Psalm 39
Transcript
This is Holly with Presence Point and welcome to our Psalms for Shepherds series. Today, we’re in Psalm 39, it seems to be like part 2 or a sequel to Psalm 38 where David is greatly lamenting his sin and asking for forgiveness and healing. It’s very similar to Job 7 where Job basically says my life has no hope. And it’s very similar to so much of Ecclesiastes. We see a resolved for self-control in the first three verses, a prayer for understanding and perspective in the next couple of verses, and a request for mercy and relief at the end of this psalm. It’s a powerful moment to say, look at how short life really is.
Psalm 39, a Psalm of David
1 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.”2 I was mute and silent;
I held my peace to no avail,
and my distress grew worse.3 My heart became hot within me.
As I mused, the fire burned;
then I spoke with my tongue:4 “O Lord, make me know my end
and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting I am!5 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!
And then we see Selah. Selah is an interlude, like a ‘stop and look and listen and think this over a bit.’ So we can, in fact, stop, look, listen, and think this over a bit.
4 “O Lord, make me know my end
and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting I am!5 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! Selah6 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!7 “And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?
My hope is in you.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions.
Do not make me the scorn of the fool!
9 I am mute; I do not open my mouth,
for it is you who have done it.
10 Remove your stroke from me;
I am spent by the hostility of your hand.
11 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
Another opportunity to stop. Oh, my goodness, he says, even the most delicate parts of us, that are the dearest to us that they keep us breathing and moving and existing, they’re just a breath. As quickly as I breathe, they’re gone. We know that James 4:14 says, you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. David is saying here how short is my life? It comes and it goes so quickly.
Lets go on to verses 12-13.
12 “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.
13 Look away from me, that I may smile again,
before I depart and am no more!”
So, David knew his days were short, or at least he felt his days were short. He knew that his sin had caused this problem. And many believe that the stroke mentioned in one of these verses really truly was a stroke that we think of today where he wasn’t able to speak, potentially, he was mute and silent. Even though David asked God to remove the stroke from him, he knew that had been caused by his own sin. There’s a lot in this verse.
I want to make sure we capture verse 5.
5 Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths,
and my lifetime is as nothing before you.
before I depart and am no more!”
Think of how short David is saying life is. He’s saying a hand breath is how long my life is, the breadth of a hand, meaning the width of my hand (that was the smallest popular measuring unit of ancient times, the width of a hand or four fingers). And that’s what David’s saying, “That’s really how short my life is.”
And dear under-shepherd, that’s how short our lives are. The older we get, we know that. We know how quickly life goes. Those who are much younger just don’t really see it or feel it yet, but we know this as we age. And so, with that in mind, how are you doing with living into your calling? How are you doing with providing, protecting, and being present for the sheep in your life? How are you doing with stopping for a moment and saying, ‘This hand breath I have (and if you just look down at your hand, at your fingers), am I on the 4th and near the end, am I on the third? Am I on the second?’ Only God knows.
I’d encourage you to take a moment to look at your hand. Look at the breadth of it. And then say, “Father, I don’t know where I am. I don’t know what line on this palm of my hand or where on these fingers represent where I am in life right now, but I know I must live deeply into my calling as influencer and impactor to those that I lead.”
So dear under-shepherd, I pray now, today, you’ll take a few moments—five, two, ten, sometime today—and ask yourself the question: Am I living deeply into my calling? So, if I’m on that fourth finger, if I’m near the very end with my last breath, I can say, “Oh, I lived for you, Father. And I shepherded well.”
Thank you for joining us. May you live deeply into your calling today.
DIGGING DEEPER QUESTIONS:
- Do you have regular “Selah’s” scheduled into your weekly schedule?
- How short is your life? Where are you on the measurement scale that Holly talks about?
- How are you living deeply into your calling?
