"...With a Desperate Plea!"

"Hear 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." (Psalms 4:1) So; you might have thought that I was not going to get to this part of this verse: think again! I could have went on for hours yesterday, but thought that it might have been a little much. But you should know, what takes you about a minute to read, sometimes will take me an hour or two to write; I don't have that much time available to me. Anywho; if you have ever given a sermon to an assembly of people, some of whom you know would be judging your performance based upon what they know about you, then you might understand the urgency of David's plea. Basically, it is something like, 'Lord, please don't let me make of fool of myself in front of all these people!' No doubt, many of those that were present had associations with Absalom, and even with Saul; so you can begin to understand David's need to speak with, and in the authority of God. After all, many of the things that David is going to share pertain to them which had opposed him during previous revolts; which also includes David's revolt against Saul; at least that is how some that were faithful to Saul saw it. David asking God to have mercy upon him has many different degrees of meaning; some pertain to him personally, some pertain to the assembly, and some pertain to the message that he is about to deliver; but all in all, he is asking for God's mercy, that He would answer his prayer. So, this is not just for his benefit, but that those who are listening; that he would speak for God, and that they would listen. Another way to look at this, is that David is asking God for His continued support; which would then imply that the "when I was" part of the verse which may have been added by the translators is now correct; meaning, 'God, You have delivered me before; now, please do it again!' And with that, the part about his righteousness would then imply, that any standing or authority which he has, has been given to him by God; of which, he has been given the ability to call out to God, and to be answered! This upcoming sermon of David's is less than five verses long; however, the prayer is actually part of the sermon; for within the prayer, David gives testimony of God's provisions in his own life. If you wanted to see what the prayer alone looks like, then you would read verse one, followed by verses six through eight; however, part of the sermon is at the beginning of verse six, where David leads off speaking to God again, by addressing both God and men. Everything in between verse one and the middle of verse six, I believe is God speaking directly through David; which is God having a little heart to heart with not only His people, but those that are potentially His people also; those that refuse to accept Him, all the way up to those that faithfully serve Him, are included in this sermon... Lord, please prepare my heart for what you are going to say to me. Amen...