Comfort in Affliction

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.

Notice there are three requests within this first verse. Answer me, be gracious to me, hear my prayer. These are three bold requests, three expectant requests of God. Answer me, there's a desire that God would respond. Be gracious, there's a right recognition that He's speaking to the holy God who created him, the God who has all power. David understands that it is not a right of his to demand something of God, but it is God who is gracious to hear us and answer. And then third, the cry, hear my prayer. I'm crying out in a time of need. I, I, I, I, I, Lord, please hear what I would say now. who he's crying out to is the basis for why this is a prayer of confidence. Answer me when I call, oh God of my righteousness. I'm gonna slow down here and make sure we understand what this declaration means here in this psalm. God of my righteousness. There's two main options we could consider as we think of my, of God of my righteousness. One is he's crying out to the God who forgives him. The God who declares him righteous, the God who is given us the doctrine of justification that we are forgiven and declared innocent by faith because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross. The second option is he's crying out to God who will prove that he is indeed righteous. The God of his righteousness who will vindicate him, who will give evidence that he is not guilty of the accusations brought before him and that he alludes to in verse two. Now, I know we love us some Luther. Yes, the doctrine of justification is the doctrine the church is built upon, but I don't believe that first option is in view here. I don't believe he's crying out to the God who is forgiving him. I believe he's crying out to the God who is his righteousness, who will defend him and protect him and prove him to be right. Now, I say that to make clear, David knows he's a wicked, filthy sinner who sinned against God and him alone. It's real simple and easy. We can go to Psalm 51, Psalm 32. David is not confused that somehow he is a perfectly righteous person. The context is they've stated lies. They've declared empty words. He is not unrighteous in the way that he is being accused, and the God of his righteousness will hear him, will answer him, and will vindicate him. The main focus is how there's accusations against him. And many believe that since this is tied to Psalm 3, the morning psalm, the evening psalm, The occasion is still Absalom. It's important that we understand God is righteous. He is the measure. He is true righteousness. He doesn't protect his people in their sin. He does not protect sin. That would be unrighteousness. But he does protect us when we confess our sin. He forgives us. He protects us from sinful accusations that are untrue. Now this is thick. We need to embrace both true aspects of God, my righteousness. And that if we're gonna trust him to forgive us of sins we've committed, he's also going to protect us from sins done against us. It's important because we might believe we're saved by faith, but then we wanna defend ourselves with our works. No, I believe here we see that God who saves you from your own sin will save you also from the sins of others. To be falsely accused, as again we'll see in the next point in verse two, there's something paralyzing, devastating. Christians saved by grace declared righteous with the righteousness of Christ so that you will walk in the righteous way. God hears the prayer of the righteous? We have to understand there is a way in which those who are committed to being upright and living the life that Christ has purchased for us, he hears us. Notice he's praying, God, oh God of my righteousness. It's personal. He knows Yahweh. And notice that second line we haven't mentioned quite yet. You have given me relief when I was in distress. This is him looking back at some past time. Again, if this is the time of Absalom, he's looking back to the time when he had to cry out after his sin with Bathsheba. After Saul was chasing him. There's many times in which we've seen David learn he can trust God and when he calls upon God, God gives him relief. God is the righteous truth teller. God is the one who declares us righteous when we're sinful and filthy. And God is the one who leads us and protects us from all other unrighteousness. It's important we see who he is because that is the reason for the confidence. He's gracious. He's righteous. He hears us. Christian, this is who we get to talk to in our times of trouble with confidence. That confidence to cry out, well now we see the setting, we see the difficulty, the second point, confidence to stand firm. Notice, in an unusual way, David turns his direction in the midst of this psalm, he addresses other men. And again, if he's in a cave hiding under pressure, under attack, under accusation, he's now wanting them to hear. He's now wanting others with him to hear. He's wanting God to hear. But notice he says,

oh 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.

