Faith Presbyterian Church - Birmingham
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Faith Presbyterian Church - Birmingham
Psalm 4:1-8; A Psalm for Bedtime
Jason Sterling June 1, 2025 Faith Presbyterian Church Birmingham, AL Bulletin
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If you have a copy of God's Word, turn to the Psalms. We're going to look at Psalm 4 this morning, so go to the center of your Bible Psalm chapter 4. This Psalm Psalm 4, is known as a personal lament, and this Psalm is part of the largest category of the book of Psalms, which is Psalms of lament. They make up about 40 percent of the largest category of the book of Psalms, which is Psalms of Lament. They make up about 40% of the Psalms, and I think that's really significant because that tells us that God's people were often sad. This particular Psalm reflects on the mental anguish and the anxiety that often comes over us at night when we're getting ready to go to bed. David, the author, is experiencing something that is so stressful that he's struggling to sleep, and he experiences this and he shares that experience with us so that you and I might learn this morning how to lie down in peace and go to sleep. We're going to read this psalm together as we do Listen, watch for the progression from anxiety and distress to peace and sleep. Follow along with me. This is God's Word, psalm 4. 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 own 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. Let's pray and let's ask for the Holy Spirit to come and help us as we listen to the word preached, but also to help me as I preach this morning. Let's pray together. Father, we do need your help. You've brought us here on this first Sunday of June and I pray that you would give each one of us, wherever we find ourselves this morning, something that we can lock onto so that we can get through another week. Give us something that strengthens our faith, that ministers to our soul. Would you enable me to preach with boldness and clarity this morning, and, more than anything, would we encounter the Lord Jesus Christ in all of his glory and goodness, so that we leave here differently? That is our prayer. We're not just saying that we want to leave here different people, and we can't do that on our own. We need your help, and so please come and do it In Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1:Sleepless nights have you had those before? I've had many of those. In the early morning you find yourself staring at the ceiling, wide awake, can't get comfortable, you toss and you turn. You wake up. Maybe you can't go back to sleep. Your mind starts spiraling, you're racing, you're thinking about the difficult situation at work, maybe it's something in the news that has caused distress in you and you can't go to sleep. Maybe it's the mounting to-do list, the financial pressure, the doctor's appointment, the waiting for the test results, the hard conversation conflict that you have, maybe with one of your children or your spouse, or a friend, or a student. If you are a student, maybe it's the test that you have tomorrow or the big presentation that counts a really big percentage of your grade. Whatever it is you can't sleep. You try counting sheep, you try smart watches to track your sleep, meditation apps, deep breathing exercises, sound machines, melatonin sleep mask, prescription sleeping medication.
Speaker 1:Yet despite all the technology and techniques, sleep often remains elusive when we need it the most. It's often really difficult, is it not to quiet a noisy and busy heart and mind? Maybe this morning you say well, I don't have any clue what you're talking about. I sleep just fine. I said that too when I was young. Then I hit middle age and life got a whole lot more complicated. I had a whole lot more things to start worrying about and to be concerned with, and the brokenness and the pressure of the world got a lot closer and a lot more personal.
Speaker 1:Even this morning, if your circumstances never impact your sleep, all of us have had the experience of being anxious and stressed and longing for peace and rest. All of us have longed to hear the words it is finished at the end of a long day, but instead there's always one more thing to do and thoughts continue to swarm in our hearts and in our heads and make us restless. Psalm 4 speaks to that. It speaks to that experience because thousands of years ago, king David was facing a sleepless night of his own and the pressure of his life and the stress of his life came pushing in on him and he discovered that peaceful sleep was not found in reaching out for technology and techniques, but reaching out for God. The God who never sleeps and who never slumbers. The God who never sleeps and who never slumbers. Psalm 4 gives us a roadmap that takes us from distress to rest, from anxious worry to peaceful sleep and trust. To quiet our noisy hearts at bedtime we need three things. We need to pray number one, you're a note taker. Secondly, we need to reflect. Lastly, we need to trust. Pray, reflect, trust. That's where we're headed. Let's look at our first heading pray.
