Our scripture reading tonight comes from Psalm 4, Psalm 4. I'll read the eight verses of Psalm 4. Let us give our attention to the reading of God's own Word. Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness. You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer. O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself. The Lord hears when I call to him. Be angry and do not sin. Ponder in your own hearts on your beds and be silent. Offer right sacrifices and put your trust in the Lord. There are many who say, who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord. You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. In peace I will both lie down and sleep. For you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. So far the reading of God's Word. Psalm 4 is a prayer. It's a beautiful prayer. It's a confident prayer. It's an encouraging prayer. It's a prayer that has traditionally been called the evening prayer. So I thought it was appropriate tonight. It's been called the evening prayer because of those words in verse 4, ponder in your own hearts on your beds. The vision here is of the psalmist at home, on his bed, thinking, perhaps not immediately able to sleep, and turning his heart and his mind to the Lord. And it's traditionally been paired with Psalm 3 that's been called the morning psalm. It's good how well organized the Psalter is. And it's been called the morning psalm because of verse 5, I lay down and slept, I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. And so the picture here in Psalm 3 is waking in the morning with the Lord, the mind turning to the Lord, communing with the Lord on his bed, and then the day perhaps closing with going to bed and the mind turning to the Lord and communing with him there. And it struck me as I was studying this that this is such an encouragement to the people of God to be praying, to be praying in the morning, to be praying at night, to be praying in communion with the Lord. Not only because the Lord calls us to that communion, not only because he enjoys that communion and we should enjoy that communion, but also it is the way to growing in him, to blessing in him. And Psalm 2, you know, at verse 8 instructs the king that God sets on his holy hill in Zion, that king that is the center and focus of God's purpose in history, that king who is facing all the rebellion and the vain counsel of the nations, God says to that king, ask of me and I will give the nations for your heritage. Even the king that God has set on Zion must pray. We might have thought, well, once God has set His king on Zion, everything else follows automatically, doesn't it? God will accomplish His purpose through His king. No, God says to that king, pray, ask of me. What I have promised to you, you need to ask for, And then I'll give it to you. And so Psalm 3 and Psalm 4 really are the king responding to what God has told him to do. If you would be king, David, pray in the morning, pray in the evening, ask of me, and I will give you what you need. And David prayed. We have those prayers recorded. Jesus prayed. Are you ever surprised when you read in the Bible that Jesus prayed? You know, we're told in the Gospels that He prayed often. Did He need to pray? Isn't He in constant communion with His heavenly Father? Well, as king, He's commanded to pray, and He does. Ask of me, God said to Jesus. So, God surely says to us, doesn't He, ask of me, ask of me. And Psalm 4 is one of those askings, and Psalm 4 concludes so beautifully with the answer that the psalmist, the man of prayer, has received from the Lord, those last two verses. Now, some of you have a lot of time on your hands. So, verses 7 and 8 of Psalm 4 would be well worth memorizing in the time that we have. You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. In peace, I will both lie down and sleep. For you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. How has God answered prayer? God has answered prayer, the psalmist says, by giving him joy and peace and safety. And I thought in these uncertain times, in these restless times, in these times when perhaps some of us have some trouble sleeping, it'd be good to meditate just a little bit on how God answers prayer by giving to his people joy and peace and safety. Because when we don't pray, we're always at greater risk of being a people who become sad and restless and frightened and worried. I've told you before, my wife is Hungarian. If you look up Hungarian in a dictionary, the synonym for Hungarian is worrier. They are a nation of worriers. She said, yeah, but you didn't live with a warlike nation on your eastern border constantly threatening you. I said, but you're not there anymore. Well, some of us are much more prone to worry than others, aren't we? But we're all in need of prayer. We are all in need of turning to the Lord, and we're all in need of the encouragement that the Word of God gives us that when we turn to the Lord, when we pray to the Lord, He'll hear us, and He'll answer us, and He'll fill our lives with blessings. Now, I'm not saying He'll take away every concern and every struggle, not even every worry. But I do think He has promised that He will give us joy, and He'll give us peace, and He'll give us safety, and that this should be the confidence that surrounds our lives as