Now he's speaking to O men, so God of my righteousness, hear me, protect me, answer me, but now O men, how long are you gonna keep this up? This charade. And notice there's three things about these men he's speaking to and of for our sake. They turn honor into shame. They love vain words, that is empty accusations, and they seek lies. As we think about those kinds of men and what they might be saying and doing, just think about how that is so opposite of who God is as the God of righteousness. God honors the humble and lifts up the lowly and honors those whom he calls. God's word does not return void. It is never empty. And God declares truth and only the truth. These dudes in verse two, they're just seeking to tear down. Their words are full of nonsense. They're seeking to tear down, and let's just be really honest, it's really easy to tear down. It takes effort and intentionality to build up. But their words are seeking to empty words and to lie about David. He's attacked, he's accused, he's undermined. Here the burden is on David, even though he knows they're not true, it's still a burden. When someone has to say whatever these words are, whatever accusation is, it's a burden that's ungodly to put on someone. Truth sets free, lies confuse and confine. Notice he doesn't say, oh Lord, how many are my foes? That's a lament. Oh Lord, how long? No, he starts with confidence. Lord, hear me, answer me. How long are you guys gonna keep this up? How long is this charade gonna continue? And he asks those two questions that's describing their activity, but verse three, notice what he assures them of. Know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself. The Lord hears when I call to him. Now he's saying this to make sure they understand as you're going to speak lies, the God of righteousness, he hears me. He just said, hear me when I call. Answer me when I call. He's assuring them that in the middle of you speaking all the nonsense, God is hearing me. He has set apart. Now that idea of distinction, that isn't the word holy. It's seen in Exodus when God's plagues, they would not be on the cows or the people of Israel. They'd be on the people of Egypt. God is able to make distinction between his people and his covenant people and the nations and those who are against him. He's making it clear there's a distinction. God knows the difference. There's those who are his and are pursuing godliness, and then there's foolish talkers, those who dishonor. Believer, how many God sees you? As we see here, the confidence David has is that he knows what they're saying of him. He seems to have the confidence that it's untrue. As we think about what he's doing here, he's telling them, I'm going to tell God what's happening, and God's going to answer my prayer. The rest of this, we try to teach our kids not to tattle. They need to know when they need to say something and how to say something, but someone who's constantly always telling on other people is kind of unhealthy. Here, God always sees. God always knows. There's a way in which you should always feel confident and comfortable going up to God, and he might correct you in your prayer, but God always hears you. God is always eager to hear his people, and it might be an answer of correction for you, but it also might be the time you bring a concern to him, and he brings protection. Now, this is not what David is telling us, but it's a proper implication. we should first take our concerns to God. When there's a trouble, there's a way in which we need to make sure we take them to God first, the God who is our righteous, God who is our own righteousness. And in verse three, again, says something that's important for us to understand, he sets apart the godly for himself. Now, it is God alone who declares us godly, it is God alone who declares us righteous, But I believe David is here assuming there is a category that we know from scripture that there are those who are pursuing righteousness and being upright and godly and those who are not. James tells us God hears the prayer of a righteous one. We need to make sure while holding the doctrine of justification by faith that we also realize there's a doctrine of sanctification that says we are to be growing in piety and faithfulness. And God sees those while being faithful or being falsely accused and he hears them and will answer them. In the midst of this false accusation, David is declaring God hears him because these things are not true of him. He's standing firm. Third point, confidence to trust God. Now I'm torn here as to, there's another change in who he's speaking to or about. He just gives the command,

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.

Now, it seems as if that would be directed towards those men he had just addressed, but there's also a way in which he needs to hear this himself. Everybody in the presence would need to hear these words, do not sin while being angry. Now, there's something really telling here. Be angry and do not sin. Ponder in your heart and be silent. These two statements are tied together as we just look at what Hebrew does in the poetry. There's a way in which they're informing each other. So, be angry is tied to pondering in your heart, as you're thinking about what it means to be angry and what that looks like. I wanna say here also, do not sin and be silent. Those are same, same. Whatever we think it means, do not sin, also means to be silent. There's something important about when we are angry, when there's something done to us that is unrighteous and there's anger, who we talk to and how we talk about them and what we would say is very important. And David's charge in the middle of the Psalm is be angry, but do not sin. Ponder in your own hearts, on your own beds, but be silent. These men with empty words and lies and false accusation that we have to wrestle with what it means to be angry and not sin. There are real unrighteous activities that should anger us. There are wars and activities and oppressions, and there's activities that we hear about going on in the world that deserve an anger. There's a righteousness to saying that's wrong, and I'm angry about it. And there's things that can be done to us that are wrong, and it's right to be angry about it. But I wanna warn you in somehow boasting that you have righteous anger. I believe there's things that we should have a right anger about, To want to claim there's a righteous anger, I've heard, I believe there's things you can be righteously opposed to and angry about, but whenever we get anger in our hearts with our own sin and we start letting that get roots in the rest of our affections, I believe it becomes quite deadly. I'll say a couple things. There is things to be truly righteously that are wrong that you should be angry about, but I've never personally experienced righteous anger. I've been angry against things that were unrighteous, but I immediately became unrighteous in the way I was angry about them. And every time I've ever heard someone boast of having righteous anger, I'm fully unconvinced that's what it is. Ponder. Do not speak. Ponder in your hearts. Do not speak. That goes against every natural instinct in the fiber of our being, doesn't it? Now, speak to God. The whole point here is he's praying to God, but it's what are you gonna say and why you would say it? There's a way in which we, if we speak in anger, what we're probably gonna respond was to sin with sin. We might even try to up somebody with sin. Be angry and do not sin. Ponder, do not speak. We believe in salvation by grace through faith alone, right? Well, here, God saves us from sins we commit by grace through faith. And I want to say, when we try to speak in our own feeling of righteous anger, we're trying to somehow save ourselves from sin with our own words or works. So be careful what you're saying in anger. Be careful not to sin more in anger. Notice also the positive declaration, offer right sacrifice, right sacrifices, and put your trust in God. Now that word right, that's tied to, oh God of my righteousness. The God who is your righteousness, he does call for a right sacrifice, a right response, a right way of worshiping him. And let me just be very clear, the right way to worship God in anger is not with your dirty, sinful lips. When we seek to let anger control us, whenever we speak to speak with anger inside, guess what's gonna come out? Anger, with a side of slander, self-righteousness, and pride. No, the call to give God a right sacrifice is to trust Him. To trust Him who saves you from your sins and will save you from those sins others are committing against you. Do not seek to justify yourself with your words immediately. There is a way in which Paul does defend himself. I want to make sure that category is there, but this aspect of being angry, it's a time to trust the Lord. A time to meditate upon the cross, where Christ went silently, not defending himself. A time to meditate upon the teaching of 1 Peter, where if you're suffering for doing what is good, that's God's will and it's a way of glorifying God. Think about anger and making a right sacrifice and what that means to trust God and worship him. I want to say that I'm not sure anyone should be able to make you angry. I'm not sure you should give anyone the power to have that kind of control over you. I believe there's certain things people will do that would stir anger, but whenever you say, they make me angry, you're giving them an amazing amount of power that really just puts their own weapon in your heart. It's destructive. To entertain anger is destructive And the true destructive power is that we keep that anger inside of us. Yahweh says vengeance belongs to Him. Trust Him. Make a right sacrifice. Do not sin in anger. Make a right sacrifice. Trust Him in this particular problem. And two questions must come up when we hear trust God in a major problem. Is God truly righteous? And is God truly sovereign? Those are two questions that will pop up in your brain. Those are the first two temptations of Satan in the garden. Is God really good? Does God really have that kind of authority? These are two very important questions that we settle so that when we come to God with a problem, we have the kind of confidence we need to pray like this. Is God good? Is God able? As we answer these questions, we look and we see how God is so good in Scripture to be patient with sinners, to show His kindness to sinners, to make His promises to sinners, to show with great power how He keeps those promises. Christian, I encourage you to consider how you would build yourself up to know with confidence He is righteous, He is powerful. kind of in an implication of this text. This text is about how to have confidence in God and cry out to him when others are saying empty false words. It's a very unique setting. It is not foreign to many, but it's a very unique setting. But I want to say there's a way in which I want to apply this psalm and that it actually makes it more confusing for us. Because for many, we're the ones who are usually giving ourselves the empty accusatory words, right? You beat yourself up. I know you do, because I talked to you. If you're the one who's regularly beating yourself up, you have to learn how to take that record off the record player and learn how to let only what God has said about you to be true. We know ourselves more than everybody else. We know how bad we are. If we're honest with ourselves, whatever somebody says about us that's bad, we're way worse. God still loves us. God still sent his son to die for us. God still redeemed us. God sent His Holy Spirit to start a work in you to give you confidence that He is God and He has not abandoned His people. He has set you apart. He is renewing you. He is never abandoning you. He will protect you. But if you're constantly putting the empty lies on your record player, it's a different prayer. It's God help my unbelief. God, give me the grace to hear what you say. God, give me the grace to repent of my pattern of putting vain words in my mind and my heart. Help me hear your truth. The fourth section, assurance of God's blessing. Here there's a quotation dilemma. There are many who say, again, he's addressing kind of other groups, and I believe verse two, O men, those are the folks outside of the cave who are launching arrows of accusation. Now he's speaking, I believe, to a discouraged group. And I don't believe the quotation should go as far as the ESV goes. I believe the quotation is just the first line.

