If you would this morning, let's go to Psalm 4. You'll be happy to know that I think I'm actually going to get through one psalm and one message. Psalm 4, and as you're turning there, I do just want to remind you that the book of Psalms is 150 individual psalms. It's not chapters in one book. And the book of Psalms is divided into five scrolls or five books. And the first book that we're in is Psalm 1 through 41. And we've already seen that the theme of the first book of Psalms is human suffering and the need for divine deliverance. We're going to see this again in Psalm 4. Again, you're going to see this theme repeated over and over and over again. And each psalm, the suffering person, the suffering psalmist needs deliverance from something different. And so with that in mind, let's go ahead and read the psalm and we'll just get into it. Psalm 4. David, while writing to the chief musician there on Neganoth, and the Neganoth is simply stringed instruments, he is giving instructions to the musicians. And so again, this is a reminder that the Psalms are Psalms. It is basically the ancient Jewish hymn book, the book of Psalms is. And so Psalm 4, David says, 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. Oh, you sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love vanity and seek after leasing, Selah? But know that the Lord has set apart him that is godly for himself. The Lord will hear when I call unto him. Stand in awe and sin not. Commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still, Selah. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord. There be many that say, who will show us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that the corn and wine were increased. I will both lay me down in peace and sleep, for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we're so thankful for your word. God, thank you for this time here. that we can draw near to you, and Lord, that we can sing these songs of praise, and Lord, I'm thankful that you're a God that's worthy of our praise. You're worthy of our life. And I pray that you would just enter me as sin itself today and fill me with your Holy Spirit that, Lord, just my thoughts would come clearly. Lord, I pray that there's somebody lost that doesn't know Jesus Christ and the pardon and forgiveness of their sins. Lord, I pray that today could be the day of salvation. Lord, I pray that you would just encourage your people today and that we leave here just knowing more about you, knowing you more personally, and trusting you more than we did when we walked in today. We thank you and praise you for it. Christ may I pray you sings, amen. So, Psalm 4. seems to be what is known sometimes as an evening song. We find this in language like in the last verse at eight where it says, I will both lay me down in peace and sleep, for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. That's in contrast to the next psalm, Psalm 5, which seems to be a morning psalm. Psalm 5 and verse 3 says, My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord. In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. Well, we see this pattern kind of spread out sporadically throughout the book of Psalms. This is the first time that we've seen it. And I really do, I think there's something to be said about that. This is a different sermon for another day, but I do find that interesting. The Bible talks about seeking the Lord early, and I think there's something to be said with opening and closing our day with the Lord. One of Spurgeon's most famous works is his morning and evening devotion. And so I think there's something to be said for that. I think we would do well to make a habit of doing that. And certainly the psalmist is doing it here. But again, we see this theme of human suffering and the need for divine deliverance. Now, there is two major problems that are taking place in this psalm, and if you miss this, you really miss the whole thing. The first problem seems to be a drought that has caused a food shortage. Look at verse 7. Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased." And so, he's giving a contrast that seems to imply that they are living in a time where the corn and wine is not increased. There seems to be a food shortage or a drought of some kind. The second problem seems to be the Jewish leadership and their reaction to this national crisis. Look in verse 2, O you sons of men. Now in the Hebrew, this word men actually is talking about men that are in leadership positions. It's not just your average citizen. This is talking about leaders and those that are in control. And the psalmist is making a plea to these men. He said, O you sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love vanity and seek after leasing Selah? And so, the psalm is both a warning to these wicked leaders, and a prayer to God for deliverance. Now, I really want you to put yourself in David's shoes, the psalmist here. Now, we don't know exactly when he wrote this. If he wrote the psalm prior to becoming king, then obviously he's concerned about a food shortage and the people in leadership that are not doing the right things to correct the problem. Now if he is king, now think about this, if he was king when the psalm is written, then the food shortage falls on his shoulders and apparently he has no one around him to stand beside him in trusting the Lord for a solution. I kind of lean toward him being king simply for the fact that in verse 2 he said, how long will you turn my glory into shame? In other words, I'm the king and you're making me look bad. That's how I would take that. We don't know for sure, but that's the way that I would lean. Either way, it's a terrible situation to be in. This is the second psalm in a row now that we have seen the psalmist in a situation where if the Lord doesn't come through, he's going to die. Psalm 3, if you remember, David