind on the decisions and life of the man who is now going to determine his future. The accused has chosen to defend himself, despite the serious nature of the charges against him. Obviously, the drama is intense; we are at the edge of our seats; we can’t put the book down. Let’s make Psalm 4 a summary of our hero’s presentation to the judge.
David basically divides this Psalm into three sections: First, he addresses the COURT, then he CHALLENGES his accusers. Then, in his summation, he reveals the CONDITION of his heart to the court
“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.”
Of course, David has stood before the Lord on many occasions, and he has complete confidence in His wisdom, honesty and justice. He knows that when he calls on Jehovah’s Name, the Judge should give him His utmost attention. But with the charges against him, David is carrying just a tiny bit of doubt, so he begins with a plea. “Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness.”
There may be no more appropriate way to address the Lord than as the “God of our righteousness.” If any man thinks that he can stand before the Lord in his own righteousness, he will loose his case each and every time. David is certainly no different from any other. None of us have any holiness in ourselves. If we do have genuine righteousness, it has been given to us by the grace of God the Judge. The Lord is the source of that righteousness as well as the source of its maintenance. Jehovah is the judge of our righteousness and its primary witness and even the rewarder of righteousness. It really doesn’t matter what charges Satan has framed against us, if we are righteous through the righteous judge, then we are impervious to the verbal onslaught of the wicked one or his wicked associates. The Righteous Judge will always hear our defense, even if there isn’t any substance to it.
Not only does David begin by saying that the Lord is his righteousness, but He is also his “Ebenezer.” “Hitherto thou hast helped me” – you have enlarge me, when I was in that earlier dangerous situation. Earlier, an enemy had trapped the Psalmist in a box canyon; his case looked hopeless. But the Lord sent an earthquake and ripped open the end of that canyon making a way of escape. (Do you like novels where the author manufactures some miraculous escape for the hero? There are times when that sort of thing is so cheesy and flimsy that it is silly. But there are some authors who can do it so well that it fits perfectly into the plot.) Our God not only can, but does have the ability to miraculously move mountains to save His hero.
David makes his plea, “Lord, you are my righteousness and my Saviour, have mercy upon me once again. Not only do I need your deliverance, and that of course, would be an act of mercy and grace. But I know and humbly confess that if you did nothing more than to hear my plea it would be an act of mercy.” This is the introduction to his deference. After he has addressed the Judge, our hero turns his attention to his accusers.
“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.”
His enemies are mere sons of men, not sons of God. That is not to say that the children of God cannot from time to time join the enemy. But when they do they take on the characteristics of natural man – the enemy of truth and righteousness.
Unfortunately for our story, we don’t know the exact charges against David, so we don’t know what he meant by the words “my glory.” “How long will ye turn my GLORY into shame?” Apparently our translators didn’t think he was referring to the Lord, or they would have capitalized “glory.” So maybe David was thinking of his faith, or his soul. Perhaps it was some recent spiritual victory that he had. Maybe he was speaking of his Christian life as a whole. In context of our fictitious story, it might make things interesting to think of the case that he had been building against these wicked politicians. He had been battling for justice and righteousness against enemies of justice – even of the Judge. But his accusers were turning it completely around and making this good man appear to be the criminal.
They, in fact, were promoting “vanity and leasing.” “Vanity,” as a general rule, is often the first choice of the sinful self. For example, we love according to the condition of our hearts, and our hearts are full of vanity. Time after time, the Word of God describes the actions of the sinner by using that word. Psalm 10:4 – “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them. He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity. His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and VANITY.” Ephesians 4:17 – “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the VANITY of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.”
“Leasing” is one of those Biblical words which we constantly need to define, because we don’t use it any longer in our ordinary conversation. For every time the Greek word is translated “leasing,” it is translated “lying” ten times. “Leasing” equals “lying.” And this brings up an interesting feature when it comes to certain trials. In military courts, for example, unless there is clear evidence that a high ranking officer has lied, the lawyer cannot use that word against him. The prosecutor who accuses that officer of lying has himself committed a crime. So the smart lawyer will use a synonym which isn’t quite as offensive. Our hero might have said, “That bunch of hypocritical reprobates have been spreading lies about me,” and every syllable would have been the truth. But at this point in the case, to soften his tone was far more practical and just as effective. “How long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing?”
“But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him.”