There are many who say, who will show us some good?

I don't believe that quotation continues. I believe his instruction begins there. There are many, and maybe these are folks who are with David, who say, who will show us some good? Who's gonna help us? Those are words of the despondent. Those are words of those who are discouraged. Who will show us some good? That's overwhelming. That's a very defeatist way of speaking. Earlier I mentioned the two questions, is God really good and is God really powerful? Well, let's be very clear, the third question we ask is the most important and sometimes the most difficult. Okay, maybe you're convinced he's good, maybe you're convinced he's powerful, does he care? Does God care? That's significant here. I believe that's what's behind that curiosity, that question in verse six. Who will show us some good? Who will help us? Who will bless us? Does God really care? That's why David's response is so powerful and important.

Lift up the light of your face upon us, oh Lord.

He appears to be quoting from a blessing that God gives in Numbers 6. I believe whenever the Old Testament is quoting from the, whenever the Bible's quoting other parts of the Bible, we often have to think of the whole greater section, not just the one line. So let me read this blessing from number six.

The Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to Aaron and his son saying, thus you shall bless the people of Israel. You shall say to them, the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel and I will bless them.

For the one who is discouraged, distraught, a sense of hopelessness, who will help us? Who will show us good? David immediately turns Oh Lord, lift up your face and shine upon us. Lord God of all blessing and goodness, keep us. Let your light shine upon us. Be gracious to us. Lift us up and bless us, is what he declares. He turns immediately the attention to Yahweh, who has promised himself to a people that he will bless them. Now, the imagery here, the idea of, Lord, lift up your face upon us. God is spirit, he doesn't have a body. But the face here carries an important theme throughout scripture. And that when the face of God is upon his people, his blessings shine upon them. His favor is upon them. His attention is there. His face shining upon them means He is seeking to show them His goodness, His wisdom, His righteousness, His favor, His kindness. Almighty God is turned and showing His people His loving, immediate attention. We can understand this picture of the Lord showing His face as, well, we've all felt unseen at some point. Okay, maybe not in the most substantial way, but maybe when you were a young teeny bopper or college student, or you are a teeny bopper and a college student, you had like that crush, and you just wanted to know if they saw you or not. You know, they look at you, you're wanting to see if they would show their attention to you, you're looking to see if there's some attraction or attention put upon you. More substantial. Your parents, you want your parents to show attention, affection, and interest. And you can tell when your parents are distracted or attentive to what you need. You can tell when those you love and depend upon are not paying attention, and they are. That's showing the face they're not. Or your spouse, showing that intentional affection, the way they look at you. It goes the other way, too. When you're mad, you refuse to look at somebody. It's amazing how we communicate so much with our face in terms of our focus and our attention. That's where this picture comes in so powerfully. Lord, shine your face upon us. Not distant, not distracted, not disinterested. Almighty God who turns his attention upon his people when they're in trouble to show them favor, kindness, protection, and love. Yahweh sees us and he hears us. He pays attention to us. This was very similar to the prayer we saw in Daniel. Lord, pay attention to your holy sanctuary. Hear us when we cry out. In desperation, we want to know God cares. He promised to give us his attention, to turn his face towards us, because he put his name upon us. So the question, who will show us some good? He answers, Yahweh, the promise maker, the blesser. the one from whom all goodness flows. God, my righteousness, he will look upon us and bless us. Now, if you wanna have a fun Bible study the rest of the day, look up the references to God's face. There's two different ways in which scripture speaks of God's face regularly. One is this theme of God showing his face, which means his attention, but there's also a way in which the people of God are always longing to see God's face. Longing to be back in that right relationship with God we lost because of sin. And it's very clear in the Old Testament, there's a distance. There's a way in which they don't get to draw near, but the New Testament is also so clear that Christ brings us back into that nearness. Where Christ, who comes from the Father's side, He has made the Father known. And Paul prayers for the eyes of our hearts to be enlightened, that we know God in that personal intimate way. Where Jesus gives us instruction,

blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Oh, what else do you want to look at? The God who has declared you his own and declared you pure and washes you with the blood of his son invites you to see him in all his goodness and glory and invites you to know his blessing and care and love. And Jesus teaches us, the more we purify ourselves, the more we see him who is pure. If you find yourself asking the question, who will show us good? If you're prone to this kind of despondency, the meditation is very straightforward. Look to the cross. It's where you see God's perfect righteousness. He is committed to his righteousness and being the righteous God, and he's committed to making us his righteous people. You see his power. He is able to destroy the power of sin. He's able to take away our guilt. He's able to undo death. He's able to give you eternal life. And you see he cares, because he loved you while you were still a sinner. When we see Jesus, who was upright in every way, like a sheep led to the slaughter silently, not answering his false accusations, We see first how God has made us righteous, he's modeled that righteousness, and now we can follow him in that righteousness. We continue on, verse seven, he makes a contrast.

You, Yahweh, have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.

Now again, there's a contrast here that's All the different things of this earth that God has designed for abundance and joy, they have it in numbers. But the Lord has put more joy in his heart with his face shining upon him than all the different food or drink that the others could have. I wanna say there's a way in which we must experience that same joy. Paul speaks about it in Romans 8, when the Holy Spirit speaks to your spirit. to assure you you're a child of God? What a blessing of confidence that God puts in our own hearts that produces joy. It is terrifying to think God is somehow distant, but here in the midst of troubles, God assures us we belong to him. Nothing can separate us from his love. God is the one who gives us internal perfect joy that man cannot destroy. Verse 8,

in peace I will both lie down and sleep. For you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

The idea of going to sleep in anger, There's something about laying in bed where you finally have the quiet and lack of distraction where that brain could just go in every different direction. And you can ponder, and that pondering can lead to sin, or it can lead to a confession, or it can lead to trusting God in righteousness, but here, because he knows the Lord hears him, and the Lord's face is for him, and the Lord gives him joy, and shalom. while there's people outside lobbying all kinds of accusations or maybe even little arrows ready for him. In peace, he will lie down and sleep. Why? Because Yahweh alone makes him dwell in safety. This does not mean there is no suffering for those who belong to God. It just means there's no meaningless suffering. This does not mean there's no real trouble that's devastating. means God is always with us, for us, will ultimately protect us and gives us peace in the midst of the chaos. The God who created you has promised you he will hear you. He's promised he will answer you. He's promised he will have a day of justice. He is the God to whom vengeance belongs. Yeah, there's plenty of things for us to be angry about. There's all those things we take to the Lord and we trust him to give us wisdom to know not to speak, when to speak, how to speak. And the fruit of the blessing is joy and peace because God has shown us his attention. Christian, this is the prayer of confidence. It's confidence because he knows God is his righteousness. It's confidence because God has produced true joy within. It's confidence because he knows Yahweh has looked upon him, blessed him, and it promises and protects him. Christian, pressing in on our prayer life, are we ready to pray this confidently? Do we pray this confidently? It's something learned. Again, this isn't David's first rodeo. He's already known that the Lord has blessed him and relieved him in previous distresses. Now he's coming later in life and he's able to pray with confidence. Let me encourage you in two ways to learn how to pray with this kind of confidence. First, learn to pray from God's word, his own promises. That, by definition, builds God's right confidence in him through his word. Secondly, we need to pray with others. This is why he gives us a body is why we give those brothers and sisters others who can go with us and for us to pray. We're not meant to be alone. Not as me and guys with me, but no me and those who are going to help me walk along with trusting God and his scriptures. Learn to pray from scripture. Learn to pray with others, because God our righteousness, he does hear us. We can trust him, and trusting him is the right sacrifice in the midst of difficulty. Will you pray with me? Father, it is too tempting to Let our hearts and minds wander to the global fears, the national dilemmas, the local problems, personal conflicts, and even our own internal angst and fear and anger. Lord, we thank you you have not left us alone to ponder all these troubles from inside of us and outside of us alone. We thank you you've given us your word so we know you are the God who shines his face upon his people and that you are not distant. We thank you, Lord, for the way you've shown us that you care about us as your people. We thank you that you have shown that you are the God who will bring true vengeance and vindication and righteousness. Lord, help us to be patient, to trust you. Help us to know that you give wisdom generously when we come before you in all kinds of trials and ask for it. Lord, we thank you. that we can trust you with a sin that causes such corruption within. And we thank you that you are trustworthy and righteous to help us through all the sins that we, that others commit against us or that we even perceive against us. And we thank you that you are the God of righteousness. Help us to trust you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.