Studies in the Psalms - Psalm 39

As one who suffers in a struggle with depression, Psalm 39 has a strong feeling of familiarity. Sometimes it seems as if you just cannot even say the right things and no one seems to understand your battle. So, you clam up and withdraw, even though the world around you, is driving you crazy, but it’s your own sinfulness that is what hurts the most. The burning question becomes this one, “What point is there to this life?” David seems to be in a similar place.

Psalm 39:1-3

 I said, “I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle, so long as the wicked are in my presence.”  I was mute and silent; I held my peace to no avail, and my distress grew worse.  My heart became hot within me. As I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue:

Personally, my faith in Christ has carried me through the darkest of days. When I reach the place that David is in here in this psalm, I do as he does, I speak to God.

Psalm 39:4-6
“O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!  Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah  Surely a man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!

David is right where I can get. When I was still working, I would wonder, “What is the point? We get up, go to work, come home, and then do it all again tomorrow, living only for the weekends.

The answer is to live for eternity. To put your hope in Christ and to do as Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, “Seek first the things of the kingdom.” As I pray for that, it makes me want to be like Jesus. But I keep failing miserably at that. In this psalm, David has been afflicted by some type of stroke from God. He cries out to God.

Psalm 39:7-11
“And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.  Deliver me from all my transgressions. Do not make me the scorn of the fool!  I am mute; I do not open my mouth, for it is you who have done it.  Remove your stroke from me; I am spent by the hostility of your hand.  When you discipline a man with rebukes for sin, you consume like a moth what is dear to him; surely all mankind is a mere breath! Selah

We truly are our own worst enemies. We bring most of our sorrows upon ourselves because we stubbornly refuse to live the repentant life we are called to. So, our loving father allows things to afflict us. But this is not punishment to those who are His; they are disciplines to teach us and to drive us to a desperate realization of how much we need Jesus.

Life is short. David knew that and his son, Solomon did too, writing this in Ecclesiastes 6:12, “For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow?” James agreed saying this in James 4:14, “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”

Life is short here on earth. I went to bed one night when I was six and woke up and now I’m sixty. It seems that quick. So, we need to make the best of the gift of life that God has blessed us with. We must turn to God and fall to our knees and cry out to Him as David did.

Psalm 39:12-13
“Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry; hold not your peace at my tears! For I am a sojourner with you, a guest, like all my fathers.  Look away from me, that I may smile again, before I depart and am no more!”

We are truly just sojourners on this earth. While we are here our sin will eat away all our joy. But there is a solution to that problem; Jesus. He died and bore the penalty of our sins and then He rose from the dead. When He ascended to sit at the right hand of the Father, He promised to send His Holy Spirit to dwell within all those who place their faith in Him.

Confess and forsake your sin. Take it to the foot of the cross and leave it there. When your sorrows seem to overwhelm you, go to your knees. Jesus is there.  He will make you smile again.