John Calvin Commentary Psalms 4:1

"Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness; Thou hast set me at large [when I was] in distress: Have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer." — Psalms 4:1 (ASV)

These words show the faith of David, who, although brought to the utmost distress and indeed almost consumed by a long series of calamities, did not sink under his sorrow; nor was he so broken in heart as to be prevented from turning to God his deliverer.

By his praying, he testified that when utterly deprived of all earthly help, hope in God still remained for him. Moreover, he calls Him the God of his righteousness, which is the same as if he had called Him the vindicator of his right; and he appeals to God, because everyone everywhere condemned him, and his innocence was overwhelmed by the slanderous reports of his enemies and the corrupt judgments of the common people.

This cruel and unjust treatment that David experienced should be carefully noted. For while nothing is more painful to us than to be falsely condemned and to endure wrongful violence and slander at the same time, yet to be spoken ill of for doing well is an affliction that daily happens to the saints.

And it is fitting for them to be so tested by it as to turn away from all the lures of the world and to depend wholly upon God alone. Righteousness, therefore, is here to be understood as a good cause, of which David makes God the witness, while he complains of the malicious and wrongful conduct of men towards him. By his example, he teaches us that if at any time our uprightness is not seen and acknowledged by the world, we should not despair on that account, since we have One in heaven to vindicate our cause.

Even the pagans have said there is no better stage for virtue than a man’s own conscience. But it is a consolation far surpassing this to know, when men boast over us wrongfully, that we are standing in the view of God and of the angels. Paul, we know, was endowed with courage arising from this source (1 Corinthians 4:5), for when many evil reports were spread widely concerning him among the Corinthians, he appealed to the judgment seat of God.

Isaiah also, fortified by the same confidence (Isaiah 50:6 and following), despises all the slanders by which his enemies slandered him. If, therefore, we cannot find justice anywhere in the world, the only support for our patience is to look to God and to rest contented with the equity of His judgment.

It may, however, be asked as an objection: Since all human purity is utter defilement in the sight of God, how can the godly dare to present their own righteousness before Him? With respect to David, it is easy to answer this question. He did not boast of his own righteousness except in relation to his enemies, from whose slanders he vindicated himself.

He had the testimony of a good conscience that he had attempted nothing without the call and commandment of God, and therefore he does not speak rashly when he calls God the protector and defender of his right. From this we learn that David honored God with this title of praise in order to more readily set Him in contrast with the whole world. And as he asks twice to be heard, this expresses to us both the vehemence of his grief and the earnestness of his prayers. In the last clause of the verse, he also shows from where he expected to obtain what he needed: namely, from the mercy of God. And certainly, as often as we ask anything from God, it is fitting for us to begin with this and to implore Him, according to His free goodness, to relieve our miseries.

Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress. Some think that David here promises himself what he had not yet experienced, and in the exercise of hope anticipates the manifestations of God’s grace with which he would later be favored. But, in my opinion, he rather mentions the benefits he formerly received from God, and by these strengthens himself against the future.

Thus the faithful are accustomed to recall those things that tend to strengthen their faith. We shall, later, meet with many passages similar to this, where David, in order to energize his faith against terrors and dangers, brings together the many experiences from which he had learned that God is always present with His own people and will never disappoint their desires.

The figure of speech he uses here is metaphorical, and by it he suggests that a way of escape was opened up to him even when he was besieged and surrounded on every side. The distress of which he speaks, in my opinion, refers not less to the state of his mind than to circumstances of outward affliction, for David’s heart was not of such an iron constitution as to prevent him from being cast into deeper mental anguish by adversity.