was on the run from his life, from his own son Absalom and 12,000 soldiers that were coming after him. And here we find the food shortage in Psalm 4. Now, this is something that we don't face nearly as much here in the U.S., and that is being in a situation where if God doesn't come through, you're going to die. I'm not going to say it never happens, but certainly not to this degree, and certainly not in other parts of the world that we're hearing about right now. But man, what a faith builder. But the question is, how can a person find any real peace in such situations? I mean, think about this situation. You're running out of food. You're worried about where your next meal is coming from. On a national stage, how are you going to be fed? How are you going to feed your family? Well, the knee-jerk reaction seems to be, Lord, get me out of this situation. Is that not what we think immediately? We get in these circumstances and our automatic prayer, Lord, get me out of this circumstance. Lord, change this. Lord, fix this. And Lord, if you would just do this, then I could be happy. God, if you would just answer this prayer, I could have peace. God, if you would change the circumstances and remove the storm, then I could be satisfied. But let me ask you a question. Do you think that's actually true? Do you think that if all of your problems were solved today, I mean, everything, you were just living in a utopia. Your finances were great, your health is great, your relationships are all great, your marriage is great. I mean, life is just grand. Do you think that all of your problems would go away? Do you think that, and the problems I'm talking about, really, if everything is fine externally, do you think it fixes us internally? Do you think that you would be satisfied? I'm going to tell you the answer is no. Because our heart's an idle factory. In fact, I actually was reading about this yesterday. I'm sure you've probably heard by now about the actor Matthew Perry who passed away unexpectedly yesterday. They found him in his hot tub after an apparent drowning. They're still investigating the circumstances. But I was reading a great article on his life. And Matthew Perry is most famously remembered for his role as Chandler in the show Friends. I wouldn't watch it, by the way. It broke a lot of barriers in the 90s, not good barriers, by the way. But that's what he's remembered for. And they had some quotes from Matthew Perry. in which Matthew Perry stated that, he said, nobody wanted to be famous more than I did. Nobody. And at age 25, when he got one of the starring roles in Friends, he said that eight months into the first season of that show, when I had reached the climax, he said, I knew I would never do better than that in my career. He said, I had money, I had fame, we were at the top of the top. Eight months into that, I was miserable. because he knew that he got to the end of the rainbow and there was no pot of gold. And that's when he started hitting drugs and alcohol, and he struggled with that his whole life. And his exact quote was, fame was a lie. Fame was a lie. Matthew Perry found out, you can have everything and still have nothing. And so the question is, how can we have peace? period, but especially in the midst of these circumstances. The central thrust of this Psalm is that we can have peace and joy in God in the midst of overwhelming circumstances. Psalm 4 is a lesson in practicing the presence of God. That's what I want to preach on this morning is practicing the presence of God. So how can we do that? How can we have joy and peace in the presence of God despite our circumstances? Well, number one, I've got three things and I'll be done. Number one, if we're going to have peace and joy in the Lord in spite of our circumstances, and if we're going to practice the presence of God, we're going to first of all have to have a right perspective of God. We're going to have to have a right perspective of who God is. Look at verse 1. Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress. Have mercy upon me and hear my prayer." That term, has enlarged me, that means to bring me relief. He brought him relief in his distress, but the thing that I really want you to pay attention to is the fact that David begins this psalm with crying out to what he called the God of my righteousness. Now understand, this is a rhetorical statement. The emphasis is not on David's righteousness, it's on God's righteousness. And so what he is saying is, he is calling him the God of all righteousness. And the way that he is saying it, is he is communicating the fact that every good thing in David comes from God. I got news for you, every good thing in us comes from God. Paul said, by the grace of God I am what I am and in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. And so he is literally, this is coming from a man who knows who God is. He is calling him the God of righteousness. So this has to do with the character of God. He is a righteous God. And so David is acknowledging God here. He knows that he serves a big God. And I really think that we would be amazed, we would be shocked to know how many people believe in a God of their own mind and their own making. They believe in a God, even if He goes by the name of Jesus, even if they call Him God or Lord, He is not the God of the Bible. He is a God of their own creation, made in their own mind. And think about it. If somebody worships a God of their own mind, they're really worshiping a reflection of themselves. Listen, how could we ever trust a God like that? How could we trust a God who is exactly like we are? Talk about a high view of self, wanting the God of the universe to be just like us. Listen, I just, I know myself too much, friend. And if God was just like me, we're all in trouble. You're all in a lot of trouble. David knows he serves a big God. Why would we ever