Hear Me When I Call - Psalms 4:1

Psalms chapter four begins with the heading, “[[To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm of David.]]” which means “to the perpetual overseer, superintendent and choir director of music upon a stringed instrument as a taunting or mocking song which was written by David whose name means beloved and was the second king of Israel”, and in verse one of chapter four David prayed for the Lord to, “Hear me when I call” where we read,

Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: you have enlarged me when I was in distress;

have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.

The verse begins, “Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: you have enlarged me when I was in distress;” David began with the words, “Hear me” or “respond, answer and pay attention to David himself” “when I call” which means “at the time and moment I, David, summon, cry aloud and invite you”, “O God of my righteousness” or “O One True God belonging to my, David's, justification, salvation, covenant-keeping and rightness”: “for you have enlarged me” which means “because, since and on account that you, O God, widened, grew larger, set at liberty and made room for me, David” “when I was in distress” or “at the time and moment I, David, existed in straits, trouble, tribulation and affliction”. David shared how he cried aloud for the One True God who justified and saved him during the time he was suffering trouble and tribulation.

The verse goes on to say, “have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.” David continued with the words, “have mercy upon me” or “be gracious to, show favor on and pity me, David”, “and hear my prayer” which means “and respond, answer and pay attention to my, David's, intercession, supplication and hymn”. David asked God to be gracious to him and pity him, and he desired that God be attentive to his oration and supplication to Him.

When we meditate upon the words in this verse, we learn how David, once again, was experiencing difficulties and troubles, and he knew who to summon when these times appeared. God was David's source of innocence and righteousness, and David knew he could ask God to be pitiful toward him and listen to his intercession at this time. God desires to have this kind of intimate relationship with every person, and when they yield to His Son Jesus, He will grant them access by forgiving their sins and giving them eternal and everlasting life. We may join David and ask the Lord “of our righteousness” to extend to us His pity, grace and attentiveness to our prayers when we receive His Son Jesus as our “Savior and Lord”.

Next time David asks, “how long will you turn my glory into shame?”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".