Reflections on Psalm 4

Looking at the psalm in whole, I see the following of God.

1) God hears everything, and will respond when we need / desire His response.

One thing that comes to mind is how some people can ask "Where is God", but live like they don't care to know the answer, or they don't expect God to respond. Such a perspective will keep us from seeing God and how He responds to our needs. While it's true that God is not limited by our perspectives, He does take into consideration what we want, and if we question him but aren't really seeking a response from Him, it is unlikely that we will see any.

2) God does not tolerate sin, but He also prefers transparency to pretense.

This is regards to v. 4 - "In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent."

The phrase "do not sin" is so hard to abide with. Ever noticed how sin always starts off with some emotion, one that is usually not pleasant to experience? Speaking of sin itself, I always think back to the 10 commandments, which comprehensively cover all the ways we might sin, and how avoiding sin sometimes feels like the Chinese idiom 十面埋伏 (literally means "ambushed on 10 sides").

So it is a great relief to know that with God, it is okay to feel all the emotions which eventually lead to sin and be honest about them.

I personally feel that God gave us such capacity for emotions not so that we might sin, but for higher / better purposes. Looking at David, as the supposed author of this psalm and many others, one such purpose could possibly be to help us discover more of God and see His promises fulfilled. Throughout the psalms, David's emotional expressiveness really brings out the reality of God's presence in his own life.

3) God gives abundantly.

It occurred to me that only after we have set down and detailed the full extent of our desires and expectations, can we know what abundance we receive from God. I had a good laugh reading the last two verses of The Message version (quoted below), which also serves as a reminder why do I have any faith in God at all about how much He loves me - because I have seen Him answer my requests, although not always in the way I expected - and that gives me reason to expect that He will continue to do so in my life.

"I have God's more-than-enough,
More joy in one ordinary day
Than they get in all their shopping sprees.
At day's end I'm ready for sound sleep,
For you, God, have put my life back together."