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8th December 2025
MondayReflection
************************
Jonathan Parnell
is the lead pastor of Cities Church in
Saint Paul, Minnesota
"Be Stressed Out
and Do Not Sin"
I love the Book of Psalms.
They are authoritative models of prayer and worship and therefore we return to them often for help.
It's the easiest book to short-circuit meaning for application.
Because the theology is so relevant, we can subtly gloss over what the text says to focus on us and our situations.
But remember it's only for us - by God about his Son for us.
So how might it look if we read like this?
Say, Psalm 4?
How would it look if we asked first, "what does this text say?"
and then second, "what does it mean for me right now?"
Psalm 4:1-8,
Evening Prayer for Help
1 Answer me when I pray,
O God, my defender!
When I was in trouble, you helped me.
Be kind to me now and hear my prayer.
2 How long will you people insult me?
How long will you love what is worthless
and go after what is false?
3 Remember that the Lord has chosen the righteous for his own,
and he hears me when I call to him.
4 Tremble with fear and stop sinning;
think deeply about this,
when you lie in silence on your beds.
5 Offer the right sacrifices to the Lord,
and put your trust in him.
6 There are many who pray:
"Give us more blessings, O Lord.
Look on us with kindness!"
7 But the joy that you have given me
is more than they will ever have
with all their grain and wine.
8 When I lie down, I go to sleep in peace;
you alone, O Lord, keep me perfectly safe.
Prayer is an important theme in this Psalm of David.
It's an amazing picture of fellowship.
David talks to God and God hears David.
And he keeps David. He sustains and guards him.
An integral part of discovering what this psalm means is seeing how it's connected to our Lord.
The common thread in the first few psalms is that God hears the prayers of his king and no enemy will stand in his way.
David is undoubtedly a pointer to Jesus.
David will have a son who is king forever (and it's not Solomon).
We begin to see that God's fulfillment of his promised Messiah is wrapped up with his faithfulness to David.
God cuts off David's enemies because he is keeping his promise about Jesus.
And this is why David is able to trust God amid his enemies in Psalm 4.
David indeed has enemies, but he says not to sin.
Be angry, sure, be agitated or perturbed, but do not sin.
David knows the promise and he trusts the Lord.
Therefore, being the model of a faithful Israelite, he offers right sacrifices.
He believes. God is enough for him.
I was irritable a couple days last week when I got home from work.
It was the crunch of deadlines and tasks and the feeling that I never seem to get enough accomplished in a day's time.
More snappy than angry, my family caught the brunt of my displaced frustration.
Then I read this psalm.
David was surrounded by enemies - real enemies.
That is enough to make someone angry, or agitated or perturbed, but he says not to sin.
He didn't try to take things into his own hands.
He trusted the Lord, which included, as I said above, a hope in the future messianic king.
The Lord's faithfulness to David concerning Jesus was the foundation of his fearlessness.
That's why enemies may annoy him, but they won't lead him to sinful unbelief
Might this same reality bear the same implications for me?
Sure, there are pressures.
Responsibilities abound. Concede that point.
But be stressed out and do not sin.
God is faithful.
His care for David in reference to his promise secures care for me.
Right there with David, the object of my hope is the same.
I look to the same Messiah.
God's unfailing love for me in Jesus reaches down into the details of my life and wields them for my good (Romans 8:28).
So rather than blow off steam toward my kids, I can ponder in my own heart and be silent.
I can trust in the Lord.
I can bank on the fact that he's got all this under control.
And that makes me a different person.
What the text says (meaning) changes me now (application).
We read illumined and walk transformed.
This is an edited version.
The full article is avaiable on request
'Jonathan Parnell'
is the lead pastor of Cities Church in St. Paul, a church he and his team planted in 2015.
He also serves on the Board of Trustees of Bethlehem College and Seminary.
He is the Send Network's City Missionary in the Twin Cities, where he also serves as a church-planting trainer.
He is the author of Mercy for Today: A Daily Prayer from Psalm 51 (2020)
and Never Settle for Normal: The Proven Path to Significance and Happiness (2017),
and he has written hundreds of articles at desiringGod.org.
He and his wife, Melissa, live in the Twin Cities with their eight children.
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