Psalms 4 NKJV
The safety of the Faithful
“Be angry and do not sin” (verse 4) – I can feel the emotions I feel because if I ignore it and don’t acknowledge the root I will be stuck in a plane of trying to understand my flesh. I already know the flesh battles against the spirit to win1, but God gave me authority!2 Acknowledge what you feel, but do not sin by letting it control you.3 When I focus on what I don’t have or I get angry with someone, I am allowing a cloud to come and make my eyes blurry. I stop seeing what I have and compare myself.4
God hates that because He gave me everything5 and wants me to see that! When I get angry with someone I am not loving them the same way Jesus loved me or the way I love myself. When I do something bad, I feel awful and beg God to forgive me and His word says if I forgive then HE will forgive me!6 I love being forgiven because it shows how God loves me no matter what. And I know He forgives me because He has said it. A lot of things in the Bible that I am trying to see is unseen. So sometimes its hard to believe God did something or does act on what the Word says.
For example, I struggled with believing that He truly loves me. I can’t physically see that love. But when I followed His commandments and Word, like forgiving others, I saw His love for me get manifested into my life.7 So when I do something the Word says, His promises start being clear to me. Going back to the verse, God says you can feel emotions. However, its a mistake to hold onto those emotions because emotions lead to thoughts which lead to actions. Actions that sometimes commit sin and sin separated us from God which He does not want because it hurts our soul, our spirit, even the Holy Spirit. Yes, sin makes the Holy Spirit grieve.8 God lives in us even if we have not yet received Christ, HE still watches us, the word says He watches over the strangers.9
“Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still” (verse 4) – He says get to the root of why you feel this way and talk to me! God lives inside our hearts, He is asking me, “please talk to me.”10 David even says on your bed, like he wants us to know we can feel comfortable talking with God, in an environment that doesn’t have to be church or some fancy place, it could be as simple as a bed. David also knows from God that once you have talked with God, He will reveal why you truly feel a certain way. Sometimes its a hard truth to find out why. I discover I am selfish. I discover I am weak. But all the weakness and darkness of myself turns weightless when I hand it over to God. When I listen to what He then says about me. When I believe what He says about me. Then peace which surpasses my understanding belongs to me.11
“Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And put your trust in the Lord” (verse 5) – I struggle with feeling worthy and being alone. I struggle with accepting my life as simple. I struggle with being alone and feeling like I go through life alone. My flesh desires for so many things, so many worthless things when I see the desires through God’s eyes.
I want fame. I want to be acknowledged. I want to be seen and clapped by men. I want to be surrounded constantly by people to never feel alone. I want to be selfish. I want to feel in control of everything all the time because I freak out at everything. God tells me to put all my desires on the cross. He asks me to let it all go. This is a sacrifice of righteousness. I pray a prayer many times, “Please turn my eyes away from worthless things”12. Desires, even better, the emotions of the flesh are worthless.
The flesh fights my spirit, the Spirit of God. When I dive deep into why I desire such selfish things it’s because I am insecure in myself. It’s because I have not yet believed God loves me. It’s because I think I am nothing. When God tells me I am everything. When He says He has called me by name and crowns me with lovingkindness13 and has found me precious in His eyes. I have to understand that THE GOD OF CREATION< THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA14> He wants me. HE loves me. I am everything in everything. That fundamental truth is what David exhorts us to believe.
“There are many who say, ‘Who will show us any good?’ ” (verse 6) – when I read this I think of us. We are constantly wondering what’s next? What can fill us and satisfy a part of us. I think it goes back to a question I believe is true for all humans: What will fill the part of me that is looking for purpose?
“Lord, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us” (verse 6) – David is asking God to reveal His face onto humanity.15 I ask too because when we see what God covers and what He means, there comes so much revelation about ourselves. God brings purpose. He brings love and meaning. He brings truth instead of lies and influence. He is not an influence because He is truth. He brings clarity instead of confusion. HE is light that brightens every darkness.