Speaker 1:Normally in the Psalms, if you look above the Psalm that you're reading, you'll see a little phrase. You get it in Psalm 3. If you have your Bible open, you can look at that. It'll say something that gives you the context. It'll say a Psalm of David when he was fleeing from his son or whatever. We don't have that in Psalm 4, so we don't know the exact context of what was happening with David that led him to write this Psalm, but we do know he's in distress. That's obvious. Look at verse 2. His reputation is under attack. His honor is being turned into shame. Political opponents are spreading lies about him. Pressure was mounting. Sleep seemed impossible. Look at verse 1.
Speaker 1:The word relief and stress are really interesting. The word relief suggests creating space or room to breathe because you're so compressed by the pressures and circumstances of life. By the pressures and circumstances of life, the word distress means to be hemmed in or backed into a corner. I don't know about you, but that's a frightening picture To think about.
Speaker 1:David feels in this moment like he's suffocating. He feels claustrophobic. He feels like the walls are closing in on him and he cannot breathe. And we've all felt those things and feel those things particularly at night, in the dark, in the silence of the night, when you feel most vulnerable and you are preparing to go to sleep. It's in those moments that the anxiety seems to have so much power and that power seems to grow at night, when you are lying in your bed, you go to sleep and it seems like the weight of the world comes crashing in on you, all of your fears and worries and stress of the day that you just finished, and then you start thinking about all you have to do tomorrow and the day after that, and it seems to back you into a corner. When your head hits the pillow, you feel cornered by it all and in that moment, notice what David does. He doesn't run from it. That's what I often do, and if you try to run from it, that actually makes it worse and we've all had those experiences.
Speaker 1:David doesn't run, he doesn't reach out for a technique or technology, he reaches out for God and he prays. He prays to God, his anxiety and his pain and his circumstances. Look at verse 1. Answer me. It's very strong. Answer me when I call O God of my righteousness, be gracious and hear my prayer. Notice a couple of things. David doesn't approach God on his own goodness, but on the righteousness of God. Also, notice the desperation here. Answer me, hear my prayer. God, lord, please show up and do something. He's praying honestly and he's acknowledging and putting words to what's going on inside of him in the moment. What does David pray? Look at verse 3. But know the Lord has set apart the godly for himself. David is praying truth back to God. He says God, I belong to you, you have claimed me and you have made me your own. Therefore, look at the second half of verse 3,. You will hear me when I call. Do you see how that is working? He's desperate. He starts reflecting on truth God cares for his own, and that desperate prayer becomes a bold statement of confidence. Lord you not might, will hear me. The Lord hears me when I call.
Speaker 1:The very act of reminding himself of God's character strengthened his soul when his heart was noisy and loud and restless. When your mind starts racing and you start rehearsing the worries of the day, reach out for God. Let bedtime become a sanctuary, not a torture chamber. Let bedtime be a time where you transform your worries into worship. You find yourself backed in a corner. Instead of counting sheep, how about we start counting the promises of God, counting and looking at the character of God, crying out in prayer to the God who never sleeps, who's always awake and who will hear you and is listening in the middle of the night when you can't sleep. Pray to him. You have a God who always hears you and is always listening.
Speaker 1:Secondly, reflect. Here's the sense. Look at verse four. Here's the sense, just in summary of what's being said. If you feel angry at those who slander you, remember he's got these people talking about him who slander you, which you may well do. You may well feel angry. Then do not sin by seeking revenge against them. David here is conscious of the things in his life that are unfair. He's conscious of the things that are painful and he also knows the temptation in those moments to stew. You know what it's like to stew over things. He knows what it's like to stew over scenarios of revenge or to be angry at God for allowing it to happen in the first place. But notice what he goes on to say Ponder, the New International Version says search, search your own hearts on your beds and be silent.
