Psalms 4 (Part I)

¹ Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
You have relieved me in my distress;
Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.

 (v1) Again, the way David calls upon the Lord is uncomfortable to me, yet I see it as something I need to work through within myself.  At the end of chapter 3 David declared "Arise Lord! Deliver me, my God!"  And now he cries "Hear me when I call" and "hear my prayer".  I am reminded of Jacob who wouldn't let go of God until He blessed him.  I get the same perception of David here.  I will cry out to the Lord and I won't let go of Him until He hears my call and my prayer. 

How can we be so bold with a God who all knowing and all seeing?  I so often feel that I am just fortunate to be here, to be capable of a conversation.  I can't imagine saying things so declarative to the Lord.  How can I make such request of God and remain humble?  Suppose I did and God honored it, would I start to think I had an "in" with God and have an unreasonable value upon myself?  I have often wondered why I can't go to someone who is sick and pray over them and they get up being healed.  Where did that kind of faith go?  When was it removed from the earth?  Jesus said in John 14:12 that "he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do".  I believe the Holy Spirit is just as powerful now as it was then, so the issue has to be the faith of man and his ability to handle God's purpose.

I find when I read this that David was able to handle it well as he maintained a proper balance of his worth and place under the Lord.  David had experienced God's deliverance in the face of a lion and a bear.  He had chased down both to retrieve stolen sheep and when they turned on him he had killed them.  Standing in the face of either even with a gun would be terrifying.  I can't imagine doing so with only a sword or spear.  David had also experienced God's favor when he stood in the face of Goliath.  Yet he didn't just stand wondering if he would be destroyed, he stood with a passion for God to destroy this giant who taunted the Lord.  He was adamant that the battle was the Lord's and everyone would know that there is a God.

Maybe, just maybe, that's a part of our faith that's missing.  What do we live for?  What is our purpose?  Why would we want someone to be healed?  Why would we want God to deliver us?  Why would we want God to hear our prayer?  It must be that we know that the battle is His and so the world may know that there is a God who delivers us, who heals, who answers our prayers. 

"Lord, heal (insert name) so the world may know there is a God in heaven with the power to heal."

"Lord, reward their recovery, so the world may know there is forgiveness and love that is greater than man."

"Lord, deliver Your people when the evil come to take their homes and take all they have so the evil know that their God delivered them."

"Lord, make their faith so strong and Your presence so thick, that when the evil come to kill them, rape their women and take their children, they know the presence of a Holy God.   May they seek Your face."