Christians. This is what David, I think, pondered in the night. Ponder in your own hearts on your beds, David said at verse 4. Sleep is an interesting thing, isn't it? Some of us are good sleepers, and some of us are not so good sleepers. My wife suggests that it takes me 30 seconds to fall asleep. I've had a bad night. And I have a son, Robert, who has great trouble sleeping. It's not really he's worried, he just doesn't sleep very well. So we have different problems. I used to try when I was young to ponder on my bed the things of the Lord, and I found all I could really do was immediately fall asleep. As I've gotten older, I've gotten better at this. As you get older, sometimes sleep is more of a problem. at night. Somehow sleep comes easily in the armchair in the afternoon. I don't know how that all works, but whenever we have time for the Lord, whenever we have time to turn our hearts and our minds on the Lord, we should remember what He told us in Psalm 1 verse 2. His delight, the blessed man's delight, is in the law of God, and on that law he meditates day and night. You see how these early psalms all kind of are woven together like a quilt? Or it's tapestries that are woven. Never mind. We're to meditate. That means to roll the Word of God around in our minds and to be led on to prayer. And so I want to look at this psalm with you through the conclusion that we have here, through the answer that we have here, as God promises to us joy and peace and safety. What is the joy that Psalm 4 encourages us to think about? The first part of that joy is that we have more joy than the world does. When the world looks to joy, the psalmist suggests, they look at their barns and how much wealth they have, how much food they have, how much they've stored away for a rainy day, how prosperous they've become. In the ancient world, you measured wealth very often by grain and by wine. And the psalmist looks around at the world and looks around at the world as to how it reckons joy and the source of joy. And the psalmist says, I have more joy than the wealthiest of people. I have more joy than the wealthiest of people, a joy that you have put in my heart. I want to just think with you about the joy the psalmist has as he talks about it here in Psalm 4. We could look all around the Scripture to find all sorts of joy, but here in Psalm 4, what does the psalmist focus in on when he thinks about joy, when he calls us to joy, to what we ought to pray for, looking for joy? The first thing, I think, is that he talks about how God answers prayer. Isn't that a wonderful thing when you really think about prayer? When you have a time of really good prayer with the Lord? When you pour out your heart before Him and then perhaps you've prayed for something very specific and the Lord answers that prayer just the way you prayed? And how joyous that is. How delightful that is. I got a call Monday night that Pete DeYoung was dying. I didn't really believe it. I said, I don't want to believe that. If Pete DeYoung can die, any one of us could die. It's kind of a joke. It's all right to smile. But I prayed for Pete that night. I went to see him the next morning. He was all dressed. Smiled when I came in. Said, Dr. Godfrey, good to see you. Can you take me to Costco? That was an answer to prayer, wasn't it? My heart was filled with joy. You know, as a pastor, you try to think, what might I say on a visit to a deathbed? And the good news was, since Pete wasn't dying, I didn't have to say a word. And how joyful it was to see an aged saint who was at death's door the night before, called back from the Lord, by the Lord. And he said to me, you know, I thought it was time for me to go. And then I realized it was sinful for me to tell the Lord when I was to go. And so I'm waiting. And I thought, what a joyful, wonderful thing. And then he told me family stories, but I'll save some of them. Joy because the Lord hears our prayer. Joy because the Lord answers our prayers. joy because we have a God who cares about what we care about and provides so wonderfully for us. Are you praying more these days? That would be a good thing for all of us to do, to take the time the Lord has given us to spend more time in prayer with Him, to be drawing closer to him and to finding joy in that contact. I think in this psalm we also see the joy of worship. Here in Psalm 4, David thinking about his connection with the Lord, and really I think about his privilege of worshiping the Lord, says in verse 3, but no, the Lord has set apart the godly for Himself so that God hears when I call to Him. The Lord has set apart the godly for Himself. He set us apart in our whole lives, but He set us apart particularly in that consecrated privilege of communicating with God. And I think David alludes here to both personal worship and public worship. When David's on his bed at night and praying, that's a worship of the Lord. That's a meeting with the Lord. That's experiencing how he has been set apart for the Lord, and he has joy in that. What joy it is to be called by the Scriptures, one of those who are godly, who are godly in the sense of having been set apart by the Lord. And that should be the sense of each one of us as to who we are. Sometimes we shy away from that because sometimes as Calvinists, we're better catechized in being sinners