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.
David teaches us that when adversity presses hard, we must take hold of God's promises and use them as a shield to break through every temptation that assails us. He himself learned this in his long struggle with Saul, and the pattern holds for all who suffer distress.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 4:1-8
This is another instance of David's common habit of pleading past mercies as a ground for present favour. Here he reviews his Ebenezers and takes comfort from them. It is not to be imagined that he who has helped us in six troubles will leave us in the seventh. God does nothing by halves, and he will never cease to help us until we cease to need.
The title of the psalm acquaints us that David, having penned it by divine inspiration for the use of the church, delivered it to the chief musician, or master of the song, who (according to the divine appointment of psalmody made in his time, which he was chiefly instrumental in the establishment of) presided in that service.
Commenting on Psalm 4:1-5