2/6/2012 7:45:20 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Life is short
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 39
Message of the verses: 1 ¶ «For the choir director, for Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.» I said, "I will guard my ways That I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth as with a muzzle While the wicked are in my presence." 2 I was mute and silent, I refrained even from good, And my sorrow grew worse. 3 My heart was hot within me, While I was musing the fire burned; Then I spoke with my tongue: 4 "LORD, make me to know my end And what is the extent of my days; Let me know how transient I am. 5 "Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; Surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Selah. 6 "Surely every man walks about as a phantom; Surely they make an uproar for nothing; He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them.
“7 ¶ "And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You. 8 "Deliver me from all my transgressions; Make me not the reproach of the foolish. 9 "I have become mute, I do not open my mouth, Because it is You who have done it. 10 "Remove Your plague from me; Because of the opposition of Your hand I am perishing. 11 "With reproofs You chasten a man for iniquity; You consume as a moth what is precious to him; Surely every man is a mere breath. Selah. 12 "Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry; Do not be silent at my tears; For I am a stranger with You, A sojourner like all my fathers. 13 "Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may smile again Before I depart and am no more.’”
“To the chief Musician, [even] to Jeduthun, a Psalm of David». Some take Jeduthun to be the name of a musical instrument, as Jarchi, on which, and others the first word of a song, to the tune of which, this psalm was sung, as Aben Ezra; though it seems best, with Kimchi and others, to understand it as the name of the chief musician, to whom this psalm was sent to be made use of in public service; since Jeduthun was, with his sons, appointed by David to prophesy with harps and psalteries, and to give praise and thanks unto the Lord, #1Ch 16:41,42 25:1,3; he is the same with Ethan {s}. The occasion of it is thought, by some, to be the rebellion of his son Absalom; so Theodoret thinks it was written when he fled from Absalom, and was cursed by Shimei; or rather it may be some sore affliction, which lay upon David for the chastisement of him; see #Ps 39:9,13; and the argument of the psalm seems to be much the same with that of the preceding one, as Kimchi observes.” (John Gill’s Commentary)
“Psalm 39 is an exceptionally heavy lament, which compares with Job 7 and much of Ecclesiastes. It also carries on the here-today-gone-tomorrow emphasis of Ps. 37 with a new twist, an application to all men, especially the psalmist. In this intense lament, David will break his initial silence with two rounds of requests and reflections about the brevity and burdens of life” (John MacArthur’s Study Bible introduction to Psalm 39).”
In Warren Wiersbe’s introduction to Psalm 39 he concludes with these words, “Recorded in this psalm are four progressive stages in David’s overcoming his difficult experience.”
He Was Silent—A burning Heart (vv. 1-3): “1 ¶ «For the choir director, for Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.» I said, "I will guard my ways That I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth as with a muzzle While the wicked are in my presence." 2 I was mute and silent, I refrained even from good, And my sorrow grew worse. 3 My heart was hot within me, While I was musing the fire burned; Then I spoke with my tongue:”
We see that David knew when to keep silent and when to talk in these verses, for he kept silent for a long time, but then he had to speak out. David feels that if he would has spoken before he should have that he would have sinned with his mouth. The Bible has much to say about the tongue and talking when one should not and it seems that David knew these teachings.
We see in Luke 24 in the story of Jesus walking with two men to Emmaeus disciples that when they were commenting after Jesus left saying that their hearts were burning because of His teaching them, and we see in verse three of this psalm that David’s heart was also burning.
He Was Despondent—A Burdened Heart (vv. 4-6): “4 "LORD, make me to know my end And what is the extent of my days; Let me know how transient I am. 5 "Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; Surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Selah. 6 "Surely every man walks about as a phantom; Surely they make an uproar for nothing; He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them.”
“4 “LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered- how fleeting my life is. 5 You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath.’’ Interlude 6 We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it.” (NLT)
I understand why it is that John MacArthur compared this psalm with the book of Ecclesiastes, especially in this section of the psalm. In the KJV wee the word vanity used at the end of verse five where both the NASB and the NLT use the word breath. Dr. Wiersbe says “One of my Hebrew professors described ‘vanity’ as ‘what’s left after you break a soap bubble,” and that is what David is writing about here for he knows that life is very short and that is what he is writing about in this section. David had something to say and as he looked at his life he knew that it was so short, so he needed to say what was needed in this psalm. Dr. Wiersbe writes, “When we find ourselves burying our true feelings and creating physical and emotional pain for ourselves, then it’s time to talk to the Lord and seek His help.” David was doing that in this psalm, particularly in this section.
At the end of verse six we see something that David’s son Solomon would write about in Ecclesiastes 2:18-19, “18 Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me. 19 And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity.” Jesus spoke of this same truth in Luke 12:16-21, “16 And He told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man was very productive. 17 "And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ’What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 "Then he said, ’This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 ’And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."’ 20 "But God said to him, ’You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ 21 "So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.’”
Dr. Wiersbe writes, “If your measure the length of life, you may become despondent, but if you look around you and measure the depth of life, you are appalled. Life is swift, life is short, and for most people, life is futile. In modern vocabulary, people are living for the image and not the reality.”
He Was Confident—A Believing Heart (v. 7): “7 ¶ "And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.”
Dr. Wiersbe writes “The main concern is not how long we live but how we life. Life is measured, not by how rich we are in material wealth, but whether we have values that last. Are we living with eternity’s values in view? ‘He who does the will of God abides forever’ (1John 2:17).”
It took David a while to get to this point, but this verse is the turning point of the psalm, and David figured that because life was short he had to make every moment count and so he writes, “My hope is in You.”
He Was Repentant—A Broken Heart (vv. 8-13): “8 "Deliver me from all my transgressions; Make me not the reproach of the foolish. 9 "I have become mute, I do not open my mouth, Because it is You who have done it. 10 "Remove Your plague from me; Because of the opposition of Your hand I am perishing. 11 "With reproofs You chasten a man for iniquity; You consume as a moth what is precious to him; Surely every man is a mere breath. Selah. 12 "Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry; Do not be silent at my tears; For I am a stranger with You, A sojourner like all my fathers. 13 "Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may smile again Before I depart and am no more.’”
David the sinner: This is where we begin with in this section (verses 8-9). David realized that he was a sinner, David’s mouth had been stopped, “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; (Rom. 3:19).” David admitted his guilt to the Lord.
The sin he committed does not need to be known to us, but David’s broken heart over that sin is what we need to see and do the same when sin is present in our lives.
David the sufferer: (vv. 10-11). C. S. Lewis writes in his book “The Problem of Pain:” “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to arouse a deaf world.” David asks for healing in this section of the psalm.
David the Sojourner (vv. 12-13). The Bible teaches that all of God’s children are sojourners on this earth, for we do not own anything as we are just stewards and are waiting to go to our home with the Lord. We are not to get real comfortable while living here on earth, but we are to prepare for the next life to which we will go by following the will of the Lord. Remember Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” We are to seek the wisdom of the Holy Spirit in order to accomplish those works that God has prepared for us to do so that when we get to our home with Him He will say to us “Well done thou good and faithful servant.”
Dr. Wiersbe writes at the end of his commentary these words, “His closing prayer was that God would turn away His frowning face and give him strength to return to life with its duties and burdens, and then one day enable him to pass into eternity. The phrase ‘no more’ doesn’t suggest annihilation or absence of an afterlife, but that David would ‘no more’ be on his earth pilgrimage. ‘I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever’ (23:6).”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: The older you get the more you know that life is short, for one day you are learning to walk on your own and it seems the next day you are helping your grandchildren learn to walk. Life is short and it must be remembered what is done for Christ will last.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Seek the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to show me the works that were prepared for me to do from eternity past, and then seek the strength from the Lord to accomplish those works.
2. Continue to learn contentment in my life through all the circumstances that I go through.
3. Learn when to speak and when to keep silent.
2/6/2012 9:11:12 AM
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