The great poet John Milton, who wrote that amazing epic poem Paradise Lost, makes this important statement, "The mind is its own place, and in itself can make heaven of hell, a hell of heaven..." Let me read that again to you, "The mind is its own place, and in itself can make heaven of hell, a hell of heaven..." We're going to look this evening at what is one of the most poignant, dramatic, sad stories in all of Scripture. It's the story of David and Absalom. You know the story, David was the anointed King of Israel, and his son, Absalom, began to turn on him, began to quest for his throne.
The Hearts of Israel Turned to Absalom
The minute you know that, you know that this story can't go anyplace good--it cannot have a good end. The Bible tells us that the hearts of Israel turned toward Absalom. Remember, this is a monarchy. Unless the king is willing to give up his throne, the only way the throne could be taken is by his death. Think about the crushing grief of a father whose son, not only wants his throne, but is plotting his demise. Think of how heartbreaking it is to have the people that you've led, the people that you've served, be so fickle and be so disloyal.
You know the story can't go anywhere good. Psalm 4 is part of a twin Psalm, that Psalm 3 is a morning Psalm, Psalm 4 is an evening Psalm, written when David has escaped the throne in fear of his life and is hiding out in a cave with a sort of loyal band of followers. The story doesn't have a good end. The report comes to David that Absalom has been killed. David doesn't celebrate; he's the father. He crumbles into grief, and you can hear those cries of a father echoing down the years of history, "Absalom, my son, Absalom, Absalom!"
And so, Psalm 4 is a wonderful look, a wonderful window into the heart of a man who's in the middle of that kind of trial, in the middle of the unthinkable. And in that way, it's a bit of a textbook for us on how to fight this spiritual war of trial. Brothers and sisters, realize this, trial is war! And how do you fight that war for the soul that is always there in trial? Well, let me read again for you 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 to shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? The first remarkable thing that you see in the heart of David is in the midst of this disaster, in the midst of the unthinkable, this is the anointed king. God had placed, not only that title on David, but God had attached His own honor to the throne of David. How could it be that this would happen? And yet in this moment, David doesn't run from God, he runs to Him.
You know this, brothers and sisters, let's be honest--how tempting it is for us to run from God in these moments, to run from God in doubt and say, "God, I thought you loved me. How could this happen to me? I'm one of the good guys. I've followed You; I've obeyed You. This shouldn't happen." How easy it is to bring God into the court of our judgment and judge Him as unwise and unfaithful and unloving. I would like to say to you, "I've never done that!" But I have. There was a moment years ago in my ministry at CCEF where I had spent three years working on developing an aspect of the Ministry of CCEF, of three long years.
Three years of vision, but hard work, and the money that was supposed to be for that aspect of ministry had been misused by somebody outside of CCEF, and I walked in one day, and the director of CCEF, John Bettler, told me that everything I had worked for three years was not going to be. I wish I could've said that immediately I sang, "Whatever God ordains is right." You're laughing because you know. I was angry. I went to my office and I paced around. I said, "God, I did this for You. All this work is gone.
What sense does this make?" And yet, David's heart immediately runs to God and says essentially this, "You've answered me in the past; You've delivered me in the past; You will answer me now." What a remarkable response! And as David is running toward God as a man of love and compassion, as a leader, his heart immediately thinks of his fellow Israelites that may not know it, but they're in the midst of running from God, because listen, to follow Absalom is to turn your back on the throne of David and the honor of the God who stood behind that throne.
His Only Hope Is the Lord
You could not say, "My heart is with Absalom, and my heart is with God," at the same time. And here's a man who is grieved because he understands, in this moment, his only hope is the Lord; his only hope for the people that he leads is the Lord, and he says, "How long will you believe lies? How long will glory be turned into shame?" What a sad thing. Brothers and sisters, can we talk? When the unthinkable comes your way, when things that you would not have chosen, and you wouldn't have decided when trial and trouble come, no matter how small or how large, comes your way, I would ask you this evening, "Where does your heart run?
Do you run to God, or do you run away from Him?" Look at verse three, "But know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself; the LORD hears when I call to him." The second thing David does is David reminds himself of his identity in the Lord. I think one of the things that gets us in great trouble in times of trial is an insidious thing that I would call 'identity amnesia.' We just forget who we are, and we forget that if you're God's child, you're not the normal Joe or the normal Sally, and you're somehow trying to survive the fate of a fallen world.
