3 But know that Yahweh has set apart for himself him who is godly: Yahweh will hear when I call to him.
the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment;
For how would people know that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Isn't it in that you go with us, so that we are separated, I and your people, from all the people who are on the surface of the earth?"
Oh love Yahweh, all you his saints! Yahweh preserves the faithful, And pays back him who deals proudly in full.
Yahweh's eyes are toward the righteous. His ears listen to their cry.
As for me, I will call on God. Yahweh will save me. Evening, morning, and at noon, I will cry out in distress. He will hear my voice.
Then my enemies shall turn back in the day that I call. I know this, that God is for me.
You didn't choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.
But we are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth; to which he called you through our Gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
However God's firm foundation stands, having this seal, "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Let every one who names the name of the Lord{TR reads "Christ" instead of "the Lord"} depart from unrighteousness."
who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 4
Commentary on Psalms 4 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 4
David was a preacher, a royal preacher, as well as Solomon; many of his psalms are doctrinal and practical as well as devotional; the greatest part of this psalm is so, in which Wisdom cries to men, to the sons of men (as Prov. 8:4, 5), to receive instruction. The title does not tell us, as that of the former did, that it was penned on any particular occasion, nor are we to think that all the psalms were occasional, though some were, but that many of them were designed in general for the instruction of the people of God, who attended in the courts of his house, the assisting of their devotions, and the directing of their conversations: such a one I take this psalm to be. Let us not make the prophecy of scripture to be of more private interpretation than needs must, 2 Pt. 1:20. Here
To the chief musician on Neginoth. A psalm of David.
Psa 4:1-5
The title of the psalm acquaints us that David, having penned it by divine inspiration for the use of the church, delivered it to the chief musician, or master of the song, who (according to the divine appointment of psalmody made in his time, which he was chiefly instrumental in the establishment of) presided in that service. We have a particular account of the constitution, the modelling of the several classes of singers, each with a chief, and the share each bore in the work, 1 Chr. 25. Some prophesied according to the order of the king, v. 2. Others prophesied with a harp, to give thanks, and to praise the Lord, v. 3. Of others it is said that they were to lift up the horn, v. 5. But of them all, that they were for song in the house of the Lord (v. 6) and were instructed in the songs of the Lord, v. 7. This psalm was committed to one of the chiefs, to be sung on neginoth-stringed instruments (Hab. 3:19), which were played on with the hand; with music of that kind the choristers were to sing this psalm: and it should seem that then they only sung, not the people; but the New-Testament appoints all Christians to sing (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16), from whom it is expected that they do it decently, not artfully; and therefore there is not now so much occasion for musical instruments as there was then: the melody is to be made in the heart. In these verses,
In singing these verses we must preach to ourselves the doctrine of the provoking nature of sin, the lying vanity of the world, and the unspeakable happiness of God's people; and we must press upon ourselves the duties of fearing God, conversing with our own hearts, and offering spiritual sacrifices; and in praying over these verses we must beg of God grace thus to think and thus to do.
Psa 4:6-8
We have here,
In singing these verses, and praying over them, let us, with a holy contempt of the wealth and pleasure of this world, as insufficient to make us happy, earnestly seek the favour of God and pleasingly solace ourselves in that favour; and, with a holy indifferency about the issue of all our worldly concerns, let us commit ourselves and all our affairs to the guidance and custody of the divine Providence, and be satisfied that all shall be made to work for good to us if we keep ourselves in the love of God.