Psalms 4:1 “Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.”
In times of great “distress”, humble Children of God, who are painfully grieved by the tribulations of this present life, can be heard crying out to God, “Hear me when I call”. Not that “God” doesn’t know and hear everything, but that we yearn for His assurance that He is hearing our cries and that He is on scene helping us. This plea rises from the knowledge “that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Romans 7:18); that is, we know that of ourselves we simply are not worthy of Him hearing us, much less helping us. But, He has placed within us the blessed Faith to know that He is our Heavenly Father, our Lord, our God, and our Savior. Therefore, we cry out to our “God”, not based upon any righteousness or fitness of our own; but we cry “O God of my righteousness”! The “righteousness” that we have is that which our “God” has imputed to us of Himself! Our Lord Jesus Christ suffered, sacrificed Himself, and gave His precious life “that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (II Corinthians 5:21); “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16). Based upon our Lord’s “great love wherewith he loved us” (Ephesians 2:4), “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:22); knowing that it is “our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace” (II Thessalonians 2:16)!