Daily Surrender PSALMS 4

PSALMS 4

Taken from daily Devotions

September 29 2005

(Psa 4:1)  Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.

“Hear me when I call” This may sound like a strange statement, but how many of us expect to be heard when we don’t even call? Of course God does know what we need before we even ask Him, so this “calling out” to God is more for our benefit and for that of those around us.  For our benefit, it is a confession of our need for our wondrous God, which provokes growth in humility. For others, it is a demonstration of power in time of need so that they may also learn to call upon God.

“He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities”.(Psa 103:10), God does not deal with us according to our sins,  or we would be lost, but He deals with us according to the righteousness given according to the mercies found in the blood of Jesus-Christ shed for us. (Mercy= Undeserved forgiveness)

In Old Testament times, in order to make a request from God, people had to go to a Rabbi, bring a sacrificial offering and make their request in fear and trembling.  What a privilege it is today that we can simply pray offering only the sacrifice of praise.  This privilege is something that we have not earned, but received freely, paid for by the death of Jesus-Christ on the cross.

Oh that we would call unto God as unto a loving Father.  So many of us who call Him “Our Father” act like orphans!  Call Him today, in the righteousness of Jesus-Christ, and yes, He will enlarge you when you are in distress; He will have mercy and hear your prayer.

Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
(Jer 33:3)




September 30th 2005

(Psa 4:2)  O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? How long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah.

In his flight from Absalom, David continues praying to God.  His fight is fully borne in the Spirit world.  As he cries unto God against the foolish vanity of the men who are taking the kingdom from him that God has given him, we can hear the cry of God against what Jesus called our “perverse and adulterated generation”.  

We, the people—humanity--are the glory of God. We are wonderfully and fearfully made in His powerful and likeness, and yet our attitude and conduct brings to shame the image of the glorious God who created us.  Can you hear Him cry from the Heavens begging us to change our behavior?  From the winds of the skies and the waters of the seas He cries to get our attention away from our proud vain thoughts and ways, and teach us that all of our puny inventions cannot protect us from the mighty God ruler of all and that we are extremely vulnerable and at the hand and mercy of the Great one who created us.

“How long?” He screams, “How long will you seek after “leasing” ”, after the lies, falsehood and pretense of the carnal man; in these words can you feel the soul of the weeping prophet:

Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
(Jer 9:1)
     



October 1st 2005

Psa 4:3  But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him.

Child of God, does following Him causes loneliness to your heart?  Do you feel that you have to forsake the past again and again?  Do you feel that at times, He takes you on a limb and requires you to saw it off?  Do you feel Him right now taking you to a lonely desert for a decision that can influence the rest of your life?  

Fear not little one! He honors those who are willing to take new paths that He hath set for them.  He honors those who desire to follow His name and His name only, unafraid of flame or foe.  This is the way of the Bridegroom calling, wooing His Bride away from the cares, distractions and dependences on this world, in order to get her full service, attention and dedication.  He likes to take her out of Egypt, away from her comfort zone and let her feel His love, basking in her total dependence on Him.  

The winds of His Holy Spirit blow here today, and there tomorrow.  May I be a Bride who knows how to follow the changing and purging winds of the Spirit of my Bridegroom, hearing and obeying when He takes me and sets me apart, knowing that wherever He chooses to takes me, is the best place for me regardless of how the outward conditions look.

Help me to walk with you unreserved on the new path that you set for me daily, “forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.”(Phi 3:13)

And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
(Gen 5:24)





(Psa 4:4)  Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.

Now that you have been set aside, separated and sanctified for His purpose, now that He has drawn you out and away from your own purposes to bring you unto Him, and now that He has called you to a new purpose in your life, make Him the object of your focus.  Do not look to the left or to the right in doubt and questioning of His ways for you.  

Now is a time for sweet communion with Him within the Holy of Holies, the chambers of your own heart where He lives.  Now is the time for quietness, reflection and listening to His voice; the time of the taking off of the shoes to approach the Mount and hear the voice of God giving His instructions.  

It is there that in the silence of your own purposes and in the surrendering of your will that he will give you the peace that passes all understanding, that He will reveal Himself as well as His purpose to you just as He did with Moses (Ex 19-20), and with Paul when they went to Mt. Sinai in Arabia (Gal 1;17; 4:25).


Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
(Heb 10:19-24)


October 3rd 2005

(Psa 4:5)
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.

There are several sacrifices which God refused in the Bible. Cain’s fruit of the ground, Saul’s spoil of war, and the Pharisee’s proud and self-righteous gifts. The sacrifices of righteousness require trust in the Lord.  When Araunah insisted on giving to David everything he needed to make an offering, the King answered, “I will not give onto the Lord of that which has cost me nothing” (2 Sam 24); if it doesn’t cost, it makes an oxymoron of the word “sacrifice”.

A sacrifice of righteousness is mixed with obedience, an obedience that cost deep down in the soul.  If it doesn’t cost, it is not a sacrifice of righteousness, just a ritual.  Often, the Lord wants that very thing which hurts to give, our Isaac, the last handful of meal in the barrel, and the last little oil in the cruse (1 Kings 17:12) because when that happens, we have to trust Him again for our inheritance and daily sustenance.

Dear one, be not afraid to give what the Lord asks of you; be not afraid to lay at His feet the thing that you want.  Wake up each morning and have an “exchange of wills”, exchange what you want for what He wants, and you will see that, and see God accept your sacrifice as an acceptable sweet odor.  As the old preacher said, “Put your hand into the hand of God, and He shall be more to you than a light and better than a known way.”  

Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
(Psa 50:5)




October 4th 2005

(Psa 4:6)
There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.

Does it seem that this skeptic world’s screaming is getting so loud that it is difficult to hear the voice of God? Does it also seem that, even among brethren, the voice of certainty towards God’s care is fading, giving way to doubt and self-reliance?  Would this be a sign of the great apostasy spoken of by the Apostle Paul?  

Such times, when many mock and ridicule the person of faith, are not times to listen to their criticisms.  Such times are rather for coming closer to God and letting His countenance shine upon us.  

It is as we look upon Him that our countenance is lifted. It is as we meditate upon His gracious love and abundant care that our faith in Him grows. It is as we focus our face on His that that the sun can rise on our world of darkness and worry. It is as we hear His songs of comforting reassurance that the voice of the world is drowned out and made insignificant.

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
(Rom 10:17)




October 5, 2005

Psa 4:7
Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.


God’s blessings are not measured in dollars and cents; riches do make themselves wings! (Prov23: 5) The truly happy individual is one who has learned to love, cherish and value the blessings that come from the heart, the spiritual blessings that no robber can steal and no rust can corrupt.  It is in that sole ability that lies the virtue and pure happiness of the person who is not affected by gold nor silver.

Oh, to feel the joy of the Lord, the joy that makes their rejoicing a mournful dirge, that compares their wealth to a famine, and the brightness which makes their freedom an illusion. It is the pure in heart that will see and feel these things of the Lord.

Jesus, please clean my heart from all the world’s delusions so that I can see, feel, and experience the true, pure and undefiled gladness of your spirit in my heart.

Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you.
(Joh 15:3)
The law of Thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.
(Psa 119:72)  



October 5, 2005

(Psa 4:8) I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.

Let us not forget the context of this statement.  Oh, it is so easy to be at peace and tranquility when life flows like soft sweet song, but is it right that this peace seems to wane with the mounting staccatos that life offers?

David was leaving Jerusalem in disgrace, fleeing from his own son Absalom, who had mounted a mutiny against him.  He knew also that this misfortune was only a result of his own sinful actions that as a king, he needed to atone for, as a reference point to his people.

We are supposed keep our focus on the Lord to at all times.  When a woman is in labor in natural childbirth, it is strongly suggested that she have choose a focal point, such as a pleasant picture, to concentrate on during her breathing.  What a wonderful time for her, when doing the hardest work that she’ll ever do, to make Jesus her focal point, either in her mind or via a picture in front of her.  And what else, what a wonderful illustration of the Church, the bride of Christ, all the more intently concentrating on her Lord in her time of labor.  It is then and only then that she can have that inner peace and comforting faith in the midst of the hard labor of life, that also bring forth life.

May we, in the times of life-giving hard labor that we encounter in the school of God, also make our focus the Promises that the Lord has given us in His Word so that we, like King David can both lay ourselves down in peace and sleep.

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature…
(2Pe 1:4)

My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.
(Psa 57:7)