Psalm 4: 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.

“Who will show us some good?” That’s the question everyone in the world is asking for themselves.

We Christians asked the same question again and again especially if our answers are not yet answered. I wonder Samuel’s mum will be asking that question when she pressed unto the Lord and cried unto the Lord pleading with him for a child, as she was barren and was mocked by her husband’s second wife. The Lord out of his exceedingly goodness and kindness, answered Hannah on the spot and she became pregnant. I wish that would be the same case for many thousands of Christians praying to the Lord and crying to him, not on something not legit, but totally in line with the scriptures. How about praying for your child to come to Christ? How about for those parents crying to God to make amends on the wayward behavior of sexuality of their kids? I have heard of heartbreaking stories of men and women unto God and some have rightly claimed their shaking of their faith in their belief in the goodness of the Lord. That’s always the dilemma of Christianity, a mystery that we somehow cannot put our hands on. To exemplify the cries , it seems the Lord doesn’t hear. I don’t know if certain prayers will ever be answered in life or not, even if takes 40 years of Moses cries to liberate Israel from the slavery bondage of Egypt, that will be phenomenal! Regardless, that will be a solid answer from the Lord, no one can dispute. Moses delivered by the power and glory of Yahweh, the like of kind that’s not seen or heard in the entire world, 4000 years ago, and still up to this day. No one can challenge that. Hannah’s cries unto the Lord, brought forth one of the most prominent prophets in the Old Testament, Samuel. What a sweet fragrant answer from the Lord, and she promised to the Lord to offer him to the service of the Lord at young age full time. (Good he doesn’t even need to apply for full time ministry). I have yet found a case where the prayers and cries of the saints not answered by the Lord, have you? I haven’t. What does that tell us, if God doesn’t answer our prayers, or not yet. But there again, Jesus did say that Elijah was sent to the leprous in Samaria, but not in Israel. I am sure many Jews with leprosy would have cried out to the Lord, but they never got sent a prophet to heal them.

Of course there is this argument that says the Lord our God is sovereign, and we will put our trust in him completely, and his love endures forever, and he’s faithful. That’s what we shall hang onto even without seeing clearly what our future, or their future hold. Some parents prayed for their kids to come to Christ, and after like 20 years, they came to Christ. Many have testified on the faithfulness of our God. We shall put our faith in him, Amen!

That’s where this psalms seem to fit in well, among many others.

Or “Where can I find some good?” Or “How do I get some good for my life?” That’s what David describes as ‘many’ who say….”

David’s response to that question is “Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!” David’s immediate default response is he turns to the Lord. He didn’t turn to his career advancement, not to some pleasures in the world, or some ball games he can attend, or some Broadway show. He immediately cried to the Lord asking the Lord to shine the light of his face upon him and them, the light of God’s face means the favor of God, the presence of God. You see how important the favor of God is? Nothing else matters, or compares even remotely. God’s favor is all what it matters.

Lately I have been thinking of this myself. I am sure we all have things of requests and petitions we have made and making continually crying out to him in prayers. Have we gotten the favor of God? Have we gotten the light of the face of God? Remember David was so successful,

1 Samuel 18:¹⁴ In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him.

It means God was with David. And Calvin rightly commented on it, that David’s sole primal wish in life is God’s favor, God’s presence with him, above everything else in life, above every seeming prosperity in his life, which he had plenty.

God can give us more Joy in Our Hearts than any Abundance from the world

A godly answer that David provided in this Psalm, is that he finds more joy in God’s favor, presence than all the things, pleasures, comfort and ease from this world.

Psalm 4:6–7 (ESV)
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.

That’s the case. David is so firm in his conviction that there is more joy in his heart when the light of God’s face shines on him, than whatever the world can offer him, because God can put more joy in his heart than when people get their grain, harvest, dividends, profits, and wine abound, speaking of the comfort and pleasures of the world. It is this conviction of David that’s so compelling, and attractive to God that God puts his favor upon David. That stamp of favor. Because David delights in God more than all the world comfort and ease can offer him, and he had a lot of wealth, possessions, wives, women, concubines, pleasures from the world in his palace, and yet none of those things ever moved his heart. You see, that’s the man after God’s heart.

God is looking for that kind of man.