need to pray to a God that's just like us? That's not an awe-inspiring God at all. Our perspective of God is of the utmost importance. A.W. Tozer once said, what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. And typically, it just goes together that if somebody has a low view of God, they're going to have a high view of self. And if they have a high view of God, they've come to the realization that we're not like Him and He's not like us. We don't serve a God like us. This is why our perspective of God must be shaped by something that is outside of us. That something is the objective standard of the Word of God, period. And if we're not submissive to the Bible's description of God, then we will perceive God in reference to our own logic, our own bias, our own opinion, our own lust, and our own experience. You know, for example, Maybe there was a child who grew up in an extremely abusive situation. They had an abusive father. They may have a hard time seeing God as being a loving, heavenly Father. Or maybe somebody grew up in a household where there was just no rules at all, and no desire for holiness, and no standards, and no boundaries, and they grew up thinking that God is the same way. They have trouble with the idea of a holy God. Or maybe they grew up in a situation where somebody, the parents lived as if there was no God and the child grows up perhaps thinking the same way. That's why we have to have a standard outside of ourself to give us a proper perspective of who God is. Our perception of God must be based upon the truth of God's word. You know, it burdens me so badly. when I see people who claim to be Christians, who claim to be children of God, and yet they seem to be so bored and disinterested in their perspective of who God is. Listen, that God can't help you. That God, listen, a God that you're not in awe of, that God can't help you, because it's not the God of the Bible. That's why the church in America is going to hell in a handbasket is because they've lost sight of who God is. God is so small that in the words of Scott, they could put Him in their pocket and walk around with Him. That's the reason they have to throw up a circus. Because God is not big enough. The death and the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ isn't enough. That's why we're seeing these so-called churches that are going to great lengths to please and appeal to the fleshly person, the lost person. They're not feeding the sheep, they're entertaining the goats. That's why we're turning the church into six flags over Jesus, because the God of the Bible just isn't big enough. Friend, I see that stuff. And I just know that they have never tasted the real thing. They would not have an appetite for that for two... I wouldn't... Listen, if somehow I messed up and I got my information wrong and I somehow was on a vacation or something or out of town and I accidentally visited a church like that, I would be in there for like .2 seconds and I would be gone. I just wouldn't tolerate it. I don't have a stomach for it. They're not worshiping the God of the Bible. They don't even know the God of the Bible. Our perception of God must be based on truth. And that's certainly true in our trials, our storms. I think about what Norman Wright said. Norman Wright is a well-known crisis counselor. He's a Christian counselor. He's taught it for years. He's got several books. But Norman Wright said that a person's theology will affect how he or she copes with a crisis. Our lives are based upon our theology, yet so many people are frightened by that word. Our belief in God and how we perceive God is a reflection of our theology. Those who believe in the sovereignty and caring nature of God have a better basis from which to approach life. That's absolutely true. Your perspective of God has everything to do with how you handle a storm. Both before you come into a storm, in the middle of a storm, and the aftermath, how you perceive God is going to affect how you deal with it. I mean, think about this, and I'll get on some rabbits here in a minute, and then we'll get back on track here. But I think about this health and wealth prosperity message, and I think about this cotton candy message of, you know, if you just give God so much, he'll do this, and he'll give you everything you want, and it's just so, it's just Skittles and cotton candy is all it is. How does somebody deal with a child who actually believes that? Things don't go the way they want. Their prayers don't get answered like they want. The cancer doesn't go away. The marriage doesn't get back together. The finances don't get better. How do they deal with that situation when all they've heard about is a God who wants to give us every single thing that our sinful heart desires? How do they deal with that? They either believe that God's not real or they believe it's their fault. Because their theology will not allow for a God who's so big that not only will he allow us and send us into seasons of suffering, but he's big enough to get us through them. They couldn't handle it. I'm glad we got a God that's bigger than that. David knew he served a big God, the God of all righteousness. And listen, a great way to practice the presence of God, you do this, I'm telling you it works. When you're feeling fearful, or discouraged, or worried, and you find yourself in the middle of a storm, you need to think about who God is. And you need to be specific. And sometimes I found it helpful to even fill in the blank, God is, and think of as many words or phrases to describe who God is. I'm talking about a biblical perspective now. Now what David said, God is righteous. Let's brainstorm just a minute. Give one word to describe who God is. God is somebody. God is holy. God is sovereign, all-powerful. God is just. God is consistent. He's immutable. He never changes. I love that. Derek talked