Psalm 4:1–2
To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm of David.
1Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; Have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer. 2O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? How long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah.
My least favorite character in the Bible apart from the devil himself is Absalom.
Now, I suppose I should in fairness say that the reason I dislike Absalom has a lot to do with jealousy. You see Absalom had great hair and lots of it. The Bible says in 2 Samuel 14:26 that he weighed his hair yearly. How much hair do you have to weigh it and how vain are you to do that anyway? By the way, I checked and I think his hair weighed a little more than 5 pounds. That is one mega man bun! If Absalom could respond to me today, he would say “he hates us cause he ain’t us” and he wouldn’t be wrong.
Sorry, let me get to the point.
What does he have to do with today’s Psalm?
Charles Spurgeon begins his exposition of Psalm 3 with these words,
“This Psalm is apparently intended to accompany the third, and make a pair with it”[1]
The header of Psalm 3 tells us the reason for its writing.
A Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son.
Absalom combined his perfect head of hair with his well-spoken but deceptive tongue to woo away the kingdom. I imagine he would mesmerize his audience with a flip of those perfect locks, and they would believe everything he told them about David no matter how obviously untrue it was.
You see, Absalom’s claim to fame lacked substance.
Unlike David his dad who had proven himself as an excellent warrior and leader, Absalom had no track record and no plan but since he had a believable lying face and an exceptional head of hair many of the leaders of the land fell for his message. I dislike that hair-flipping fake!
I agree with Spurgeon that this Psalm was written by David during this brief period running from his son which explains the questions David asks in verse 2,
Psalm 4:2 “O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? How long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing?”
The word “leasing” is an old English word for “lying”. In other words, "how long will you love meaningless things and lies?" "How long will you follow the fake?"
Absalom had so warped their perception of things that they valued appearance more than substance and sought falsehood more than facts.
Does this sound familiar? Isn’t it obvious that the devil has done the same thing in our society?
I hear the Holy Spirit asking us similar questions…
“How long will you love things that don’t matter and love to hear lies?”
“How long will you give your allegiance to things and philosophies that lack substance and spiritual value?”
"How long will you follow the fake?"
If you also hear his call, will you join me in this prayer?
Father,
From this great Psalm, I hear you calling me to look past the superficial but instead to seek substance. Help me to see through the mirage the devil paints to tempt me into desert places. Give me eyes to see what matters, ears to hear truth and reject lies, and a heart that desires things of spiritual significance.
In Jesus wonderful name
Amen
2021 Bible Reading Plan
January 4, 2021
[1] Spurgeon, C. H. (n.d.). The treasury of David: Psalms 1-26 (Vol. 1, p. 34). London; Edinburgh; New York: Marshall Brothers.
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