April 14 - Psalm 4

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Welcome to Devotions for Worship where we meditate on the appointed Scripture readings for the upcoming Sunday. I am Pastor Eric Tritten from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Hudson, OH. Thank you for being with me today.

If I were going to choose a couple words that summarize our readings for this week they would be repentance and forgiveness. In the Psalm for this Sunday, King David writes of his righteousness – he recognizes that he is a forgiven sinner. But also seeks to live a life of repentance – a life that turns away from sin, and seeks to follow God’s ways for his life.

Let’s read it. The Psalm appointed for the 3rd Sunday of Easter is….

The Reading: Psalm 4 ESV
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.
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!
 2 O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah
 3 But know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself;
the LORD hears when I call to him.
 4 Be angry, and do not sin;
ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah
 5 Offer right sacrifices,
and put your trust in the LORD.
 6 There are many who say, "Who will show us some good?
Lift up the light of your face upon us, O LORD!"
 7 You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.
 8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.  

Comments:
The Psalms are beautiful examples of what it means to meditate on God’s Word. They are, actually, at the same time meditations on God’s Word and God’s Word. Pretty cool!
David begins with thinking about God’s salvation as he calls out to God. He trusts God will hear him because God makes him righteous. He forgives him. He gives David relief from the distress of life, which all flow from sin. He trusts God’s grace to hear his prayer and answer him.
In verse 2 he begins to remind himself (and us) of different parts of God’s will for us. He is calling us to turn away from things like slander, lying, anger, sin, and doubt, and to turn toward faith in the LORD, remembering God’s mercy, speaking to our hearts about God’s love, His will, His deeds, His salvation, and trusting in Him.
And notice that this meditation on repentance and forgiveness has an impact on David. God gives him joy and peace.
We too can remember God’s forgiveness and consider ways we can repent, ways we can turn from our sin. We can meditate on God’s love and salvation and we can think about what our response His love and salvation should be. And we, too, receive joy and peace as we do. So let’s listen to the Psalm again to meditate on God’s forgiveness and our response of repentance.

The Reading: Psalm 4 ESV
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.
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!
 2 O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah
 3 But know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself;
the LORD hears when I call to him.
 4 Be angry, and do not sin;
ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah
 5 Offer right sacrifices,
and put your trust in the LORD.
 6 There are many who say, "Who will show us some good?
Lift up the light of your face upon us, O LORD!"
 7 You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.
 8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.  

Prayers:
O God, You answer when we call on You, and because You answer us we have joy and peace in our lives. Thank You for hearing our prayers and leading us to live our lives walking in Your paths. We pray for your forgiveness though, because we know that too often we turned away from godliness, we have become angry and sinned. This has robbed us of our joy and it has stolen our peace. Forgive us and restore Your joy and peace to us, so that as we dwell in safety we will walk in Your ways. Amen.

Memory Verse: 1 John 3:1 - See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (1 Jn. 3:1 ESV)

Thank you so much for using Devotions for Worship, I pray that our time together has blessed you and given you something to meditate on – some reminder of God’s grace to rattle around in your brain – for the rest of the day.

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God bless you!

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