Confidence In The Face of Adversaries
All believers will face trouble, calamity, and opposition at sometime in their lives. In Psalm 4 David is facing trouble from many adversaries who seek his ruin. David’s response is one that all believers can emulate.
David begins this psalm with prayer to God (1). He calls out to his God in faith. He declares that his righteousness comes from God himself. David continues by stating that God has set him free from distress in times past. The word “distress” here means “a tight place or bind.” God had set him free from his distress and given him room to breathe. Because of this fact he is confident in asking God to show him grace in the present circumstances.
Brethren, a couple of observations here. First, David has righteousness only because God has imputed it to him. Salvation has always been by God’s grace, through faith. Just as Abraham believed and God reckoned it to him as righteousness (Gen 15:6), so it is also with David and all those who believe. Brethren, being declared righteous is a gift of God’s grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus (Rom 3:24). David’s prayer is a personal call to the God he knows and loves.
Second, David is confident to ask God for His grace and attention because of this person relationship with Him. David knows the nature of God from His Scriptures and has seen God’s faithfulness in his own life. He knew that God is “compassionate and gracious, full of lovingkindness and truth” (Ex 34:6-7). Our confidence in praying to God comes from our understanding of God’s nature and His word. The more we understand of the nature of God, the more we see His faithfulness in our own lives.