Thoughts on Psalm 39

To the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

39 I said, “I will guard my ways,
Lest I sin with my tongue;
I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle,
While the wicked are before me.”
² I was mute with silence,
I held my peace even from good;
And my sorrow was stirred up.

³ My heart was hot within me; While I was musing, the fire burned.

Then I spoke with my tongue:

Oftentimes the best thing to say is nothing at all.

⁴ “Lord, make me to know my end,
And what is the measure of my days,
That I may know how frail I am.
⁵ Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths,
And my age is as nothing before You;
Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah

God knows the beginning and ending of all our days. Time is short.

⁶ Surely every man walks about like a shadow;
Surely they busy themselves in vain;
He heaps up riches,
And does not know who will gather them.

Stuff you own may end up owning you.

⁷ “And now, Lord, what do I wait for?
My hope is in You.

Waiting and hoping here is not “wishful thinking.” It is expectantly anticipating certainty.

⁸ Deliver me from all my transgressions;
Do not make me the reproach of the foolish.
⁹ I was mute, I did not open my mouth,
Because it was You who did it.
¹⁰ Remove Your plague from me;
I am consumed by the blow of Your hand.
¹¹ When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity,
You make his beauty melt away like a moth;
Surely every man is vapor. Selah

Interesting verses to wrestle with.
Note that it is God who is behind his transgressions and reproach. It is God who sends the plague. It is God’s hand that delivers the blow. It is God who rebukes man for sin.
As RC always said, there is no maverick molecule; God is sovereign over all.

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, as all my fathers were.
¹³ Remove Your gaze from me, that I may regain strength,
Before I go away and am no more.”

Anyone who has felt the weight of the world on their shoulders