Confidence Leads to Boldness (with reverence)

"Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!" Psalm 4:1

Psalm 4 has been my favorite chapter of the bible for a very long time. It was a comfort to me at a very low time in my life and ever since then I have returned to it time and time again. My favorite part is at the end, but the whole chapter is so uplifting at difficult times and has been my prayer many times. David seems very bold in this first verse where he sounds almost demanding, but note that his boldness is fed by his confidence due to past experience. "Answer me" and "Hear me" are couched with "You have given me relief when I was in distress." David knows he can be bold...he is confident that the Lord will answer. And he is also reverent about it... "O God of my righteousness."

God has answered my prayers on many occasions. Sometimes quickly and sometimes not so quickly. And many times, not necessarily in the way that I had in mind. God's plan is so much better than mine. Due to these answers to prayer and God's general blessings in my life, I have become confident in my prayer life. I am confident that His plan is best. I have to be careful about not resisting God's plan for my life because whatever I am resisting may be an answer to prayer. When I pray for rest, I may have a beach vacation in mind. :-) But God may have a church conference in mind that will bring me spiritual rest...which usually leads to physical rest.

Which reminds me...I need some rest today! When I sat down to do my bible study today I felt unusually sleepy. Alex is napping, the house is quiet, the bed is comfy and warm (probably not the best place to sit for my bible study), and I was sleepy. But now I'm feeling a surge of energy. I just might make it through the 100 things I need to do before bedtime.