Psalms 4:1-8
In Psalms 3:1-8, the LORD was the protection of the man of faith; in Psalms 4:1-8 He is his portion. The godly man possesses the assurance that God has chosen him (v. 3: lit. brought him into favour with Him). But he is still found in the midst of a world where vanity and falsehood hold sway (v. 2), and here he can but suffer. "Who will show us any good?", that is the question often asked in such a world. We shall not find this "good" around us, nor even within us! The only real good is that which God produces. He shows us the perfect expression of it in the life of His Son, the "godly Man" par excellence, the only One of whom it could be said, "He hath done all things well" (Mark 7:37).
God is the source of all good, but also of all true gladness. "Thou hast put gladness in my heart", declares the psalmist (v. 7). Such gladness does not depend on the abundance of material goods, as the end of the verse shows (cf. Habakkuk 3:17-18). The same chapter of Philippians which tells us to rejoice in the Lord always reminds us that a believer can be happy in privations as well as in abundance (Philippians 4:4; Philippians 4:12). Divine joy can fill the soul even in the midst of distress. Circumstances do not affect it, for the very reason that it has its source in the One who never changes (Hebrews 13:8).