Psalm 4. You have filled my heart with greater joy | Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Psalm 4

1Answer me when I call to you,

O my righteous God.

Give me relief from my distress;

be merciful to me and hear my prayer.

2How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame?

How long will you love delusions and seek false gods? Selah

3Know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself;

the LORD will hear when I call to him.

David, slandered, remembers and reminds his enemies that those who seek God are under his special protection. The Lord will hear their requests

4In your anger do not sin;

when you are on your beds,

search your hearts and be silent. Selah

5Offer right sacrifices

and trust in the LORD.

Anger is an emotion, and it is futile to tell people not to feel an emotion which they do feel. So what do we do with our anger? David counsels the sinned-against not to let their anger lead to sin. Just as Jesus told his followers to first remove the log from their own eyes before taking out their speck from their brothers’ eyes, David suggests that, when angry, we search our hearts and be silent.

Anger gives one tremendous energy, but it, generally, is powerless to change hearts. So the counsel of the Psalmist is to use the charge and dangerous energy of anger to search our own hearts, and to see if we have ever sinned in the same or similar ways, or at all. And to repent and change our lives, rather than impotently fume.

And to trust in the goodness, creativity and power of God. We have all known injustice and evil triumph in the short run, but God can bring beauty out of ashes. And so we trust him.

I had written about this before
http://theoxfordchristian.blogspot.com/2010/08/in-your-anger-do-not-sin.html
Hmm. Not do not be angry (impossible, when you are a woman of unclean lips, living amidst a people of unclean lips), but do not sin.
How? Turn your focus away from the occasion of anger. Examine yourself. Have I ever, ever done what is making me fume, or done something like it? Why? Search your heart. Repent. Be quiet until you have perspective.

All this requires so much more self-control than venting, but it is more productive, and positive. Venting our anger is highly unlikely to change the other person (though praying for both of you might well do so). But searching our hearts, trying to understand the hidden motives and fears of our own hearts, and what makes us tick, may well produce lasting change.

It’s useful to use our annoyance with another person as a trigger to examine our own hearts, and repent. In Jesus’ metaphor, when the temptation to remove specks becomes overwhelming, first clear your own log-pile.

6Many are asking, “Who can show us any good?”

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

7You have filled my heart with greater joy

than when their grain and new wine abound.

Amid widespread despair, God shows David the light of his face. He fills David with joy, so much so that he ecstatically says, “You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound.”

8I will lie down and sleep in peace,

for you alone, O LORD,

make me dwell in safety.

The Psalms are often an intense wrestle of the spirit with God, and they end in a movement of resolution and peace.

David has decided to trust God, though surrounded by very real enemies. Yet he lies down and sleeps in peace. His safety is in God’s hands, and that is a very good place for it to be.