This morning, I read Psalm 4 and find the hope of the new year: David recounts a question that “many are asking.”
The question? Who can show us any good? Or, in another translation, Who can bring us prosperity? I think of those who live in dire situations all over the world and those of us in comfortable homes who still feel hopeless or scared about this new year. David provides the answer that suffering Christians have learned throughout the centuries (and especially those enduring persecution at this very minute)–that God can put more joy into the human heart than any external experience could provide.
Lift up the light of Your face upon us, Lord!
You have put joy in my heart,
More than when their grain and new wine are abundant (Psalm 4:6-7).
Psalm 4 explains the joy of the suffering Christian and the hope of the discouraged heart. We can ask God to “put joy” into our hearts today. This won’t make any sense, and it seems impossible, but it is the ordinary experience of Christians to know the “inexpressible joy” (1 Peter 1:8) of a heart who loves God.