Psalms 3-4

If you have ever been near Pentecostal Churches - that really began in c.1900 - you would know Psalm 91 as a great Prayer of Protection and Victories! It is hard not to love both Psalm 91 and 23, the latter known by its famed first lines, "The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not want [lack] ... Surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the days of my life ...." What about the earlier Psalms, as in number 3? Almost every Psalm as almost every Proverb - the other Bible Scripture I have written about in this last 30 days - has at least ONE MEMORABLE line that has been quoted by secular writers! What about Psalms 3 & 4? The former begins, "LORD, how are they increased that trouble me!" WE have quoted this without always recalling it was first spoken/sung by David in Psalm 3:1 three thousand years ago. Line 2 is memorable also as a LAMENT of NOTE: "[W]hich say of my soul, THERE is no help for him in God." We have said that ourselves, too, in moments of chagrin. We shall complete Psalm 3 of just 8 lines/verses, in now quoting 3:3, "But thou, O LORD, a shield for me; my glory and the lifter up of mine head." No matter what intellectuals say, this is a good line to hold on to in this topsy-turvy world, in which we cannot trust Trump, Putin, Nethanyahu, or South Africa's great Comrades of the ANC [now ruling] Party. Psalm 4: 1 begins where the last paragraph left off, "HEAR me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress .... hear my prayer." I also advocate remembering this first line of Psalm 4, as a faith-builder, or to sustain us when "depression" looms. Like Psalm 3, number 4 also has 8 verses in total, and is memorable for introducing the idea, "RIGHTEOUSNESS comes from God, or Jesus. We cannot please God with our actions (or thoughts), but because of GRACE (for New Testament believers, JESUS HIMSELF), faith gives us the "right standing" with God, as if we are always "right." It is as if the Judge or Court in your land declared "s/he is totally innocent and correct. I grant in their favor!" NOTE: Pentecostalism is connected with the Welsh revival & Evan Roberts but it was mainly the son of a former slave in Louisiana, US who was "told" by God to start a MISSION in LA during segregation. William Seymour is that hero who in 3.5 years did the impossible for a "black" man, to start the largest denomination that preaches EQUALITY in Jesus. U hear of Charles Parham, the segregationist who is credited with Pentecostalism.