That's not who we are. We are the children of the Most High God! And our stories are held in the hand of the Lord of lords and King of kings-bottom line! I would propose this to you. Maybe it's not identity amnesia. Maybe the reason trials are so hard for us is that they challenge the replacement identities that we're already carrying. Trials challenge the things that you look to for identity. Listen, your identity is not supposed to be in that person that you're married to. You should be thankful for that relationship, but that person is not your Messiah.
Your identity should not be in your job; it should not be in your appearance; it should not be in your physical health; it should not be in your financial well-being; it should not be in being a member of Tenth Church. It should be in the Lord. And if your identity is not in the Lord, you are a person in spiritual danger. And listen, trial is made all the more trial when the thing that I have placed my identity in now, is now at stake in my life. Perhaps that's why a loving God would allow trials in our lives, because those trials will rescue us; those trials call us back to, once again, place our identity and our meaning and purpose and that deep inner sense of well-being in the Lord and the Lord alone.
I would ask you this evening, "Is your identity in the Lord?" I'm not talking theologically; I'm talking functionally where the rubber-meets-the-road. Every day, do you say, "I am one of His set apart ones. I didn't set myself apart; He set me apart by His sovereign grace. And because I'm His set-apart one, He will never turn a deaf ear to my cry." Well, David does another remarkable thing. Verse four, he says, "Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent." David not only runs to God instead of running away from Him, and he not only reminds himself of his identity in the Lord, he examines his heart.
Listen, it is so easy in moments of trial to be so engaged in your suffering that you're not paying attention to what's going on in your heart in the middle of the suffering. And in verse 4, David mentions two of the very regular tendencies, two of the temptations that all of us face in moments of trial. The first one is anger. Maybe, that anger is low-grade irritation where everybody that's around you knows you're mad. Maybe that can be the silent treatment, and you're inflicting the people around you with steely and cold silence because you're angry.
Maybe that's a wife who's getting supper ready, but she's making a lot of noise with the pots and pans, more noise than she normally makes. She's angry. Maybe it's a parent and you're more irritable with your children because you're mad at what's going on. Maybe you scream more in traffic than you normally do. Listen, no matter where you express the anger, if you are angry in the middle of your circumstances, and you have claimed to believe in a sovereign God, your anger is with God. Now, most of us don't look God in the face and express that anger, but in subtle ways we're announcing that anger in our situations and relationships.
Anger With God in the Hearts of God's People
One of things that I was unprepared for as I counseled people in times of trial, I was unprepared for how much anger with God there is in the hearts of God's people. And beneath the struggles of circumstances was a dissatisfaction with God that was spiritually debilitating. Here it is, brothers and sisters, you don't typically run towards someone that you're angry against. But that anger results in another sin. Here's what he says, "Be angry, do not sin. Ponder in your heart, in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent."
Do you know how hard it is to be silent in times of trial? Because there is inside of you a complaint. It's the, "I don't like it", of the heart. And it's very, very hard when you're in that place where you do not like your life; you do not like what has been placed on your plate; you do not like what you have to deal with every day. It's very hard for that, "I do not like..." to not form the words that you speak, because you know the Bible teaches, "It's out of the heart that the mouth speaks." And so my anger and dissatisfaction with my circumstances spills over into all kinds of unhealthful and ungodly communication.
I know this is true of me. In my times of trouble, I've never hurt anybody by my silence because I probably have too much to say. What an amazing thing it is for a man in the midst of this crushing difficulty, to be so self-aware as to look into his own heart. But David's not done; look at verse five. "Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the LORD." Not only does he run to God, not only does he remind himself of his identity in the Lord, not only does he examine his heart, but David turns his heart toward worship.
When you're in difficulty, do you want to worship? I had it so powerfully said to me one day as I was walking through a time of great trial with a lady who was facing the unthinkable, and she said, "I can barely stand to sit in a service of worship. It's almost impossible for me to sing, 'Great is Thy Faithfulness.' I look around and I'm angry; I'm bitter against the people around me who seem to be worshiping with an open-heart. I say to myself, 'Why even bother going to church? Look what's going on in my life!'"
You see that that principle, when I'm dissatisfied with God, it's very hard to run to Him with an open heart of praise, of sacrifice, of worship. Perhaps worship is never sweeter, and worship is never more heartfelt, and worship is never more honest and true then in times of trial. Because, in that moment, I'm not worshiping God because I think He has delivered what would make me happy. (Are you hearing me?) I'm worshiping God because he's God. And that's worship! Look at verse six with me, "There are many who say, 'Who will show us some good?
Lift up the light of your face upon us, O LORD!'" Not only does David run to God. Not only does he remind himself of his identity in the Lord. Not only does he examine his heart. Not only does he give himself to worship, but David actually begins to minister to the people who are around him. Here's what's happening in verse six, David is probably in a poetic way summarizing what's going on in that cave; that band of followers who's loyal to him have followed him into the cave, and what are they saying to David?
"What's going to happen now? Tell us, King. How is this ever going to turn out good? What's going happen? What's going happen? What's going to happen?" I think it's very interesting what David does next. He doesn't answer those queries, those fearful, anxious questions with platitudinous theology. What he does is he prays, and he says essentially this, "Lord, what these people who are with me need is not a set of answers as much as a knowledge of an experience of Your presence in this cave. And, Lord, could You be, would You be so tender and loving and kind as to shine Your face on us?
We need to see You; we need to see You; we need to see You." Because here's what happens in trial, trial is like a mountain that lives in front of me that can cloud my vision of the Lord who is everywhere present within me. Oh, I can see the trial; I can see all the things that are happening right now. I can see all the, 'What ifs?' but the one thing I need to see, I don't see - the Lord who is with me. David is essentially saying, "Father, I know You're in this cave, reveal Your presence to us because we desperately need to see You."
Peace Is Found in a Person
Lasting, abiding, sturdy peace, brothers and sisters, is not to be found in understanding - lasting, sturdy, abiding peace is found in a Person and His name is Jehovah. Because this side of eternity, we won't understand; there won't always be wonderful explanatory answers, but you will always have the presence of the Lord because He will not leave you, and He will not forsake you. After all of that, David does this final sweet thing. Look at verses 7 & 8, "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." David does again the unthinkable; he lies down and goes to sleep in a rather joyful rest. You say, "How can this man have any joy in this moment?" Well, we need to understand what's going on here. We know from the historical account that this was a moment of great grief for David. There would be something wrong with this man if this wasn't a moment of grief. This was his calling. This was his boy. This is unthinkable, but interacting with that grief is something profound.
David is able to experience joy because as he runs to God, as he worships God in the midst of this trial, this trial has exegeted, has expounded something that is profoundly important. Here it is: "For You alone, O Lord, make me to dwell in safety." Think of this thought, "Father, if You and You alone are the source of my safety, I'm as safe in this cave as I was in the palace. Praise you! Praise you! Praise you! Praise you!" And with that profound thought, David's heart is filled with such joy that that joy puts him to sleep.
"You alone! You alone! You alone make me to dwell in safety." Now, I don't how you greeted, this evening, Psalm 4. Perhaps you're thinking, "Who is this unrealistic man? There's no way this man is anything like me. There's no way I'll ever respond to trial like this. Paul, this is so discouraging!" Well, may I remind you this man is like us? This is a man who is capable of grave sin, the sin of adultery, the sin of murder. Listen, Psalm 4 isn't a testament of an unrealistically perfect man; Psalm 4 is a narrative of what the grace of God can do in the heart of everyone who seeks Him.
This is not just David's Psalm. Brothers and sisters, this is your Psalm because that same God of grace would meet you in His grace in these moments of trouble. But there's another thing. You can't help but think that Psalm 4 is like a finger that points to another King. This King, too, left His throne; this King, too, faced the unthinkable; this King didn't just face the specter of death, this King died. This King ended up in a cave. The cave was a tomb. This King conquered that tomb, defeating sin and death.
That King is Jesus, and He faced death for you. He conquered death for you so you would have eternal life, but also, so that you would have the grace you need in your moment of suffering and difficulty in trial. I would ask you this evening, "Have you placed your trust in Jesus?" Maybe some of you have never, ever done that, not even for the first time. Maybe some of you are here and struggling in your functional trust of Jesus. Trust in Jesus; He was willing to face that cave for you. So that in trial, you would be able to say, "I have more joy than when their new grain and wine abound."
In peace, I'll lie down and sleep, for You alone, You alone make me dwell in safety." Let's Pray. Lord, thank you for this gorgeous Psalm written by a grieving man whose heart was a harmony of grief and joy. May we be people who run to and not from You. In Jesus name, Amen.