than in being redeemed. But the Psalter in particular wants to say to everyone who knows the Lord and trusts the Lord and lives in the Lord, you are godly. The Lord has set you apart for Himself. And an important part of being set apart for the Lord is that you commune with Him. Commune with Him individually in your hearts. but also commune with Him publicly in public worship. Verse 5, offer right sacrifices and put your trust in the Lord. Public worship builds up our trust in the Lord. When we offer our worship to the Lord in righteousness, we're built up in Him and in His Word and in the joy that flows to us from that communion with him. It was about three months, I think, that I was deprived of being part of public worship. And I found it terrible. Disorienting. Destabilizing. The joy of fellowship. I miss that tremendously. The joy of music. The joy of hearing the word preached. These are the joys that God gives to his people as we can gather together. The joy of reflecting on that righteous sacrifice that Jesus Christ offered for us and in our place. Here's the joy that he promises his people. And that too we should pray for. We need to be praying that the Lord will fully restore our privilege of worship. It's terrible to sing with a mask on, isn't it? Well, not terrible. But it's not good to sing with a mask on. It's not exuberant. So we want to pray that the Lord will restore for us that opportunity to enter more fully into his worship and into his praise. We don't have to sing to be worshiping God. One of the great reformers, Ulrich Zwingli, remember, you all remember him, don't you, in Zurich said that we shouldn't sing at all. The scripture just says, make melody in your heart to the Lord. And we can do that with masks or without a mask. We can make melody in our hearts to the Lord, whatever the governor says, but when we can join in singing the praises of God, how joyful that is, how wonderful it is, and how we should pray for it and look forward to it, and how we should be pausing to think that we must not take the privilege and joy of worship for granted. But we must give thanks to God for that privilege. So he answers David with the gift of joy. He answers David with the gift of peace. He answers David with the gift of peace. David had enemies. David had enemies who opposed him. David had enemies that caused him distress. And that's reflected in this psalm. Verse 2 of Psalm 4, David says, O men, and this word for men is sort of noblemen, distinguished men, men of power and influence in David's nation and in his court. O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Do you ever ask how long? How long is this virus going to go on? How long are the wicked going to have such power? How long will God's truth be called a lie? How long will God's honor be called shame? How long will shame be called goodness? How long will the lie be called the truth? Are you indignant once in a while? Do you go to bed angry once in a while? Don't watch the 11 o'clock news before you go to bed. But David has had these feelings and he goes to bed and he's angry and he says the Lord has given him peace. The Lord's given him peace. And the Lord's given him peace because the Lord has assured him that these things will not go on forever. There'll be an end. There'll be an end to injustice. There'll be an end to the lie. There'll be an end to shame. There'll be an end to the ridicule of our Christ. They will not go on forever. And how did David come to know that? Well, he went to bed and he prayed and he pondered and he meditated and he reflected on the covenant of God. And he remembered that God had said to the kings rebelling against him, kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish in the way. Today is the day of repentance. It will not go on forever. And as David in his bed pondered the promises of God, the plan of God, the timing of God, he found great peace in his heart. He found great assurance in his heart. In peace, verse 8, I will both lie down and sleep. See how wonderful that is? Any of us can go to bed. The question is, will we sleep? and the peace that God has given to David has meant for him, I'll not only lie down, but I'll go to sleep. Because going to sleep means I'm at peace. I'm at peace with the world. I'm at peace with God. I have confidence that I don't have to sit up all night being guard and guardian. But the God who never slumbers or sleeps will watch over me and will protect me. And will be with me. That's the great comfort David has as he's thought about these questions. We also have a question at verse 6. There are many who say, who will show us some good? Who will show us some good? Now, some of the commentators have said that just as Psalm 3 has the rebellion of Absalom against David in the background, so Psalm 4 also has that in the background. And you remember what Absalom did to undermine David. Absalom went to the gate of the city of Jerusalem, and when people came up with their grievances, with their complaints, with their suits, with their discussions of injustice, Absalom would listen very sympathetically to them and he said, your case is good. It's too bad the king hasn't sent a judge to listen to you. Who will show us some good? Who will be better than David? Who will do better than David? Who will be more faithful