Psalm 4:9
you'll never be this content
In peace in the selfsame I will sleep, and I will rest:
(Psalm 4:9 DR)
I have a small dog named Buddy who loves to nap. But even more than just napping, he loves to nap in my lap. For him there is no greater thing to be near me and, unfortunately, on me.
But as he curls himself up and begins to drift into dreamland, his countenance takes on a particular serenity that always strikes me. I know it is merely projection of my own intellect upon him, but he appears perfectly content, safe and secure, having attained what to him is the greatest good.
And while for me it is often kind of annoying—especially when I’m trying to work— there’s something about this instinctual devotion and trust that is endearing, which makes it difficult to wake him up and make him get down.
Sometimes when I think of my relationship to God I think about Buddy, and how he wants nothing more than to be near me. He will get distracted by cars driving by or the refrigerator opening, but after those distractions cease he sprints back to find me.
It’s kind of convicting in a way, in that I have to recognize that too often an irrational beast shows more devotion to me than I probably ever have for God. My dog always wants to be near me, will search high and low in the house for me, will preempt almost anything else to have me talk to him.
And sometimes I find it difficult to fit in a few minutes of prayer a day.
This verse forms part of the culmination of St. Augustine’s reflections on this Psalm, and is the response of the soul who desires God above all things to the trappings of the world and all it affords. Those who seek for external goods try to find their fulfillment and rest in those things, but the soul who longs for God’s will cannot be content in those things, but will only sleep and rest in the simplicity of heart that comes from attaining the highest good:
For such men justly hope for all manner of estrangement of mind from things mortal, and forgetfulness of this world’s miseries; which is beautifully and prophetically signified under the name of sleep and rest, where the most perfect peace cannot be interrupted by any tumult. (St. Augustine)
Ultimately we will not find such a situation in this life; St. Augustine notes that the future tense of the text points to the next life, when we will attain that rest which we most deeply desire.
In this animation I wanted to highlight the nature of this peace and rest, and as I was thinking about it I reflected on the some of the thoughts above, and thus determined that a sleeping dog might be the best way to get at the essence of this verse.
I found a great photo of a chair with a balloon tied to it kind of randomly, but as I thought about it I imagined that it might make a great juxtaposition between peace and contentment even in the midst of precarious situations.
I cutout both the chair and dog in Photoshop and then composited them in After Effects. I adjusted various anchor points to be able to have a little rotation separation between balloon and chair to simulate the motion from the floating and then added a bit of Y Position movement.
I really liked the color palette of this one, which I think helps to provide a fitting backdrop for the idea of peace and rest. I think the typeface for I Will Rest is Rough Love, which is a great brush font. I haven’t used brush fonts much in the past few years as they kind of got overused, but I think it designs like this they work nicely.
Enjoy.
In peace in the selfsame I will sleep, and I will rest: (Psalm 4:9 DR)
View a higher quality version of this gif here: