Psalm 4

vs 1

David really wants God to hear him, and to relieve his distress.

vs 2

That is almost a prayer for our nation. Assuming that David's glory is God (pretty fair from the last psalm), it's like he's saying that people are turning faith in God into something to be ashamed about - sounds familiar. They are deluded and seek false gods - also familiar. It's not a new thing - in fact, one thing that startled me about studying apolcalyptic literature is just how much it paints the picture that all nations alike are rebellious beasts against God.

vs 3

The TNIV refers here to the 'faithful servant'. The NIV misses the singular, which the NASB and KJV preserve. So it sounds more like David is referring to himself. Hence God hearing him when he calls.

vs 4

Interestingly, the TNIV preserves the masoretic 'tremble' (as does the NASB), whereas the Septuagint has 'In your anger', which of course we know from the New Testament. This is obviously a message to David, or to the people in his position - even though many people mock God and ignore him, we should not be angry. Or, when in such a position, fear God, and meditate on him rather than fearing those who seek to shame you.

vs 5

Of course, the sacrifices David is talking about are different to the sacrifices the NT asks Christians to make. But the same thing applies - we should trust the Lord, and sacrificing things helps us to do that.

vs 6

TNIV departs from tradition here and uses the word 'prosperity'. If you've read Wright's Living as the People of God (which you should, it is excellent), then you would understand that so much of Israel's 'good' or blessing was material prosperity - indeed, this was part of the deuteronomic covenant. And you can see that David's answer to their plea is that God will have his face shine on them - that is, that he will turn towards them and bless them with prosperity.

vs 7

This is another departation from tradition - everyone else includes the idea of the joy being 'greater than' the abounding of the material. But with the new translation of vs 6, this one makes as much sense. I don't know about the literary arguments - ask someone who can even begin to grapple with Hebrew, like Penny.

vs 8

David likes the fact that God guards his sleep. And I think it was because he was threatened with things worse than nightmares.