than David? See how subtle this undermining of God's purpose and order is. And that's what we hear today too, don't we? We need someone better than Jesus. We need someone who'll do more for us more quickly than Jesus. We need someone who will do things on our timetable, and according to our wisdom, who will show us some good. And David can say, I don't have to worry about those who say such things, because God has lifted up the light of His face upon me, because God has shown me the goodness of who He is. God has been with me in my bed on the night to assure me of his love, of his care, of his purpose. He has turned the light of his smiling face upon me so I can go to sleep, so I can rest, so I can have assurance. He has the peace of those who have utter confidence that God is in control, that God will accomplish His purpose, that God does all things well, and we can rest in His arms. And then the psalm ends by saying, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. Joy, peace, safety. For some of us, at least, we've been quite worried about are we safe? Will we be safe? What will become of us? We've worried about our health. We've worried about jobs. These things are legitimate to be concerned about. But this psalm ends with the assurance given to the heart of David that he will be safe because God alone is in charge of our lives. God alone is the source of safety. Now, when I was young, we had people who worried a lot about the atom bomb. And the atom bomb was worth worrying about. It was worrisome. And I knew people who built bomb shelters in their backyards, feet deep with enough dried food to last months. I was always a sort of cynical kid, and I kept thinking, do I really want to live in that bomb shelter for months, and then climb up out of it eventually to find that everybody as far as I could walk is dead. It didn't seem to me a real kind of safety to exist in that kind of way. It's not what God is promising us. He's promising us a genuine safety, a genuine protection. And what does he promise to protect us from? Well, here again, I think we can go back at the Psalms that precede Psalm 4. He promises to keep us in safety from the ways of the wicked. That was one of the great concerns of Psalm 1, wasn't it? That the blessed man will not walk in the ways of the wicked. God will keep us in safety that we do not stray into the ways of the wicked as we pray to Him and trust in Him. God has promised us that we will not be destroyed by wicked kings. That's what Psalm 2 is all about, those who rebel against the Lord. Those who would tear down God and His institutions and His truth will not succeed, Psalm 2 says. God will keep us in safety. Perhaps most dangerous of all, Psalm 3, verse 2, records David saying, Many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God. There are voices like that today, aren't there? There is no God. There is no salvation. If there were a God and there were salvation, it wouldn't be salvation for you. What a wicked, doubting word that is. That's why it's so blessed that Psalm 3 ends with the verse, Salvation belongs to the Lord. It is your blessing on your people. There is salvation for us. There is protection from us, for us. And that comes from God. It comes from God alone. And that's why this evening prayer should be precious to us. That's why this evening prayer should encourage us to be even more prayerful. Because when we ask of the Lord, we have the promise that He'll hear us. And He'll give to us. He'll give to us joy. He'll give to us peace. He'll give to us safety. And the joy and peace and safety that he gives to us is his own son, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the source of our joy. Jesus said, these things I've spoken to you, that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. There's the promise of Jesus in John 15. John 14, Jesus said, peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. Jesus is our joy, Jesus is our peace, Jesus is our safety. John 10, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand. If you're in the hand of Jesus, no one can snatch you out of it. You're safe. Because you're safe, you can have peace with God. And because you have peace with God, you should be full of joy. And that's what God will give you when you pray, when you turn to him, when you trust him. So whether you pray better in the morning or night or all through the day, I don't have a lunch prayer, but there probably is one somewhere. Pray, ask of me, says the Lord, and I will give you joy, peace, and safety. May that be the joy and the peace and the safety of each one of us. Amen. Let us pray. Oh, Lord, our God, how good you are to encourage us and strengthen us, even in the most difficult of circumstances. We are being tried. And we feel the confusion of our leaders, and that can breed confusion in us. We pray that you would deliver us from these trying times. But even more, we pray, that you would turn our hearts to you. And that in turning to you, we might be filled with the joy and the peace and the safety that comes only from you. And may it be, O Lord, that our lives would be a testimony to your grace that work in us. And may we rejoice in the privilege of communing with you, our great creator and redeemer. Hear us, for we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.