International Gospel Hour

Jeff Archey: Hi, friends! One of my favorite hymns makes the continual plea, "Hear me when I call." Let's see from whence this hymn arises as we return to the Psalms today. Our "PsalmCast" is just ahead; please stay with us.

Jay Webb: Hi, this is Jay Webb for International Gospel Hour. For 90 years, Churches of Christ have proclaimed God's word through International Gospel Hour. You are about to listen to another Bible-based lesson with Jeff Archey of International Gospel Hour starting now.

Jeff Archey: Well, thank you to our Jay Webb for his kind words. You will hear from Jay throughout our broadcast. And greetings to all of you; we are honored to have you as part of our audience here at International Gospel Hour. We are always amazed at how well our broadcasts are received, how the growth of those that tune in, that follow us on social media, visit our website—the number of you that make such a great difference. We hope that we are giving you good, sound Bible teaching that will help you. Please tell others about our work.

I'd like to share with you a free online tool: gospelgazette.com. When you get to gospelgazette.com—and by the way, that's one Z and two Ts in Gazette—click on the archive tab. You'll see access to over 25 years of articles by Christian men and women. We appreciate our kind brother and editor, Louis Rushmore, and we appreciate him allowing us to share this with you. He would love to see you visit gospelgazette.com.

Our "PsalmCast" is simply a study of the Book of Psalms, and today we continue with Psalm 4. With this broadcast, I'm going to read a little and we'll study a little, rather than read the entire Psalm at one time. We'll do that as we begin in a moment. I'll be back in and around 30 seconds or so.

Jay Webb: The best way to reach us is our toll-free number at 855-444-6988. You can request free Bible study courses, ask a question, or make a comment. The number is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That number again is 855-444-6988. If you can, give us a quick call and let us know where you hear International Gospel Hour. Tell us what city and what radio station. Thanks and keep listening.

Jeff Archey: Friends, when we talk about Psalm 4, Psalm 3 is called a morning Psalm, and some look at Psalm 4 as an evening Psalm, in that Psalm 3 serves as a base to build into Psalm 4. How Psalm 4 shows further relief from God and how God will respond unto us when we're faced with our greatest trouble.

The late Roy Deaver, a kind friend from days gone by, suggested that this Psalm was penned on the eve of the battle of David and Absalom, recorded in 2 Samuel 18, verses one through six. David's plea unto God. I thought that was an interesting observation. So let's think about Psalm 4.

Let's begin with verse one: "Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness. You have relieved me in my distress. Have mercy on me and hear my prayer." The plea to hear. Yes, friends, that's where one of my favorite hymns has its origination: "Hear me when I call, O God my righteousness," written by the late Tillit S. Teddlie.

Let's define some words here. Distress in this verse—it's interesting, this word means a tight and narrow place. Or in other words, troubles are pressing in on us. Do we know that feeling rather well? I'd say we do. Then the idea of relieved is to send one to an open place. In other words, I am distressed, Lord, have mercy on me, hear my prayer, hear me when I call with my distress, and you relieve me or move me to an open place. You ease my distress.

Romans 8:32 reminds us, "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" What God has done will build on what He will do. The plea for mercy and prayer. God will answer and God will assist those who trust in Him. He answers and He assists.

Psalm 37:25, "I have been young and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread." Hebrews 13:5, "Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have, for He Himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you."

Now, let's go into verse two: "How long, O you sons of men, will you turn my glory to shame? How long will you love worthlessness and seek falsehood? Selah." Now, Selah. Once again, a pause in thought for emphasis. In other words, there is nothing man has that will provide comfort unless that comfort comes from God. 1 Corinthians 1:3 through 4.

You think about it, friends. From the verse, worthlessness and lies will not get it done. You can't trust that. Now, we're going to stay right into verse three because here comes the "but." "But know that the Lord has set apart for Himself him who is godly. The Lord will hear when I call to Him. Be angry and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed and be still. Selah. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord."

"There are many who say, 'Who will show us any good?' Lord, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us." You see, those that would love worthlessness and falsehood, look at what all they are missing. God will hear the righteous. 1 Peter 3, verse 12, "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

The wicked are punished by God; such passages as Psalm 37, verse 38, and Isaiah 3, verses 10 and 11 affirm as such. But notice: do not sin, be still, offer sacrifice. Friends, these appear the very opposite of what many individuals would do. They would be trying to fix or do things on their own. Let's seek God's answers to provide, not take our answers to pursue.

Allow God to guide us. So many times individuals will say, "Brother Jeff, I'm just struggling. Brother Jeff, I've got this. Brother Jeff, I've got that." Well, the thing is, we create our own way of fixing things, and we're the ones that got us in the mess. What if we responded unto God's answers to provide and quit pursuing our answers or our thoughts?

Verses seven and eight: what's the conclusion? "You have put gladness in my heart, more than in the season that their grain and wine increased. I will both lie down in peace and sleep, for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." You know, when you look at that parallel of gladness in the heart, more than in the season that grain and wine increased.

Think of the grains to where it's reaping time, or of the wines or the fruit—the grapes that would be harvested. How all of a sudden that blossoms, and what was planted and worked has grown. That's the gladness in the heart. That's where the child of God has distress relieved. It's where the child of God is blessed that God hears our prayers. What a beautiful thought.

That distress was relieved with gladness and increase. God provides. Meditation on the bed became peace, and being still results in sleep. That's such a refreshing and a reassurance of safety. This is where later David could pen with great assurance, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." Psalm 23:1.

I love our studies on the PsalmCast, which means down the road we'll look at Psalm 5. But for now, how thankful we are to see the evening Psalm, if you will, or how God will allow us to rest from the strain of the day. Friends, maybe we can help you in your study of the word of God. I want to defer to our Jay Webb for an online study that we have available through our friends at the World Bible School. And then as time permits, I'm going to share another study with you. Here is our Jay Webb.

Jay Webb: How about an online study of the Bible? That's right, the World Bible School has a free online Bible study available. Just go to worldbibleschool.org and register. A study helper will assist you in answering questions and provide feedback for your lessons. That's the free online study at worldbibleschool.org. Sign up today. Tell them the International Gospel Hour sent you.

Jeff Archey: Friends, we are thankful to offer such online material. And we're grateful that we can offer a number of different tools for study. We realize that a lot of you do not have online access. And so, here is another Bible study by mail. We offer Bible studies in a number of ways, but I want to share this one with you. It's relatively new to International Gospel Hour; it's called God and Man: How to be Saved from Sin. We can mail this booklet to you.

It's free, so here's what you do. You can call us at 855-444-6988. Leave your name and address and just say "God and Man." That's all you have to do, and we will mail that to you. Now, if you do have online access, you can go to our website at internationalgospelhour.com. Click on the contact tab, leave us the same information—name, address—and type "God and Man" in the message box, and we will send that to you as well.

But again, it's just as easy to call 855-444-6988 and leave us your name and address and just say "God and Man." Now, very quickly, I'm going to give you the website of God and Man. It's god-and-man.com. Be sure you get your dashes in there. You can actually download that study if that will be of help to you as well.

Friends, we are delighted to study the Psalms with you. We're delighted to study the Bible with you. Thank you for joining us here on the International Gospel Hour. We'll continue our studies together at another time. I'm Jeff Archey. Thanks again and keep listening.

Jay Webb: Thank you for listening to our broadcast today. To God goes all the glory, and we hope that our study today will draw you closer to His word to walk in His way. To listen to it again or our other broadcasts, please visit our website at internationalgospelhour.com.