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ENDING YOUR DAY WITH GOD (Psalm 4)

How do you like to enjoy your day? The world's philosophy is, “The evenings are for me.” But I want to suggest to you that the evenings belong to God. In fact, the whole day belongs to God. But the way you end every day is very important.

Psalm 4 is beautiful, though only eight verses long. Listen to David’s prayer.

“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. O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah.But know that the Lord hath 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 shew 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 their corn and their wine increased.I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.”

Psalm 4 has been referred to as an “evening psalm” for obvious reasons. David's talking about staying on his bed, being still upon his bed, thinking upon his bed, and then finally saying, “All right, I'm just going to leave it with God and go to sleep.”

The fascinating thing about the placement of Psalm 4 is that it is sandwiched between two "morning psalms." Remember that Psalm 3 contains these words in verse 5: “I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the Lord sustained me.” Psalm 5 also speaks of the morning hours, verse 3 states, “My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.”

So you've got the morning, the evening, and the morning. Here is the beautiful message contained in the method of these Psalms: God wants the beginning of the day. God wants the end of the day. God wants the whole day.

The morning and the evening are not the only times given to God, but they are like bookends on the entire day.

Every day is a gift from God and all day is a gift from God.

We believe that Psalm 4 was written by David while he was still on the run from Absalom. In fact, it has been suggested that the placement of this psalm would be between the 17th and 18th chapters of II Samuel.

The last verse of II Samuel 17 is pretty sad. David has been on the run and is hungry. The people with him are needy. Verse 29 says that some people brought “honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.”

They ended their day hungry, weary, and thirsty. Maybe as you begin to approach the evening hours, you think, “That's me. I'm spent. I have given everything and I'm totally, thoroughly exhausted. What can I do?”

One thing you can do is read Psalm 4 and apply it to your life. It is an evening psalm.

When David came to the end of himself, he turned to the God who has no end. You see, the end of you is the beginning of God. When you are weary, He is not. When you are hungry and thirsty, He has more than enough. Psalm 4 not only points us to some place in Scripture and in history; it points us to God.

Who is God in this passage? He is the God who always hears. The psalm begins, “Hear me when I call, O God.”

He is also the God who helps us. “Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress.” Do you feel like the world's caving in on you — like the walls are closing in and you are in a tight spot? Some people call it “between a rock and a hard place.” God can help you right where you are. He can set you in a large place. It doesn't necessarily mean the circumstances are going to change, but he can give you liberty.

He is the God of true happiness. Verse 7 says, “Thou hast put gladness in my heart.” The Lord can give you his joy to be your strength. He can give you a song in the night. Remember, this is an evening psalm. You do not have to end with a sigh; you can end with a song if you get your eyes back on the Lord.

Psalm 4 points to something in our own lives, something very practical and personal. The evenings belong to the Lord, and the way you end your day is very important. Allow me to put some perspective on this.

In Genesis 1, when God created the world, He said, “The evening and the morning were the first day.” Why would he put the evening before the morning? The Jewish day actually began at 6 p.m. They actually saw the evening hours not as the ending of one day, but rather as the beginning of another.

I believe God always designed the evening to prepare you for the next day. Whatever happened this day — whether failure, struggle, disappointment, or frustration — is behind you now. But you have a new day coming, and now is the time to prepare your heart for the prospect of a new day.

Evenings are a time to reflect on the faithfulness of our God. So what should we do? Let's let the psalm speak to us. Listen to Ps. 4:4.

It begins, “Stand in awe.” What does that mean? Worship God. While on your bed in the evening, time should be reserved to spend alone with God.

That was when Jesus most often had fellowship with His Father. He would go out to Gethsemane or to a quiet place in the wilderness and pray. In the Old Testament, there was often an evening sacrifice, because it was a time to commune and to worship.

The Bible says in Ps. 55:17, “Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.” So the evening hours are a time to worship.

The next phrase in verse 4 is, “sin not.” Evening hours are dangerous hours. Did you know the devil loves the dark? He does his best work there. Sometimes night hours are his playground. Maybe it is our tiredness, our weariness. Maybe it is the feeling that the dark provides anonymity, but the flesh likes to rear its head up. So what must we do? Remember, God. Ps. 63:6 says, “When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.” The night hours are times to think about God.

“Commune with your own heart upon your bed” means to take time to rehearse the faithfulness of God. Write in a journal. Talk to your family about God's goodness and faithfulness and the blessings of that day.

The final directive of verse 4 is to “be still.” The evening hours are a time to meditate, to think about good things. Put away hard thoughts and difficult things. Isaac went out in Genesis 24 to meditate in the field in the evening. That is a good pattern for us.

Think about good things and the goodness of God as you enjoy your day. Then you can say what the Psalmist said in verse 8: “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.”

End your day with God, and it will help you begin the next day with him.