about that this morning. God is omniscient. God's merciful. God is eternal. God is infinite. God is fateful. I'm feeling better already. I might have to preach two sermons this morning. You see how that works? You see how our mouths cannot be filled with complaining and praise at the same time? It's just the way it works. God inhabits the praises of His people. And when we think about who He is, then He becomes bigger than our circumstances and our problems. That's what happened with Job. Job never got any answers for everything he went through. But he got to the end and he saw God in a way he'd never seen Him before and he said, you know what, those problems don't seem so big right now because what I'm seeing right now is bigger than anything that I've ever seen. remember who God is, and we gotta have a big God to call upon if we're to find any peace and joy in Him. We gotta have a right perspective of who God is. Number two, if we're going to practice the presence of God and have joy in the midst of our circumstances, we're gonna have to have a right perception of what wrong is. Look at verse two. Oh you sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love vanity and seek after leasing Selah? We know that Selah means stop and meditate on it. And so he's really emphasizing this point. This word leasing here, it simply means lies or falsehood. And so, in the context of this drought and in the food shortage, now he's upset with the leadership because apparently they're turning to pragmatism and maybe even false gods around Israel to seek for an answer to this problem. How long will you seek after falsehoods and vanity? In other words, you're not seeking after the Lord to fix this problem. And if we're not careful, we get in the same situation. We'll get in a trial and we'll try to figure out all these pragmatic ways to get out of it. Listen, you know what you're doing when God puts you in a situation? You're fighting against God. We don't often see it like that, but that's the case. These first two points, the right perception of wrong and the right perspective of God, they really go hand-in-hand because you can't have one without the other. If your perspective of God is wrong, then your perception of right and wrong will be wrong. Now, in our text, David is upset at these pragmatic leaders. And so, they think... See, this is what can get scary to me. is when I think I'm doing right, but I'm doing wrong. I think it was D.O. Moody that said that he didn't fear failure, he feared succeeding in the wrong things. And so, it's amazing to us that there's a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death and destruction. We can be sincerely wrong. I mean, think about that. We are our own worst enemy. We think we're doing right and we're doing wrong, we're doing damage, and it's just not going to turn out right. This is why we have to have a right perspective of God and a right perception of what right and wrong is. They thought they were doing right, these leaders did, but they were doing wrong. I thought about this illustration on November the 30th of 1981. There was a crabbing vessel by the name of the St. Patrick. and they were doing some fishing off the coast of Alaska, and they ran into a really horrible storm. It was unexpected, and man, it hit them in the middle of the night, and I mean, I think there was like 30-foot waves just slamming into the side of this boat, and it hit them so hard that it knocked out the electrical system. It was completely dark. There was a crew of 12 on board, and as you can imagine, they were absolutely panicking. They were beside themselves. And the captain said, there's no way that this boat can withstand these waves. It's fixing to turn us completely upside down. And our best chance is just to abandon ship. They couldn't get the lifeboat out. They just had to jump in. And not all of them even had the life suits on. Well, as you can imagine, the freezing waters off the coast of Alaska and 10 of the 12 crew members died. So there's two that survived. And the two that survived the next morning, after they were rescued, they were horrified to realize that the ship never sank. The ship never turned over, and had they stayed on that ship, every one of them would have lived. You know what they did? They panicked because they believed false information, and it caused them to do something that cost their very life. We can make life-changing, life-altering decisions because we think we're doing the right thing based on faulty information, faulty logic, faulty opinion, faulty emotion. Feelings can be very strong, but feelings can be very wrong. That's why we have to have a right perception of what right and wrong is. And if you really know the God of the Word, then you're going to stand upon the Word of God. And for the last 60 years, this country has scoffed at the idea of moral absolutes, and look what it's done to this nation. You think we're better off than we were 60 years ago? You think we're really better off than we were 100 years ago? Listen, I'm thankful for certain things. I'm thankful for antibiotics. I'm thankful for, well, I'm thankful for cars. That's kind of a sore subject right now. I'm thankful for air conditioner. We can be thankful for that. But I'm not thankful for where we are as a nation morally. It's not set us free, it's actually enslaved us. Now think about this, when it comes to your physical body, if you're on a steady diet of junk food, if you never exercise, if you're not getting enough rest, if you're not properly hydrating, it's going to have a terrible effect upon your physical health. But when it comes to your spiritual health, it's garbage in, garbage out. Our soul is just as real as our body and we act like man is just a machine. You can't ignore the principles that God has put forth and expect to be a happy, satisfied individual. It's just not going