“I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”

Want a story of protection anywhere in the world?  How about everywhere in the world?  We got it!  Back in 1991, Jason Lewis, 27, and Steve Smith, both of Great Britain, cooked up the “romantic” idea of traveling the world using only human power.  Together they dreamed, planned and raised funds.  They figured it would take about 3.5 years.  So they set out in 1994.  From there it went downhill, literally and figuratively.  They got lost without ever leaving Britain.  They crossed the English Channel and made their way to Portugal.  Then they pedaled their boat in shifts across the Atlantic Ocean to Miami, FL, after avoiding a shrimp trawler and a whale, but getting hit by a great wave that knocked Smith overboard.  They skated 3,500 miles across the States separately, with Lewis getting hit by a car in Colorado, breaking both legs and almost losing one to amputation. After 9 months of rehab, they met up again and pedaled to Hawaii, where Smith quit the journey.  On his own, Lewis then pedaled to Australia, encountering a crocodile attack in the Barrier Reef.  He cycled the outback and avoided supertankers in the Singaporean straits.  Then he hiked across Tibet at night to avoid Chinese authorities and pedaled the Indian Ocean.  When he crossed the border from Sudan to Egypt, authorities threw him in jail thinking he was a spy.  At long last, he made his way through the Middle East, Turkey and back up through Europe.  13 years and 46,505 miles later, he completed his global odyssey on October 7, 2007, returning to cheering relatives and friends, now a worn-out 40-year-old.  If Smith needed anything during the repeated nightmares on his global expedition, it was protection!  His success implies he had just enough.  And in a marvelous little psalm we see this attribute of God clearly described and demonstrated, even if we don’t see the word itself.

David wrote Psalm 4 with this idea in mind.  Verse one introduces David’s oration of protection with a request for “relief from my distress.”  Even with all his money I’m sure Bill Gates has not been immune to distress.  Likewise, Lewis’ trip was no cakewalk.  In verse two we see the typical cry of a person concerned about honor in a shame-based culture: “How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame?  How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?”  He speaks of his enemies who, in shaming him, would shame his God as well.  That’s why it was so important for Israel to walk in God’s ways and win their battles, because if they failed at either one, God’s name was disparaged and degraded.

In verse three he has the answer for those wicked men: “Know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself: the Lord will hear when I call to him.”  In other words, God not only listens when I call to him, he has already set apart the righteous — i.e., David and those like him — for good things.  When you are set apart for God, that means you get all of God’s goodies, and that can only be good, good, good!

In the next verse, David tells us how to insure that God will set you apart: “In your anger do not sin: when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent.  Selah.”  Actually, the Hebrew suggests that “when you are shaking — whether from fear, worry, anger, etc. — mediate in your heart while you are still and quiet on your bed.”  In other words, spend some quality (and quantity, if necessary) time in God’s Word, because his “thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways [his] ways” (Isaiah 55:8).  Left on our own in times of distress, our thoughts are negative streams without much of a shutoff valve.  God’s Word is both that valve and a new stream of promises that serve as protection for our hearts.  Along with this we are to “offer right sacrifices and trust in the Lord.”  This sets up the conclusion of the psalm.

In verse six many critics and scoffers ask, “Who can show us any good?”  He answers, “Let the light of your face shine upon us, O Lord.”  Then he says something amazing: You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound.”  Imagine: they hit the lotto big-time and rejoice, but that doesn’t compare to the joy the Lord gives to his people because the lotto is tiny crumbs compared to what he has in store for us who are set apart for him.  If you don’t feel better than hitting the jackpot now, it’s probably because you’re not in his Word drinking from his promise stream.  Plain and simple.

Finally David concludes, “I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”  Safety is the same as trust in verse 5 and means “confide/confidence, trust, rely/reliance.”  In a word, protection.  Have you found the Lord to be your protector, your safety, in times of distress?