“O sons of men”
[Psalms 4]
I like to sing the Korean hymn that says ‘This world is full of sinful things and a lot of death’ because I head the news of many people dying from all over the world almost every day as well as the loved ones around me from illness and old age. When I came across the news of people who died here and there, I thought that it is truly God's grace to live day by day and life is precious. On the Internet, I saw an article by Woo-jin Kim, ‘The Praise of Poet.’ If I move the few words here, this is what he said: ‘This world of tears/ Would it stop if I die/ O sons of men who are looking for happiness/ what you are looking for is vain … A life fluttering in vanity/ Do you know that you have been deceived/ The things in the world is vain to you/ There is nothing after you die.’ When I ask myself “What is life really?’ I think it is worthy of God to pursue a truly valuable life in this vain and meaningless world. I would like to think about that valuable life in three ways under the heading “O sons of men” (Ps. 4:2) based on the words of Psalm 4 in the Bible.
First, I want to think of three things that the sons of men should repent of.
(1) We must repent our sin of turning God’s glory into shame.
Look at Psalms 4:2 – “How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame ? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods ? Selah.” When we look at this word, the psalmist David said “How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame?” Here “my glory” refers to the royal glory that God gave to King David. And what King David said is his adversaries should repent their sin of turning David’s kingly glory into shame.
How can this word be applied in this present age? I think that opposing the servant of the Lord, who is anointed to the church, is a sin that is turning God's glory into shame. I believe that we must reflect ourselves with this word of God whether we are living a life of turning God’s glory into shame or not. The Bible urges us to repent our sin if we are turning God's glory into shame and to live a life of glorying God in this dark world.
(2) We must repent our sin of loving vanity.
Look at Psalms 4:2 again – “How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame ? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods ? Selah” When we look at this word, David said “How long, O men, … will you love delusions ….” Here, the word “delusions” is being translated as “worthless” in NASB Bible which seems to be more appropriate to me. What David said is it is worthless to be against him whom God raised so his adversaries must repent their sin of loving vanity.
The Preacher, the son of David, says in Ecclesiastes 1:2, “Vanity of vanities”. We should ask ourselves whether we are living in this vain world, loving “worthless” things or not. Living for the glory of God is a life that all of us Christians should pursue since it is truly valuable thing and has an eternal value. But if we are living in compromise, pursuing vain things that are of instantaneous value or of no value at all, the Bible urges us to repent of our sins of loving vain (Ps. 4:2).
(3) We must repent our sin of seeking false gods.
Look at Psalms 4:2 again – “How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame ? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods ? Selah” When we look at this word, David said “… How long will you … seek false gods? …” Here, the word “false gods” is being translated as “deception” in NASB Bible which seems to be more appropriate to me. Many of David's adversaries already opposed David by saying to him, “There is no deliverance for him in God” (3:2). In Psalms 4, they continued to oppose David by using deception (v. 2). The deception that says ‘God won’t deliver you’ means eventually ‘God is not your Savior.’ This is deception that denies God as our Savior.
Even now, Satan is trying to make us doubt God's salvation through this deception. Satan, the father of lies (Jn. 8:44) , is making every effort to deceive us to doubt about God and His saving work in us. Another Satan’s deception is to deceive ourselves. Look at James 1:22 – “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” We are falling into the Satan’s temptation of merely listening to the word of God and don’t do what it says so many times. The Bible is urging us to repent this sin of deceiving ourselves.
Second, I want to think of two things that the sons of men should realize.
(1) We must realize that the Lord has set apart the godly man for Himself.
Look at Psalms 4:3 – “But know that the LORD has set apart the godly man for Himself; The LORD hears when I call to Him.” When we look at this word, David said, “Know that the Lord has set apart the godly man for Himself ….” In other words, it means that no one can cut off God's love for God’s chosen ones such as, David and others saints, for His glory (Park). What a great words of comfort and words of grace? This reminds me of the words of Romans 8:35-39: “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” In Psalms 4:3, “the godly man” refers to ‘the one who is favored,’ that is, the one who receive God’s mercy and love. The reason God's mercy and love remain unchanged is because God has chosen us "for Himself" (v. 3). Therefore, we cannot turn the glory of God int shame. The vanity and desperation of our adversaries can never change this fact.
(2) We must realize that the Lord hears when the godly man call on Him.
Look at Psalms 4:3 – “…The LORD hears when I call to Him.” From this word we can see that David believed that God was the God who answered his prayers. What we need to keep in mind here is that God hears the prayers of the godly, not because David or we are godly, but because our God is “the God of righteousness” (v. 1). God's answer to our prayer is never based on our righteousness. It is based on God's own righteousness that God answers our prayers. We must realize this.
Third, I want to think of three things that the sons of men should do.
(1) We must tremble and not sin.
Look at Psalms 4:4 – “Tremble, and do not sin ….” Here the word “Tremble” is translated as “be angry” in LXX (Park). In other words, it means that we should be angry and don’t sin. According to Park, it means not to commit anymore sins by being angry that we have sinned (Park).
Even though we get angry, we must not sin anymore. We must not turn God’s glory into shame anymore. Also, we must not love vanity anymore. We must not seek worthless things anymore. By being angry at ourselves in committing all these kinds of sins in the past, we must no longer commit them.
(2) We must meditate in our hearts and be still.
Look at Psalms 4:4 – “… Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.” If we say that the time we usually lie down on is night, the Bible is now challenging us to meditate in our hearts and be still. The Bible challenges us not to do things blindly but to remain silent before God and have self-reflection in the night. We need to be trained to have God's Word speaking to our hearts. This training is very important. The reason is because the voice of the world and the voice of Satan are being heard very well in the heart. If we don’t constantly receive this training of letting the word of God to speak to our hearts, we will continue to sin against God. Therefore, we must overcome the battle against sin by training ourselves in meditating the Word of God in our hearts so that His Word can speak to our hearts. One thing that we shouldn’t miss in this meditation training is to train ourselves to be still before God. We must be still before Him so that God can reveal Himself to us. This quietness is our strength (Isa. 30:15).
(3) We must trust in the Lord completely with our repentant hearts.
Look at Psalms 4:5 – “Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And trust in the LORD.” What is “the sacrifices of righteousness”? It is “a broken spirit,” the heart of repentance (51:16, 17). The Bible is challenging us to repent our sins with our broken spirit as we trust in the Lord completely. If we don't repent our sins that we have committed against our holy God with our broken hearts, then we cannot say that we are completely trust in Him. He who trust in the Lord repents.
In conclusion, what are some results of “the sons of men” repenting what they suppose to repent, realizing what they suppose to realize, and doing the things they suppose to do? The Bible Psalms 4 says four things:
- God is gracious and will heart and will hear our prayer (v. 1).
- God will shine the light of His face upon us (v. 6).
- God will fill our hearts with joy (v. 7).
- We will lie down and sleep in peace because God alone will make us dwell in safety (v. 8).
These blessings are privileges that “the sons of men” can enjoy, who repent what they suppose to repent, who realize what they suppose to realize, and do what they suppose to do. May these blessings be upon all of us.
With the hope that I am no longer turn God’s glory into shame,
James Kim
(Seeking for tears of repentance)