to happen. And that's what idolatry is. It's when we chase after satisfaction in other gods beside the true and living God. It started all the way back in the Garden of Eden. That's what Adam and Eve did. I can be satisfied by being my own God because I'm not satisfied in the one true God. Our society would look at this text here in verse 2, and they would say, how could David condemn them so sharply? Who gave him that authority? You ever heard that before? Well, who gave you the right? Well, listen, I'm just reporting the news. I'm just telling you what he said. I'm not the judge. I'm just telling you what the judge said. And he has the authority. He spoke everything into existence, ex nihilo, out of nothing. He can do whatever He wants to do. Who are you to question Him, oh man? That's what I want to say and have many times. Who are you? So many people lack any real joy and peace because they don't have the ability to say no to anything. And they can't say no because they've never really said yes to God. Listen, when you've actually said yes to God, I'm talking about with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength, when you have said yes to God, then it automatically means you're going to be saying no to several things and several people. And I'm telling you right now, whenever I hear somebody proclaim the name of Jesus Christ, When I hear them say they're saved, they're a Christian, and yet their lives and the way they talk and the way they carry themselves, there's no distinction between them and a lost and dying world, I know they're a liar. Now, I know that Christians can go through difficult seasons. I know we can mess up. We just read about David messing up over the past couple of weeks. We talked about that. But when David was confronted with his sin, he repented. We saw that in Psalm 51. I'm talking about for those that they look like the world, smell like the world, live like the world, talk like the world, and there's never any brokenness or repentance at all. It's liar, liar, pants on fire. We learned that again last night. We're reminded of that. And, I mean, because if you said yes to God, it's like a marriage commitment. You know, I pledged to always love her and be faithful to her. And, you know, imagine a situation in which a married couple, they've gotten married, they've said their vows, and just immediately the wife is unfaithful to the husband. I'm talking about it's not just one person, it's not an oops, I failed, it's like a lifestyle, like a new person every day of the week. How can they really say that they love their spouse? How can they really say they've said yes to their spouse when they're saying yes to everybody else? That's just crooked. It's corrupt. It's perverse. And we understand that. How can you claim to have said yes to God, and yet you're still saying yes to all the things that God hates? It just grieves me when I hear these the so-called Christians that are affirming of the LGBT lifestyle and all the things that go with that, you hadn't said yes to God. You said yes to the God of your own belly. It's not the God of the Bible. Listen, the good news of the gospel is not that God will affirm us in our sin, but that He'll save us from our sin. That's the good news of the gospel. And if we said yes to God, we're going to be saying no to other things. If you say yes to everyone and everything, you've never really said yes to God. David is able to call some things out here because he knows who God is. We must have the right perception of what is right and wrong, and we must reject that which is wrong if we're ever to have any real peace. The book of James says a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. We've got to have a right perception of right and wrong. Third, if we're going to practice the presence of God or we're going to have joy in the midst of our circumstances, there's going to have to be a real pursuit of God. Look at verse 3. It says, but know... Now remember, he's still talking to these Jewish leaders here. But know that the Lord has set apart him that is godly for himself. The Lord will hear when I call unto him. Stand in awe and sin not. Commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still, Selah. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord. There be many that say, who will show us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that the corn and the wine increased. I will both lay me down in peace and sleep, for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. Now notice in verses three through six, there is a real pursuit of the presence of God. This is what David is encouraging these faithless leaders to pursue here. Look at these words here, these verbs. Know that the Lord has set apart him that is godly for himself. The Lord will hear when I call unto him. Then he said, stand in awe and sin not. Commune with your own heart upon your own bed and be still. Selah. That's talking about meditating on who God is and meditating upon the Word of God and examining our heart to see if there be anything that displeases God. Then he says in verse 5, Offer the sacrifices of righteousness. Give your life to Him. Live for Him. Put your trust in the Lord. Then he goes on to say, there'll be many that say, who will show us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. That's a way of saying, Lord, show us your face. Lord, let us see your face. And of course, that's not talking about literally we would melt. But at least in the sinful body, we couldn't see God and live. Certainly, that's what the Bible said, no man can see God and live. Even though there's been certain people throughout history have said that they have seen God We know God the Father, we know that's not true. They just lied. But let us see his face, let us see who he is, is what this is saying. Now, at this point, man, this is so important to point