Mensa Otabil - He Has Made Me Glad (11/01/2025)
Psalm 4, verse 7: You have put gladness in my heart more than in the season when their grain and wine increased. We must always remind ourselves when we are reading the scripture, especially as we are doing with the Psalms, to get the context within which the message is coming. This helps us to position the words in the scripture to the context in which they occurred. This Psalm, as we have said, is coming to us as the Holy Spirit inspires David to bring these words in a context of a time of war, when things are going against him. God is using the experiences of David to speak to us, and although David is going through the experience, God is speaking to you, who are going through a similar experience. It is the timeless word of God coming through a person and his experience.
If you look at this verse, verse number seven, David sounds a bit upbeat; he sounds a bit encouraged. From the previous verses, when there is despair, he seems to be glad and happy. David compares the confidence he has in the Lord with that of his opponents. The opponents are confident, and David is also confident. So how does he compare the two sources of confidence? David says, well, God has made me glad. Then he talks about his opponents and he says, «more than in the season when their grain and wine increase.» For them, he says their confidence comes because their grain and wine have increased. What does that mean? It means that things are going well for them. David is saying these people are confident because everything is working well for them. The wine fields are blooming; the grains are blooming. It’s almost like a farmer who has gone to plant and everything is working for him, while another farmer’s farm is not blooming and nothing is working for him.
David says these people are happy because their grain is blooming; things are working for them. But I am happy because the Lord has put gladness in my heart. Do you see the difference? One is happy because things are going well for them, while the other is happy because God has made me glad. That is where we are as Christians. Our joy doesn’t come because the surrounding events are okay for us and everything is going well. Our joy is from the Lord; the Lord makes me glad. So while people are complaining, David remembered, yes, things are going well for them, but that’s not how I get my joy. I don’t get my joy because things are going well for me; I get my joy because the Lord makes me glad.
That is something we have to learn in life. When you look at people who don’t know Christ, their joy comes from buying a car, buying a house, or something happening to them, like getting more money, and that’s why they are happy. But is that how a believer should judge his happiness? No, our happiness comes because God makes us glad: the presence of the Lord, the Holy Spirit’s guidance, the joy of the Lord, and the joy of opening up the scriptures and hearing God speak to you in the morning. That is more than the person whose grains and wine fields are blossoming. So today, I just want you to know that the source of your victory is not as the world has it. The source of your victory is in knowing the gladness that God places in your heart.
I pray that God’s joy will bubble out of your heart; His joy will be your strength. He will give you victory, not because everything has changed around you, but because everything has changed inside you. The Holy Spirit in you is giving you the indication that it’s going to be well, you’re going to win this one, you’re going to be the head and not the tail. There may be no evidence outside, but inside you know God has given you the victory.
Let’s pray. Say with me: Heavenly Father, you are the source of my joy. Thank you, Lord; you gladden my heart with your presence. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.