Psalm 4

God hears His righteous servant when he cries out to Him. Yet it may not always feel that way immediately. What is a man to do in a situation where He needs the Lord now, and God seems to be far off? The true worshiper must not give up. He cries out to God, “Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness.”

Think about that title carefully. He calls the Lord, “God of my righteousness.” Righteousness is a very important matter for a person who wants God to hear His voice. God will not hear the unrighteous. To be righteous in God's eyes, is to have legal standing in his court. It is better than being declared not guilty. It is a positive verdict of being in accord with what God has defined as right. To be declared righteous in the court of God is to have the standing of a perfectly obedient man.

Where can anyone find the obedience necessary to have that kind of legal standing before God? Only God is good like that. If God would allow His own perfect standing to be credited to His servant, then we could have righteousness, but only as a gift. Yet God is just, and He will by no means clear the guilty. There needs to be an honest way for the worshiper to receive God's righteousness as a gift. The debt of the guilty man's sin must be paid by a man who has true righteousness in himself. Where can this true righteousness be found? Only in God. A guilty man's sin deserves death. God must become man to die for men. He pays the worshiper's debt through His own death, so that the one who calls upon the Name of the Lord can be credited with the righteousness of God. The gracious God of the worshiper is the One he rightly calls the “God of my righteousness.”

The worshiper reminds the Lord of an earlier time when God heard him. “You have given me relief when I was in distress.” He asks now for the mercy of being heard.

There is an intensity to his plea that is born from a true sense of danger. The worshiper is not in heaven but on earth. He addresses his enemies in this psalm. They take his honor and turn it into shame. They have their own court of judgment. In that court lies prevail. In that court the judgment of heaven is overturned. Evil is celebrated as honorable, and true righteousness is declared disgraceful. This sad condition is a sign of extreme societal disintegration. See Romans 1:32.

Despite the distress all around him, the worshiper will not abandon his faith. He knows that calling evil good and good evil cannot ultimately prevail. The pronouncements of the courts of men are impressive, but when they contradict the court of God, they must eventually give way to the truth. But how long, O Lord?

There is a God in heaven, and He has set apart the godly for himself. Even before the provision of the Righteous One who would take our penalty and grant us His righteousness God was already setting apart people for Himself. Since the days of Adam, these people set apart by God have been calling upon the Name of the Lord in worship. All that they have has come to them from the God of their righteousness. The Lord hears them when they call to him. He does this for His own Name's sake. He is their God. They are His saints, his holy ones, a people set apart by true worship.

It is for these saints that Christ died. God chose them in Christ before the foundation of the world. He granted them faith and repentance. They called upon His Name, and He saved them. They will follow Him and do the works that He has prepared in advance for them. They have been saved, they are being saved, and they will be utterly saved. See 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10. All praise goes to God for their salvation, from beginning to end, from their eternal predestination in Christ all the way to their eternal glorification in that same Christ.

How do these saints live in a world that is so infected with evil? They are angry about wikedness, but they are not to pursue sin in their passion. Advice to fish who are just trying to get along: Watch out for bait. Not everything that looks delicious is safe to pounce on. In anger, a worshiper of God can become self-righteous and even murderous. That is not the pathway of faith. The only right road for us is that of the God of our righteousness.

Take time to think about this on your beds at night in silence until you see the way of righteousness again. Then love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you. And do not forget that God will judge. He says, “Vegeance is Mine. I will repay.” If you will remember that righteousness is His and vengeance is His, then you will be patient in affliction, and call upon His Name. Continue to worship Him, offering the sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His Name, and put your trust in the Lord.

This is the pathway of true joy in a world of difficulty and evil. God will show you good. The light of His face in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is very good, and God will grant you a taste of this great good very soon. Receive His cross-bought righteousness again as a gift, and even if you die at the hands of the unjust, know that you will lie down in peace and will dwell with the Lord in perfect safety.