Day is done… finally.
Dinner dishes are cleaned up and put away; so are the kids, who are squirming between the sheets but they’re almost out of it for the night…or most of it anyway. Who knows if the little cowboys and cowgirls will emerge in the night and need…what?…water, comfort from a tough dream, to ask you what you’re getting them for their birthday, a request your foggy brain can’t grasp, you name it.
Pretty much your day is done when you realize, “No it really isn’t.”
“Honey are you all right?”
“Oh ya, I’m just a little tired.” Reality? You’re more than tired. You’re brooding, your ticked off, you’re bewildered. Shaken. “What happened today?!” Expletives desire to flow but you hold them back.
The toxicity of a tough day seeps back to the front screen of your brain and there’s tons of unfinished business to do. Emotional work. Head and heart work. Soul work. Ah…”Today was one for the history books….”
How does a man close out a really tough day?
Does he grab a drink or switch on the tube, or get lost in social media or go for a run? Lots of guys do.
David has a better idea. The King, that David.
Just as there are Psalms for the morning, like Psalms 3 & 5, there are Psalms for the evening too, like Psalm 4. David models how you close out a really tough day when you’re God’s son and you’ve got knives sticking out your back.
You call out to the only One who can fix the disastrous day-
1Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
You have given me relief when I was in distress.
Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!
You get real about the frustrations-
2 O men how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
How long will you love vain words and seek after lies?
You tell Him how it really is…what happened to you. David here is sort of yelling at the wall – confronting his enemies.
It’s cool for us to do that too. The Father can take it. He’s got broad shoulders, wise eyes, and all the time in the world to sit and listen to His boys. You complain, get real, tell Him what you experienced and how you feel. It’s not immature to be honest with pain. It’s what kids do with their parents. “This is what happened, this is who did it, and this is why it hurts so dang bad!” Grace opens the doorway to us being real and not playing games. God accepts you because of Jesus, not because of your perfections.
Talking to God is prayer. Sometimes we don’t know what to pray like David prayed here. But pray what you know about what you went through, and more understanding will follow. No, it will trust me.
There are times when I simply say: “I have no idea what I’m really feeling Lord but it wasn’t good. Help me understand.” He does. Just pray that and sit and listen.
When you get more insight then pray some more. “I think this is what’s going on Father….”
It’s a bad world and God knows it. So talk it out with Him, figure it out, tell Him specifically what He knows happened to you. He already knows, but prayer is when you know for sure that He knows because you told Him. That’s what the KD (King David) did.
You claim your identity and your high status-
Psalm 4:3
3 But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself;
the Lord hears when I call to him.
God following men, like David in the Old Testament and us in the New Testament times like to finally sit back and focus on who we are. Godly men. God’s beloved sons.
I know exactly what you’re thinking: “I’m not godly! I’m not perfect! I can’t pray this!”
The word “godly” in Hebrew is Hasid, an adjective, and is translated differently in the OT: “godly, saint, faithful one, holy one.” “Ya, I’m not those” you say. Well, if you genuinely hold on to God’s love in Christ in faith, yes you are. Hasid=godly does not mean “perfect”. Only God is perfect. Deal with it.
After a really toxic, tough, “I want to quit” kind of day, godly men, Christ seeking and trusting men, remember who they are and Whose they are. Claim your high status “in Christ”, and sit back and rest. Ya, wealthy and blessed sons all suffer. That doesn’t change our status. But our status changes how we look at the circumstances.
You process the issues more and trust some more-
ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah
5 Offer right sacrifices,
and put your trust in the Lord.
So men, we all get angry. Some of us more than others. Process it. Face it. Accept it. But don’t act on it. Angry men always complicate their own lives. Take a read through Proverbs for more proof.
Ok, now that you’ve faced more clearly what/who makes you angry, “ponder” God’s goodness as you get ready to hit the sack for the night. Fluff your pillow and remember all your Father has done for you in the past which bodes well for what He will do for you tomorrow. Just, turn off the mouth of complaining for a bit. Praise Him with thankful sacrifices, tell Him you trust Him and that you believe He’s big enough to handle a dismal day. There will be stuff to fix tomorrow.
He will be up all night… working on it.
You crank out a final prayer and turn out the light-
6 There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?
Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!”
7 You have put more joy in my heart
than they have when their grain and wine abound.
8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
Deny the negative voices-v6a
Ask for God to turn His face toward you to help you-v6b
Let the joy sink in-v7 God’s goodness is better than a promotion party!
Listen to the lullaby of v8.
Sleep. Call it a day. Aren’t you thankful you aren’t God but know Him?
Sleep.
Your Father will meet you early tomorrow when you crack open the Bible. And He will have some good news for you.
Great men are made great by their greater God, and sleep.
Take it to Heart!
Pete Alwinson