this out, and I really am coming in for a landing, but we have to get this. Verse 7 is the climax of this song. Because it says, this is a result of pursuing God in the things that David just said. He said, thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their corn and wine increased. This is so powerful because it provides a great contrast. David says that the Lord put more gladness in his heart than when they had plenty of corn and wine. So what this says is, we can have joy in the Lord, we can have gladness in our hearts in the Lord, even when things are not going well. See, what we do is we say, God, if you would give me the corn, if you would give me the supplies, if you would give me this, if you would do that, then I could be happy. David said, Lord, you put gladness in my heart and my circumstances hadn't changed. Lord, my circumstances hadn't changed, but you have changed me. You have given me peace and gladness and listen, I'm afraid that so many times that people make the mistake and listen, I've been guilty of this too. I think we make the mistake of seeking God as a means to an end instead of as the end of itself. We see Him as the means to the end and not the end itself, and we have a tendency of being consumed with just getting out of stuff. We kind of make God an ultimatum. I can never be happy if this doesn't change. Well, be miserable. You could be miserable for a while, but wouldn't it be wonderful to have joy even when the circumstances haven't changed? I think about what Corrie Ten Boom said. Of course, Corrie Ten Boom, her and her family were arrested by the Nazis and put in concentration camps. Her father died, her sister died. She was in Ravensbrück for quite some time. Here's what she said, I've experienced His presence in the deepest, darkest hell that man can create. I have tested the promises of the Bible and believe me, you can count on them. I know that Jesus Christ can live in you and in me through His Holy Spirit. You can talk with Him. You can talk out loud or in your heart when you're alone. As I was alone in solitary confinement, the joy is that He hears every word. That's coming from somebody who knows. I'm talking about somebody who didn't know if they were going to live or die, living in unthinkable circumstances, and she found joy in the Lord. And by the way, and we'll get into this as we get deeper into the Psalms, But did you know that the word joy in all its many forms, whether it's joy or rejoice or rejoicing, it is almost 100% of the time tied with being in the presence of God. I think specifically about Philippians 4 and verse 4 where Paul said, Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. Think about this. The theme of the book of Philippians is rejoicing in the Lord. And the word rejoice in all its forms is used 17 times in that small book. And when Paul is writing that, he is in a Roman prison awaiting execution. Isn't that amazing? God, if you could just get me out of prison, I could be happy. God, if you would just assure me that they're not going to cut my head off, I could rejoice. And yet Paul, he is encouraging the saints to rejoice in the Lord and he is literally in a prison chain to a Roman soldier 24 hours a day. What that shows us is that we can have joy in the Lord. He is enough. Jesus really is enough. Not just to save us, but to satisfy us and to give us joy. And he is the source of all joy. But here's the thing, and I'll say this and I'll close. If you're not saved, you don't know God. You don't know the joy of the Lord. The first thing you need to do if you're lost is just repent and believe the gospel. That the Lord Jesus Christ, the creator of all things, that He came into this world through the womb of a virgin, that He lived as fully God and fully man, that He lived a sinless life, the life that we could never live. He lived in our place, fulfilling all the demands of God's law. And when Jesus Christ was on the cross, God the Father placed our sins in Jesus Christ. And He poured His wrath upon Jesus for the sin we committed. That way our sin was punished, it was dealt with, and God can forgive us without sweeping our sin under the rug. He's too holy and righteous to do that. And three days later, to prove that God was satisfied with that sacrifice, He raised Jesus from the dead. And that if we would just repent of our sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that He would forgive us and erase our sin, He would put us in a right relationship with God and assure us a home in heaven. It's the greatest message that's ever been told and it's absolutely true. I'll say this, if you are saved, you must have a right perspective of God, a right perception of what is wrong, and a real pursuit of God. One thing I love about the last two psalms, what we've read, is that in both cases, the psalmist is in dire straits. And yet in both cases, when they plead to God, the result is they're able to lay down and sleep in peace at night. David in Psalm 3, even in the desert, being chased by soldiers, he was able to lie down and sleep. In verse 8 of Psalm 4, I will both lay me down in peace and sleep, for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. Isn't it wonderful that even in the worst times of our life, in the lowest valley, we can go to sleep at night and know that God's in control? That He's bigger than our circumstances and that our joy is found in Him and the salvation that comes in Him through the sacrifice of Christ, His death, burial, and resurrection. Those are unchanging factors in our ever-changing lives. But are you practicing the presence of God? Are you seeking the presence of God? Are you in His Word? Are you pursuing Him in prayer? Do you really trust Him? He says that we can cast our burden upon Him because He cares for us. We can trust Him. Isn't that a great truth? He's bigger than anything that we'll ever face.