Psalm 4-What a Pain!

"Answer me when I call to you, O my righteous God.
Give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and hear my prayer." v.1

Wow! A cry of desperation! Can I relate??!

Ever felt like you were begging God to hear you..... to pay attention to you? Have you just felt so distressed that you just knew he couldn't be listening?? I have!

I remember several years back reading a book called Where is God When It Hurts by Phillip Yancey. It really is a good book - (maybe deserves a re-read) .

Why do we go through pain and how does God use pain to grow us.. to stretch us.. to mold us!?

I am not sure if it was THIS book or another I read called Why Bad Things Happen to Good People (I can just hear you saying...."Man, she reads alot of depressing books!"...well, that is for later posts!)... but the book described why God gave man the ability to feel pain and related an example of placing your hand on a hot stove. If the pain receptors in your hand did not tell you to move and your reflexes did not jerk away from the hot burner, you would do damage beyond repair! Your skin, nerve endings, muscles, tendons, and eventually bone itself would be permanently damaged. They would become totally non-functional and useless to you!

The pain of the burn tells me to take action....do something!
MOVE YOUR HAND STUPID!!
Then, I take further action...apply a first aid cream and a bandage and wait. Wait for the skin to gradually heal and become like new!

And guess what? The next time I am near a hot stove, I know better than to lay my hand on it! I have grown from having experienced this painful event!

So....what am I going to do with the pain I feel right now!

Be depressed? Be angry? Feel sorry for myself?

NO!! Take action!

(v.4) In your anger, do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent.

In silence, we learn to listen..

In silence, we allow our hearts to cry out to God.

In silence, we are reminded that HE cares!

vs 3 - Know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself; the LORD will hear when I call to Him!