“Justice will prevail – it will always prevail.” As I said earlier, David is godly only because the Lord, by grace, has made him godly. This lawyer is the best in the city, because the Judge, his Mentor, has made him that way. He had actually started his career as a slimy street lawyer – an ambulance chaser – a wretched sinner. “There is none righteous, no not one.” But then this Judge found him, changed him, took him under his wing and made a man out of him. Godliness is not the reason that the Lord has set David apart, it is a result of what the Lord has done. And notice that Jehovah has chosen this godly person FOR HIMSELF. Noone has been chosen by God simply in order to be saved from his sin. He hasn’t been elected to travel to heaven like a politician is elected to go to Washington. The godly have been set apart by, and for, the Lord himself. It is for the LORD’S fellowship; for the Lord’s glory; for the Lord’s servic – for the LORD.
It is hard to imagine that this can mean anything less than the Lord’s blessing on His chosen one. Do you remember the historical American flag with the serpent on it? What was the inscription under it? “Don’t tread on me.” It is a mistake to attack the man whom the Lord intends to defend. ”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.”
Our lawyer friend politely challenges his accusers, “Stand in awe and sin not.” It is inconceivable to me that people can vow to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, but then lie in open court. It appears to be a very common thing. And have you ever heard a lawyer ask a witness to give a “yes” or “no” answer to a question and then cut him off if he tries to explain his single-word answer? I have yet to see a witness demand his right to explain his answer based on the promise that he made when he was sworn in – sometimes the whole truth, demands more than a “yes” or “no” answer. David exhorts us all to stand in awe and sin not. To “sin not,” is a very easily understood thought, despite man’s innate desire to deny the existence of sin. David says, “Do not transgress the revealed will of God. And it won’t do you any good to say that you don’t know what the revealed will of God is.” Even in human legal systems, ignorance is no excuse. And the Lord has said, “so then they are without excuse.”
As I say, to sin not, is an easy principle, but it’s importance is elevated when we also understand the “in awe.” It has become very popular in evangelical circles to throw around the words “awe” and “awesome.” It’s a shame that most of those people who use the words, don’t know the Biblical meaning. The word “awe” is “ragaz” and for every time it is translated “awe” it is translated “tremble” twelve times. David is telling his antagonists to tremble in fear and, thus, stop sinning against the Great Judge. They have brought a frivolous lawsuit against an innocent man. They stand in jeopardy of contempt of court. Which in this case means eternal judgment.
“Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.” A person’s bed is one of the most private places in his life. When everyone else is asleep and the world outside is quiet, we can easily picture that there is no one else but ourselves and the Lord. David, the lawyer, says, “Now, just between you and the Lord, forget about what others have said. Forget about your education; your untrustworthy friends and that radical priest of yours. Just between you and God, you know what is true and what is not true. Be still and listen to the beating of your heart, the scratching of your conscience and what you know to be true. Act upon that truth, and drop these ridiculous charges, and plead with the judge for mercy.”
“Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.”
The sacrifices of righteousness require the exclusion of everything human and sinful. You don’t possess anything that would make an acceptable sacrifice before this Judge. There is only one righteous sacrifice, and that was made on Calvary by the Judge Himself. And the only way to offer this righteous sacrifice is by trusting the Lord to do it on our behalf. David is giving his opponents an evangelical exhortation.
“There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.”
This begins the third division of David’s defense. He turns once again toward his Judge. “A lot of people have been laughing at my faith in Your good judgment, Lord. They say that if justice was to fall upon me, I would be crushed by it. But I have offered the sacrifices of righteousness; my trust is in Your grace. I will see good.” “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”
“Lord, I humbly beseech You to lift up the light of your countenance upon me – smile upon me, Lord.”
“Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.”
“My opponents boast about their wealth and earthly blessings – of their power and their friends in high places. But I look back on your grace toward me, and my joy is greater than anything that they currently possess. I would rather have my (our) righteousness and a clean conscience than all the wealth that they have.”
This word “gladness” is translated “joy” more often than it is “gladness.”
“I will both lay me down in peace, AND sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.”
As David’s closing arguments wind down, he says, “And in conclusion your honour: I leave this matter in your hands. I will go home now, and when it’s time to pillow my head, once again, I will sleep peacefully. Because I know that you, and only you, can make me to dwell in safety. Justice will prevail – the Divine justice that is coupled to Divine grace through the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Despite the fact that you and I are sinners, because we have surrendered ourselves to God, the Judge of Heaven and Earth, we have been declared righteous in His sight. When we come to the end of the day, or the end of our lives, we know that we will enter into the home of our Judge. We will have access to Him through the merits and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf.