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Psalm 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.

David pleads with God to hear his prayer, and at the same time trusts that He does indeed. He is confident in God’s justice and love (righteousness and mercy), that because of His character, holiness and love, God hears his prayer. God has made him bigger and safer when he was in distress. There were many times of distress in David’s life, and God delivered him out of them all. Now in the present moment, he prays to God and believes Him to hear once again.

Calling upon God for Jesus’ sake and praying in His name is our first response to distress and trouble and worry in our lives. Indeed, living in such a world as we do, this kind of moment comes up every day, for we are always in some kind of stress. We may look to many sources for help, but our first resort is to turn to God in prayer. We trust Him to hear our prayer in time of need. He is holy and just and will always do the right thing. He is loving and merciful and wants to do what is good for us. He will enlarge us.

Psalm 3:4-5 I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me from his holy hill. I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the Lord sustained me.

During the crisis with Absalom’s rebellion when David was on the run, he cried to the Lord. The Lord heard his prayer, and David was able to lie down and sleep. The Lord sustained him in this crisis.

Sleep does not come easily in a crisis. But in the midst of this threat and worry he was able to sleep peacefully, because he cried out to the Lord and the Lord heard him.. The assurance of God’s watchful care and answers to prayer bring peace. It is easier to sleep well when we have full assurance that God is in control of every circumstance. Sleep comes more easily when we pour out our heart to God and thank Him that He is in control.

We don’t have to wait for a crisis to cry to the Lord. Crisis or not, every night we may pray, receive assurance that God hears, and then lie down and sleep peacefully.

Psalm 2:11-12 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

Instead of rebelling and raging against the Lord, our response to God in our life should be love, service, rejoicing, submission, and trust. The rebellious kings of the earth includes all of us. God is wrathful against His sinful and rebellious created humanity. He will send His Son who will break them in pieces at the Judgment, but He will also bear upon himself our deserved punishment. Either way, all sin and rebellion will be judged either on Jesus or on us.

Therefore a Holy God is to be feared (worshipped and believed). And those who believe the Son will serve (love) Him, who has taken away the punishment. They will rejoice with trembling (feeling). They will kiss (an act of worship and submission). They will be blessed because they put their trust in Him. They trust Him because they know He has died for them, taken their judgment, forgiven their sins, and earned for them eternal life. Blessing follows.

The very Son who sits in just judgment is the very One who died for us. When the Spirit grants such faith through the Gospel we naturally respond with service, rejoicing, and submissive worship.

Psalm 2:1-2 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his anointed.

All people since Adam are born sinners who rebel against their Creator. We ask why they would rebel, since God is good and kind. It is a vain and useless task to rage against the Almighty Creator, but man is deceived. They dig in their heels contrary to reason. They even discuss together how to throw off the supposed shackles God places upon them. This rebellion is not only against the Father Creator, but also against the anointed Son and Savior.

It is not only politicians who rebel and rage. All of us show this sinful streak even in early childhood as we resist authority. Teenagers rebel against authority, and even adults don’t like being told what to do. Submission, humility, and dependence on God are hard lessons for humans to learn. Thus civil law enforcement is necessary to keep the peace so that we can live in a world of rebels.

The believer recognizes this streak within him and repents. He learns obedience through the things he suffers, even as Jesus as a man learned what it is like to experience obedience. He learns to submit to the will of God, knowing because of Jesus that His will is always best and for our good. As believers, we learn to accept the discipline of the Lord through the Word and the Spirit in the experiences of life.

It takes time, but we do stop raging.

Psalm 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

Blessed is the person who delights in the Word of God and meditates in it day and night. The law of the Lord is the Torah (the five Books of Moses), and by extension it refers to the whole Bible as God’s unfolding revelation is completed. Delighting in the Word is the opposite of the man who lives in the way of the world (the ungodly, the sinners, and the scoffers). He does not walk, stand, or sit among them. Instead, he pays attention to God and His Word.

Our response to God’s Word is to be in the Word regularly. We go to church, attend Bible study, and spend time alone with God daily. We do not associate regularly with the unbelieving people of the world in order to avoid living and thinking their way. Our thoughts during the day (and night) are with Jesus. We strengthen our faith relationship with God by remembering God and thinking of His Word as often as possible.

Listening to God and being with Him leads to a truly blessed life. We may not always see the blessings but we do enjoy them by faith in the Gospel. The life of a believing Christian is truly blessed and a blessing, especially when compared to the life of the unbelieving world.

Job 42:6 Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

When Almighty God appears, touches us, and speaks with us, the natural response is to despise oneself and repent in dust and ashes. God appeared to Isaiah and he said, “Woe is me, for I am undone.” Jesus called Peter after the miraculous catch of fish, and he said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.” Then the Lord extended mercy to both of them, as He did to Job.

Throughout the story the friends asked Job to admit his sin. When Job did finally repent, after God’s appearing, Job did not ask forgiveness for secret sins but for questioning God’s sovereignty and justice. Job repented of his attitude. We sin when we ask, “If God is in control how could he let this happen?” We cannot know the mind of God or the reasons for everything that happens. We must often choose between doubt and trust. Trust God with your unanswered questions.

Every day God confronts us. And daily we repent. Repentance and faith is the regular pattern of our lives.

Job 40:4-5 Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken, but I will not answer: yea twice; but I will proceed no further.

When Almighty God shows up, reveals Himself, and speaks to Job, he is overwhelmed. He knows he is wrong to question God and argue with Him. He sees that he is of small account, that he is a sinful creature, that God is God, and that He is always right.

Job has stopped rebelling and fighting with complaints that God is in the wrong and that he is right. No man, even a so-called good man, can claim righteousness before a Holy God. Job sees that now when confronted with His Presence. We also have come to realize that we cannot stand before a Holy God unless we are covered in the blood and righteousness of Christ.

After we have heard and believed the Gospel we shut up, submit to His will, and trust in Him alone for good. The Holy Spirit teaches in the school of experience using the Word of God to convict of sin and bring us to Christ. Then we are thankful for grace and stop complaining and fighting against God. We listen. We speak only of God’s goodness instead of ours.

Job 40:2 Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? He that reproveth God, let him answer it.

After God appeared to Job in a whirlwind and He asked him about a hundred questions, God basically said, “Just who in the world do you think you are? You are arguing with Me? I’m the Almighty Creator, and you’re not. Are you going to tell me how to run my universe? You are rebuking Me, as if I am doing it wrong. You can’t even answer My questions about Creation. How in the world are you going to answer questions about My morality and character?”

Who is in the right and who is in the wrong? The creature, much less the sinner, cannot know what’s in My mind unless I tell him. I am God, and I know what I am doing. I have kind intentions for you. You just can’t see it now. You just have to learn to trust Me, that I am good and I have your best interests in mind. When you see my Son and hear the Gospel, then you will know. For now, Only Believe.

As sinners, we may also argue with God when things aren’t going as well as we want. To ask “Why?” is to challenge Him and make ourselves equal to God, even becoming gods ourselves. “God is wrong to do this to me. I don’t deserve this. I am not that bad. If I were God….” In our prideful stupidity we actually think we would do a better job than He is. So we argue with Him and rebuke Him. And we do it in many different ways, instead of letting God be God and surrendering to His will. We pray, “Your will be done on earth (in my life), as it has already been determined in heaven (where You live).” It takes the miracle of faith to say, “God is good, and He working all things together for my good.” God said it. I believe it.

Job 37:14-16 Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God….Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge.

Elihu admonishes Job to stand still, listen, and meditate on the wondrous works of God. It would do us all good to respond to tough times by stepping back, taking a breath, pausing long enough to consider the wondrous works of God. Hearing the thunder, seeing the sunset, and many other natural phenomena remind us to stop and consider what a great and good we have. And it also works a great good in us when we meditate, however briefly, on the wonder of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Whether things are going well or ill, it will always do us great good to go to church, participate in group Bible study, and spend time daily with God in the Word and prayer. We can listen to the Lord in the general revelation in nature and see how powerful and wise God is; and we can listen to God in His special revelation in the Word and see how good and merciful God is. In both ways, we take the time to listen and consider. God is good, and we need to hear that as often as possible. We can never hear the Gospel enough.

Job 37:1-2 At this my heart trembleth, and is moved out of his place, Hear attentively the noise of his voice, and the sound that goeth out of his mouth.

After describing God’s greatness just in clouds, rain, and thunder, Elihu trembles at the natural revelation of God’s creation and awesome power. The purpose of God’s revelation of Himself in creation is to cause godly fear in the heart so that we would listen to Him. Hear attentively the Word of God in Law and Gospel, and let the Law drive you to fear God and seek Him for grace and mercy. God gives kindness and mercy in the Gospel of Christ. Our response is to listen carefully to His voice and His mouth.

All the experiences of life in this sinful yet beautiful world are are designed by the Lord to move us to seek His face and listen to Him. We “search the Scriptures to find eternal life, for they are they which testify of me.” Words of Law and of Gospel move us to hear His Word and to study the Bible regularly in public and in private. The Bible will assuredly lead us to Christ and His gospel of salvation. We listen to the Lord in His general revelation in nature and in His special revelation in the Word. We respond to His Voice in fear and in love, which changes our lives for eternity.