Speaker 1:I think this is really instructive and insightful, because what this means is that your sleepless nights and your sleeplessness are not a waste of time. They are an opportunity for spiritual reflection. They're an opportunity for you to do business with your heart. What does that look like? Well, it looks like when you're hooked by anxiety and stress and the circumstances of your life or, in this passage specifically, when you're hooked by anger about something. David is saying be silent and think about that anger and don't stew and come up with scenarios of revenge, but first check your own heart and see if there's any sin in.
Speaker 1:You take the log out of your own eye before you rage against the speck of sawdust in your spouse's eye or the friend's eye or a co-worker, start asking questions, get curious, use that time as a time to reflect and say what is going on inside of me, what is consuming me. And as we think about anger, normally the questions you need to ask is what is being threatened? Because you get angry when something you love or value is being taken away or threatened or damaged. And so, when you find yourself angry, ask questions like what is the thing that I love that is being challenged or threatened or destroyed? What am I trying to protect? And, if you want to go deeper, ask what it is that you're sad about, because your anger often reveals that there's some sadness and grief that you're not ready or wanting to deal with. Use the time in the middle of the night, staring at the ceiling, to be silent and to search your own heart. Secondly, here you see, under this heading, you need to use the time to reflect on what matters most in life.
Speaker 1:Look at verse 6. To reflect on what matters most in life Look at verse 6. There are many who say who will show us some good. Lift up the light of your face upon us, o Lord. That word good. There is prosperity, and it gets at material possessions, success, favorable circumstances. And so here's what's being said. There are many people, david says, who are looking high and low for something or someone to make their life better, looking for something to show them some good and provide satisfaction and fulfillment that their heart is constantly longing for.
Speaker 1:David, on the other hand, look at what he says. He makes a different request. He says, god, I just want you, I just want the light of your face to shine upon me, give me you your presence and your blessing in your favor. And of course, this is echoes of the Aaronic blessing that you hear me say at the end of the service from Numbers, chapter six. May the Lord's face shine upon you and be gracious to you. David knows that real joy and real blessing and peace come from knowing God and being loved by God and being secure in him, that it is far better than anything on earth and that the world might offer.
Speaker 1:I love verse 7. Look at that. You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and their wine abound. You see, one of the things that keeps us up at night and causes anxiety and distress is our pursuit of more. We want more wealth and better investments, or the right investment, or to get ahead and to be more successful, or something that has to do with the relationship or our reputation that will fill the ache of our souls and give us some good.
Speaker 1:All of us are longing for anything to show us good, and one of the questions we need to be asking as we lay there in the middle of the night is it worth it? As we lay there in the middle of the night, is it worth it? The cost, the cost to my family and the cost to my health is it worth it? Because here's the truth you can pour as much bourbon and money and sex and houses and cars and promotions and good grades inside your heart and soul and that will never do it for you. It will not work because those are foundations of sand and they are fragile foundations that will never satisfy your soul and give you the rest and the good that you're really after in this life. Why? Because you were built for the light of God's face to shine upon you, of God's face to shine upon you. You were built as a human being that in order for your life to work properly, god has to be at the center of your life. It's why Augustine says your heart will be restless until you find rest in him. And that means that when you find yourself wide awake, stressed about the pressures of your life, remember what you're really looking for is the light of God's face. That's what will give you ultimate rest. And that leads to our last point rest. And that leads to our last point trust.
Speaker 1:Look at verse 8. In peace, I will lie down and sleep For you alone, lord. Make me dwell in safety. I love this.
