Sunday Service - July 26, 2026 - Our True Peace and Joy

Thanks, you guys. That was amazing. Well, hey, everybody. Good morning. So as Pastor Thomas mentioned earlier, we are working our way through this Summer in the Psalms series. This morning, we're looking at Psalm 4. And a question that comes up sometimes about the Psalms is, what are they? Are they songs? Are they prayers? And the short answer to that is yes. Right? They are songs and they are prayers.

We know that Psalm 4 is a song because of the notation right at the beginning of the psalm. It says, to the choir master, with stringed instruments, a psalm of David. The New Living Translation puts that same notation. It says, for the choir director, a psalm of David, to be accompanied by stringed instruments. So Psalm 4 is a song. It is clearly a song. But it's also a prayer.

Psalm 4 is what's called an evening psalm. It goes along with Psalm 3, which Pastor Thomas dug into for us last week. Psalm 3 is a morning psalm, and Psalm 4 is an evening psalm. And as the names imply, they're intended to start and to finish the day, to bring clarity, to bring focus through prayer and worship. David wrote these two Psalms during a very difficult time in his life.

He was processing and coping with some pretty significant pain. The pain that came from what happened with his son Absalom. Absalom was David's third son. He was known for his striking good looks, for his charisma. The name Absalom actually comes from two Hebrew root words, av meaning father and shalom meaning peace. Shalom can also mean tranquility, harmony, stability. Despite his name, Absalom was anything but peaceful. He didn't just lead a rebellion against his father, he led a full-on civil war against his father.

And that conflict only ended when Absalom was killed by the commander of David's army, Joab. Now David didn't want his son to be killed, 2 Samuel 18 5. says very clearly. It says, the king ordered Joab and Abishai and Ittai, deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom. And all the people heard when the king gave orders to all the commanders about Absalom.

David was very clear. He was very specific. Deal gently. Don't kill him. But Joab disregarded that command. Now, what's most likely is that he had good intentions. He wanted to bring a quick end to the rebellion. He wanted to restore order. But Joab's desire and his actions were a direct contradiction of what David wanted. And so now, David is struggling with guilt and doubt and loss and anger and grief. That's a lot of significant pain. And he wrote these two Psalms in that pain to sort through, to pray through that pain.

I don't know if you're struggling with anything today. I don't know if you're dealing with anything difficult today. Maybe right now you feel like you're in a good place, right? Things are good right now. That's great. Praise God for that. But we all know that that can change.

In John 16, 33, Jesus tells us specifically, very clearly, Jesus said, I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world. Jesus himself tells us that we're going to have difficult times. The New Living Translation puts that verse, here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. I think sometimes we think that when we surrender our lives to Jesus, when we become followers of Jesus, that all our trouble goes away, that it protects us from any difficulty. Man, that is a lie from the pit of hell and it smells like smoke. Jesus himself said, you will have many trials and sorrows.

That's life in a fallen world. So maybe you are struggling with something today. I don't know what that is. Maybe it's something from this past week or two. Maybe it's something that you've been dealing with for years, for a long time. Maybe it's something that was said or done to you in the past. Maybe it's something you did. And you're still dealing with the fallout of that guilt, regret, anger, shame. And baby, whatever it is, you can't seem to get past it. Maybe you've moved on from it, but moving on is not the same as dealing with it. And it still hurts.

One of the things that I learned as an EMT for 10 years is that chronic pain, physical, emotional, and spiritual pain will make you do and say things that you would never do or say outside of that pain. Prolonged pain will change your behavior. David was experiencing pain. He experienced the guilt and the shame that came with that pain. And instead of ignoring it, instead of becoming angry and bitter, pretending that it didn't happen, he went directly to God for help. Whatever you're experiencing right now, guilt or shame, grief, loss, anger, regret, feeling abandoned or alone, those are normal responses to pain.

The word that we like to use right now is trauma, emotional and spiritual trauma. That seems pretty descriptive to me. That seems pretty accurate to me. So if you have unresolved trauma, the question is, how do you deal with that in a healthy way? We can all come up with some pretty unhealthy ways of coping. Some of those we've seen in the lives of others. Maybe you've seen it in your own life. We know the end result of unhealthy coping.

Psalm 4 gives us a healthy model. Psalm 4 gives us an emotionally and spiritually healthy way to deal with difficulty. So whatever it is that you're dealing with or facing, big or small, the first step to dealing with difficulty that we see in Psalm 4 is to start with prayer. Always start with prayer.

That's what we see David doing here in verse one. David writes, 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. God wants us, his children, to come directly to him in prayer. He wants us to trust in him. He wants us to trust the righteousness that we have because of Jesus. We know that God answers prayer, right? We've seen God answer prayer in the past. We see it in scripture. We see it in the lives of people we know. We've seen it in our own lives. We know that God answers prayer.

Last month, I was in North Carolina on the missions trip. We brought a team of 15 people to North Carolina, and we thought we were going to build a ramp. Right, our job, our mission was to build a wheelchair ramp. We thought we were going to just work, to accomplish a task. Then we got there and we met Paul and Janice, the homeowners that we were building this ramp for.

Paul is 88, his wife Janice is 83. Janice had recently become very ill and couldn't navigate the stairs out of their house. She needed a wheelchair. She could not do stairs. Getting her to her doctor appointments was incredibly difficult. And they were feeling trapped in their own house. Paul told us he didn't know what he was gonna do. He didn't know what to do.

And so he called Baptist on Mission. They're a local missions agency. They came to his house on a Thursday. and they spoke with them. They drew up a plan for a ramp. Paul said he was praying that Sunday, because he didn't know or understand how this was gonna work. Baptists on mission said, we're gonna come and do this thing, but he didn't understand it. He didn't know how this was gonna work. And he said on Sunday afternoon, he asked God to help him. He asked God to show him how this was gonna work. And then we showed up at his door Monday morning.

Paul told us that we were literally an answer to his desperate prayer. God answers prayer. God answers prayer because of who he is, not because of anything we do. He answers prayer because of who he is. Whatever it is that you're dealing with or facing right now, start with prayer and then trust him to answer that prayer. We've all experienced answered prayer in the past. We know that God has done it in the past. We've all experienced that.

Trust him to be gracious and to hear your prayer. Once you've spent some time in prayer, the second step to dealing with difficulty that we see in Psalm 4 is to name your pain. Be specific. Again, that's what we see David doing, verses 2 and 3. He writes, O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah. Hold on to that word. We're gonna get back to that in a second.

But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself. The Lord hears when I call to him. When David says, O men, in verse two, he's referring specifically to the men who followed his son Absalom into rebellion. He's referring to what they did. That is the source of his pain, the things that are being said and believed about him and the shame that that brought. David addresses that specifically. We can do the same thing. David calls out the behavior of the people who opposed him. He calls them to turn from vain words and lies.

He's calling out the behavior because that's what's causing his pain. And so as you think about what is causing your pain, as you think about what is most difficult for you, name it. What is it that's causing you pain? Name the source of your pain, not the person. We're not talking about assigning blame or guilt. We want to name the issue, the behavior, not the person and why.

It's interesting that word sila is right there. We don't know the exact meaning of that word, but most scholars agree that it most likely means to pause or reflect. And so as you reflect on your pain, as you rehash what the other person did or said, as you get agitated again, as you get wound up again, as your wound gets opened up again, sila, pause, reflect, listen.

Trust Him. Allow a pause in your thoughts. Allow space for God to speak in that moment. Allow some silence so that you can hear what He is saying to you. Remember the truth of verse three, the Lord hears when I call to Him. Pause. Listen. See life. Because the third step in dealing with difficulty and receiving peace that we see in Psalm 4 is to reflect on and acknowledge your own sin and repent. That's what we see David doing, verses 4 and 5. He says, be angry and do not sin. Ponder in your own hearts on your beds and be silent. Selah. Offer right sacrifices and put your trust in the Lord. David is urging quiet reflection and inner examination before God.

Anger is not necessarily sin. There are certainly sinful forms of anger, prideful, self-serving anger, uncontrolled rage. That's a sinful sort of anger. But there are some things that we should be angry about. Injustice. mistreatment, abuse, racism. Those are things that we should be angry about.

And I don't believe that it is sinful to be angry about those things. But what you do in or with that anger might be. David says very clearly in verse four, be angry and do not sin. Acknowledge your anger, right? What is it that you're angry about and why? Acknowledge that. but also acknowledge what you may have done in that anger and repent.

Scripture consistently calls us to repentance, turning away from sin and towards God. I feel like sometimes we think of repentance as, well, that's something that other people should do. No, no. It means you. It means me. Repent. We have to honestly reflect on our own hearts. We have to recognize our part in the pain that we might be experiencing. We have to guard our hearts from deceit, from self-deceit, from pride, from misplaced trust. David says, ponder in your own hearts on your beds and be silent. Sila, pause. Stop what you're doing. Reflect. and repent, but that doesn't mean do nothing.

We also have to offer right sacrifices. That phrase, to offer right sacrifices, it's pointing to a sincere worship, a sincere change of heart, not empty ritual or words. Our worship and our willingness to serve Him both flow from a changed heart. And our obedience is the evidence of a genuine faith. Not words that sound spiritual, but are actually empty and kind of meaningless. True repentance. Acknowledging and turning away from our sin. Which brings us to the fourth step to dealing with difficulty and receiving peace in Psalm 4, is to trust that God hears and answers.

David writes, there are many who say, who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord. You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. Some people believe that joy and happiness come from stuff, right, from money, that they believe that prosperity means money and money means God's blessing. It's not true. David finds joy in God himself. He writes, you have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.

He's reminding himself that spiritual joy surpasses any kind of material blessing. We can remember that as well. Our true satisfaction is found in Jesus, not in any worldly success or possessions. That's an easy thing to say, right? It preaches really well, right? It sounds very spiritual. But for me, this is not just theory, right? This is not just an academic concept. It's not just a nice thing to think about and to say. My family and I lived this out.

Some of you may know, in May of 2018, we had a massive house fire. We had a generator, the power had gone out, we had a generator, generator caught fire, caught the deck on fire, we were off and running. We lost everything. All that I owned in the world was what I was wearing at the time. I was wearing my fleece ducky pajama pants and my Pez t-shirt. That's it. One of my kids ran out of the house without shoes. Right? We literally had nothing. Everything that we had ever owned or known went up in flames. We literally had nothing except our cars and the clothes that we were wearing. And yet we had joy.

The insurance company had set us up in a hotel. And so as we finished up with the fire marshal and we got in our cars and we drove to the hotel, as we drove away from the burned out wreckage that had once been our house, we were singing Weird Al Yankovic songs on the way to the hotel. Albuquerque, anybody know the song Albuquerque? Weird Al, look it up, great song.

We weren't happy that we had lost everything, but we had joy because of Jesus. David wasn't happy in his situation, but he found joy in the Lord. He wrote that he had more joy in his heart than they had with their wealth. Think about that, let that percolate for a minute. Because of the Lord, he had more joy in his heart than they had with their wealth. David's son had led a rebellion against him. David's commander had ignored his order and put his son to death. And even in all that guilt and shame and anger, he chose joy. We can do that as well. Where do you find your joy? Is it in stuff? Is it in circumstances? Or is it in Jesus? Will you choose joy despite your circumstances?

To do that, we have to understand the final point. We have to understand that our true peace and rest come from Jesus, not our circumstances. Knowledge is not the same as understanding, right? I know what a guitar is, right? I know how guitars work, but I don't have the understanding to actually play one. Cognitively, we can know that our true peace and rest come only from God, but it's not the same as understanding. We can understand it because of Jesus. David understood it. In verse eight, he said, in peace, I will both lie down and sleep. I don't know if you've ever had the experience of lying down and not sleeping. Right? You feel like you're awake all night long.

David said, in peace, I will both lie down and sleep for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. David's peace is not circumstantial. David's peace is not theoretical. David's peace is theological. He says, in peace, I will lie down and sleep for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Now, I don't want to tell you that your peace should be theological, because that word should feels like me telling you what to do and how to think and how to live. That's not my job, right? It is not my job to tell you what to think and how to live. You have to choose that for yourself. We each choose that for yourself.

What I am saying is that your peace can be theological if you choose that. As followers of Jesus, our peace is grounded in God's sovereignty and God's grace. Our peace does not and cannot come from anything or anyone except Jesus. We receive that peace, we have that peace because of Jesus, but we each have to choose that. We choose that every single day, sometimes hour by hour, sometimes moment by moment. We have to stop, pause, sila, in the moment, and choose the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. That's what Philippians 4-7 tells us. The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

And we know that Proverbs 3.5 tells us very clearly, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. We don't have to understand it all because the peace of Jesus surpasses all our understanding. But we do have to choose to trust him, even when life is hard, especially when life is hard. Psalm 4 moves from distress to rest, and it shows us that clear pathway to peace. Call on God, name your pain, repent of sin, trust his care, and rest in his protection. We are able to do all of that because of Jesus. He is the one who gives true rest to our soul. Will you let him give you that peace today? Selah. Let's pray.

Father, we know that you love us. Father, we know that because you pour out your blessings upon us. Even when life is difficult, even when life is hard, even when we don't recognize it, You are with us. Father, help us in the coming days to recognize your great love for us. Father, give us the courage, give us the strength to rest. Father, remind us to pause, to sila, to hear what you have to say, to understand what you want to reveal to us about who you are and who we are. Father, thank you for your great love for us, for your patience with us. Most of all, we thank you for your son, Jesus, who you gave for us so we could spend eternity in heaven with you. We pray this in Jesus' name.