“You have put gladness in my heart, More than in the season that their grain and wine increased” (verse 7) – I think about jealousy. I’ve been seeing a lot social media lately, Korean skincare, K-dramas, fashion posts about famous people all over the world. And as I scroll I compare myself subconsciously. I buy the products that I do hope will help my skin, but then I click on their profile and realize how pretty and glamorous someone else’s life is. I see their clothes are designer or well matched and put together and I compare my closet, my body.
I don’t want to tell myself, “well they struggle with things too, they aren’t perfect”. I don’t want to lower the value of their life. I don’t want to tell myself something that will make me feel better. I think the only thought process that relieves me from comparing myself while also not bringing the famous person down is thanking God for what we both have. I want to thank You God for the people I see on social media, because You have blessed them. You’ve given them their own blessings, fruits, values, and peace. I pray for their peace and well being. And I also thank You for the blessings and joys and peace You have given me. You have put gladness in my heart for the next person and for me.
And even when I see someone have something I don’t or I see something that makes me feel less, You put more gladness in my heart. When I get jealous, I pray that You help me stop and ask myself why? Will I let a material object or even something that is not me effect and distort my self image? When You constantly tell me I am everything and have everything? When I compare my body and think about an ED, do those thoughts that are of bad and not of good become more powerful that what You say? You say, “For I know the thoughts that I hold toward you, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a hope and a future.”16
I could dump a whole bunch of words, but its worthless because it all carries the same fundamental idea: someone else’s success or someone else’s life is not mine to carry. This isn’t a negative connotation at all because I value both my life and the next person’s. He created everyone differently, so our lives are supposed to be different. You can ask yourself well why was I born like this and born into this? And the next person born into better circumstances? Because God wants to do something with whatever you are carrying. You and many others carry the same circumstance and He wants to make you a vessel17 and instrument that will reach people who cannot understand the same questions you are asking yourselves.18 When you give God His place in your life, every question has an answer. A clear, definite, beautiful answer. So when I’m jealous I return here.
“I will both lie down in peace, and sleep” (verse 8) – not only will I have peace, I will rest in it. Because He promises a rest that comes only from Him19 and never from ourselves or anyone else. It’s a sweetness, sweeter than honey.20
”For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety” (verse 8) – jealousy and thoughts of worthlessness are scary. I struggle with so many dark thoughts that I know will lead to pure darkness, so I fight like crazy to believe in the One who makes me dwell in safety. I am so tired and irritated with satan trying to make people believe that darkness is normal. That jealousy is an emotion that is naturally overpowering. That our instant thoughts define who we are. HECK NO!
All thoughts arise from a root. I think it’s the same place trying to find meaning. The emotions are just layers from that root and the only thing that can reveal truth to those roots is God. Those roots can rest in God’s safety and satan knows that, so he fights LIKE CRAZY to get us to believe and look at nonsense. And for some this paper will be nonsense. I am so tired of people living in a pain that does not pertain to them. YOU DO NOT BELONG IN FEAR< IN NOTHING DARK> because God even watches over the strangers. Even if you haven’t known God, He still watches over you. When you start looking at Him, and see what HE sees in you, I promise you will cry. But it will be the first cry where you satisfy those roots21, where you look at yourself in beauty and understand that what you feel in that very moment is alive and true.
Amen.
Index
1- Galatians 5: 17 NLT
2- 2 Timothy 1: 7 AMP
3- Genesis 4: 7 NLT
4- Galatians 6: 4 NKJV
5- Romans 8: 32 NLT
6- Mathew 6: 14 NLT
7- Acts of the Apostles 14: 3 NLT
8- Ephesians 4: 30 NLT
9- Psalms 146: 9 NLT
10- Psalms 27: 8 NLT
11- Philippians 4: 7 NKJV
12- Psalms 119: 37 NKJV
13- Psalms 103: 4 NKJV
14- Revelations 22: 13 NKJV
15- 2 Corinthians 4: 6 NLT
16- Jeremiah 29: 11 NKJV
17- Isaiah 43: 21 NKJV
18- 2 Corinthians 1: 4 NLT
19- John 14: 27 NLT
20- Psalms 19: 7-10 ESV
21- Isaiah 58: 11 ESV