Speaker 1:David says what will help him to rest and give him sleep has nothing to do with his external circumstances, but everything to do with the Lord. I think this is so interesting, this verse and maybe you know this verse. It's often recited at bedtimes and memorized as a bedtime prayer but it reminds us that sleep is so much more than physical, something physical that we do. Sleep is a spiritual thing and in this verse, david is making a profound statement of faith. He is saying I can go to sleep, I can lay down and rest because God is the Lord, he controls all things, he is my creator and my protector and I can trust him. Sleep reminds us that God is in charge of the world, that he runs the world, not us, that God is the creator, who never sleeps nor slumbers, and we are creatures who have to sleep in order to survive and function. When we lie down to sleep, we acknowledge our dependence upon God and we exercise faith. We say in that moment God, you created me, you know all of my anxious thoughts, you watch over me, you love me, you are in control of all things, and so I can release my control, I can release my grip and I can lie down, and I can go to sleep and pick it up tomorrow, because you alone are God, not my money, not my success and my achievements. You, god, make me dwell in safety.
Speaker 1:This rhythm of daily sleep also points us to the deeper soul rest that all of us desperately need. You see, our hearts are noisy, our souls are noisy and busy, and part of what drives our busyness is we want to be successful, we want to be significant. Or maybe what drives your busyness of soul and your distress is maybe your own sin, your guilt and your shame. But wherever we are, we all long, at the end of a long day, to lay our heads down in silence and, instead of thinking about all the things we have to do or need to be done, or thinking did I do enough? All of us long to hear someone say well done, you're enough. I love you, you are valuable, it is finished. That's why the gospel is so good. That's why the gospel is such good news, because Jesus says Matthew 11, verse 28, come to me, all you who are weary we could insert having sleepless nights full of anxiety and stress come to me and I will give rest to your soul.
Speaker 1:Jesus on the cross says what it is finished. What does that mean? Jesus on the cross says what it is finished. What does that mean? The Bible says that, because of our sin, our greatest need is peace with God. When Jesus says it is finished, he means he's done it all, that he's done everything through his life, death and resurrection to give you perfect peace and security and to make you right with God. Jesus experienced restlessness on the cross so that you could have the deep rest of knowing that God loves you, that you are valuable to him and that your sins are forgiven. And remember when Jesus walks out of the water after his baptism. The heavens open up and you hear this voice from heaven that says you are my beloved son, in whom I love and in whom I am well pleased.
Speaker 1:If you know Jesus, this morning God, the Father, speaks those exact words over you, and you know what that means. That means in the middle of the night, when your anxiety comes crashing in and whispers lies to you about your worth, and when that shame comes crashing in, saying you're not enough, you're a nobody, you're a loser. In those moments, be silent and hear the heavens open up, so to speak, and hear God speaking over you, the words he spoke over the Lord, jesus Christ. I love you. You're enough, you're more than okay. You're my child and I am proud of you and I am well pleased with you.
Speaker 1:Friends, you got that. You'll sleep. I don't care if you get eight hours a night, I don't care if you have the best sleep score in the world. If you don't have that, if you don't have that deep soul rest that can only be found in Jesus and his work on your behalf, if you don't have that, you will not truly rest. That's the rest we're ultimately after, the peace and rest that we're desperately longing for, and every night we lay our heads down on our pillows. And every night we lay our heads down on our pillows, we remember that in that simple act it is a picture of the profound rest of soul that we have in the gospel.
Speaker 1:So the next time you find yourself wide awake 2.30 in the morning and you start down the spiral of rehearsing all your worries from the day and worries of your life, reach out for God, reflect on your own heart and what's going on inside of you and, lastly, trust in God's provision, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Friends, if God is willing to die for you, you can trust him with everything. Give it to him. Will you come to Jesus this morning? He's way better than you think. Amen, let's pray. Father, thank you for being a God who hears us when we call. Father, thank you for being a God who hears us when we call. Would you forgive us for trying to find good and so many created things down here instead of finding it and looking for it in you and Holy Spirit, I pray that you would help us to experience now, especially as we come to this table, the light of your face on us, so that we might live in freedom and peace and lie down in that freedom and peace. Would you help us In Jesus' name amen.