No worries, mate

No worries, mate.

Psalm 4. Cum invocarem.

HEAR me when I call, O God of my righteousness: * thou hast set me at liberty when I was in trouble; have mercy upon me, and hearken unto my prayer.

2 O ye sons of men, how long will ye blaspheme mine honour, * and have such pleasure in vanity, and seek after falsehood? Selah

3 Know this also, that the LORD hath chosen to himself the man that is godly; * when I call upon the LORD he will hear me.

4 Stand in awe, and sin not; * commune with your own heart, and in your chamber, and be still. Selah

5 Offer the sacrifice of righteousness, * and put your trust in the LORD.

6 There be many that say, * Who will show us any good?

7 LORD, lift thou up* the light of thy countenance upon us.

8 Thou hast put gladness in my heart; * yea, more than when their corn and wine and oil increase.

9 I will lay me down in peace, and take my rest; * for it is thou, LORD, only, that makest me dwell in safety.

For the director of music: with stringed instruments. A psalm of David.

We can’t be sure what, but something is troubling the psalmist, whoever he/she is and whenever he/she wrote. Something offensive is going on. A personal lament, it’s not penitential but perhaps was originally an evening prayer in which the psalmist chides his adversaries before God and comes out feeling better, confident, peaceful.

That at some point it is a congregational hymn is evidenced by the fact that there are directions for the musician, and that “selah” appears after verses 2 and 4. (We don’t know what “selah” meant, but it may have been a musical cue).

The psalm is attributed to David, and may have concerned the time when he was in refuge from king Saul or later when he was fleeing from his son Absolom. 

For us, the psalm is a prayer, a song of glad confidence that no matter what is going on with us, God loves us, God is on our side. Of that we may be assured, and we can sleep peacefully tonight faithful that God is with us. 

TW+ 

P.S. Psalm 4, for Sunday, April 22, 2012, Third Sunday of Easter, Year B, Translation: Coverdale Psalter. Why this lament is appointed for a Sunday of Easter beats me. Maybe because it follows the Acts reading in which Peter and John are being abused. It cannot reasonably have been appointed because of the lame man they healed, because he isn't even in the appointed portion of the reading. Maybe we can figure it out in Sunday school.