Psalm 4 opens with David calling out to God because he is in distress and then, from verse 2 onward it speaks to other people that he clearly wishes to challenge.

The people he is challenging are delusional and chasing after things other than God. In verses 4-5 he calls them to a reverence before God – an inner examination and silence. He calls them to trust in God.

It’s clear from the following verses that they don’t trust God. They’re chasing after prosperity and they want someone who will give it to them.

Verse 7 takes it into the space that really had the Psalm speaking volumes to me this morning. Many will read it in the NIV, which renders the meaning of the verse very differently from most other translations. The NIV makes it a request: “Fill my heart with joy when their grain and new wine abound.” The ESV captures what most other translations say and what we can take from it is very different: “You have put more joy in my heart than when their grain and wine abound.”

The latter rendering sits better with the overall push of the Psalm with David criticising a people chasing after lies, false Gods and desiring prosperity. At the end of the Psalm he points out that joy comes from God alone, for in Him David dwells in safety. To call for joy by giving abundance to a people chasing after rubbish doesn’t make sense. David is saying there is more joy in God than in living the good life of wealth and prosperity.

To bring it closer to home I love how Eugene Peterson renders verses 6-8 in The Message:

‘Why is everyone hungry for more? “More, more,” they say. “More, more.” I have God’s more-than-enough, more joy in one ordinary day than they get in all their shopping sprees. At day’s end I’m ready for sound sleep, for you, God, have put my life back together.’

We live in a world where so many of us live with abundance and we don’t even recognise it, while a huge portion of the world’s population live in poverty. We in the wealthy part of the world are bombarded with messages all the time about what we should have and what we deserve. Our joy is too often found in an increase to our abundance – I’m guilty of it far too often – wanting that next toy, a pay rise, more money in the bank… more, more, more. I delight in being able to spend. That’s not where real joy and peace is found though.

As with the Psalmist who was facing a time of trouble, at all times our joy (note, joy is different from happiness), a greater joy, can be found in God alone. If our joy and peace is based on our abundance and prosperity then it will be fleeting and dictated by circumstance. We need to continually ask the question, what’s driving my sense of fulfilment? If we can’t be fulfilled in a simple life then we’re chasing after the wrong things – we’re pursuing idols.

The brokenness of the world cries out for us to take our eyes off our own prosperity, to stop seeking the “more, more, more” and to turn our eyes outward. That can only happen when our joy is found in something more lasting and meaningful. For me, that’s God, the everlasting and the meaning of all things.

May we be people who are able to shun the incessant call towards more, more, more and become a people who find joy in God alone. May we be people who carry that joy and peace into the world around us.

Read more of my reflections on the Psalms.

Here’s why I’m walking this journey through the Psalms.

Update: Check out some of my latest thoughts on the translation of Psalm 4:7.