PSALM 39
One of Four Psalms Entrusted by David to the Chief Musician Jeduthun
This psalm, along with Psalms 62, 77, and 89, are all entrusted by David to Jeduthun or Ethan, who, along with Asaph and Herman, as well as all three of their descendants, were special workmen appointed to the sacred service of putting God’s message to His people through His prophets to music (1 Chronicles 25:1; 2 Chronicles 5:12). In 2 Chronicles 35:15, Jeduthun is singled out from Asaph and Herman, as “the king’s seer.” Also, David left the Ark of the Covenant in the house and care of Jeduthun’s son Obed-edom (2 Samuel 6:10-12; 1 Chronicles 13:5-14; 16:38).
Psalm 39:1
BIBLE TEXT: "I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me." (Psalm 39:1 KJV)
BIBLE TWEET: To not heed one’s ways is a sure way to unholiness, and nothing makes one more susceptible to sin than an unbridled tongue.
BIBLE TAKEAWAY: We must constantly watch our every step and carefully select our every word to ward off our every sin.
Psalm 39:2
BIBLE TEXT: "I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred." (Psalm 39:2 KJV)
BIBLE TWEET: To be silent in the face of the wicked, especially when it comes to speaking up for what is good, is to buttress the wicked and betray the good.
BIBLE TAKEAWAY: “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
Psalm 39:3
BIBLE TEXT: "My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue." (Psalm 39:3 KJV)
BIBLE TWEET: Hot tempers explode into howling tongues.
BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The mouth is the crater from which smoldering volcanic emotions eventually erupt.
Psalm 39:4-6
BIBLE TEXT: "Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them." (Psalm 39:4-6 KJV)
BIBLE TWEET: We are mere mortals on a meaningless march through a momentary mirage mustering mundane things to be someday managed by somebody else.
BIBLE TAKEAWAY: It is only when confronted with life’s brevity and human mortality that men come to consider the possibility of eternal realities, which alone give meaning to their otherwise meaningless existence.
Psalm 39:7
BIBLE TEXT: "And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee." (Psalm 39:7 KJV)
BIBLE TWEET: Once one realizes the transience and hollowness of this life, he will put his trust and hope in the Lord, who alone gives rhyme and reason to this otherwise short and senseless existence.
BIBLE TAKEAWAY: “The nature of Christ’s existence is mysterious; I admit, but this mystery meets the wants of man. Reject it and the world is an inexplicable riddle; believe it, and the history of our race is satisfactory explained.” (Napoleon Bonaparte)
Psalm 39:8
BIBLE TEXT: "Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish." (Psalm 39:8 KJV)
BIBLE TWEET: Only God can remit our sins and rescue us from the reproach of sinners.
BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Sin must not only be forgiven, but forsaken, if faithful saints are not to be made fun of by foolish sinners.
Psalm 39:9-11
BIBLE TEXT: "I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it. Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand. When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah." (Psalm 39:9-11 KJV)
BIBLE TWEET: The mouths of the stiff-necked can be swiftly hushed by the hard blow of God’s hand.
BIBLE TAKEAWAY: Unlike the silence of a sulking flesh, the silence of submission to the Spirit is praiseworthy, not pitiable. Whereas the former is unsightly, the latter is seemly.
Psalm 39:12
BIBLE TEXT: "Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were." (Psalm 39:12 KJV)
BIBLE TWEET: When sojourners with God find themselves estranged from God, because of their sins against God, there is no surer way of reconciliation to God that to cry the tears of repentance before God.
BIBLE TAKEAWAY: The ear of God is more attuned to the tears of a repentant sinner than to the eloquence of ten thousand tongues.
Psalm 39:13
BIBLE TEXT: "O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more." (Psalm 39:12 KJV)
BIBLE TWEET: God forbid that we should die under the frown of our Lord and without a smile on our own lips.
BIBLE TAKEAWAY: We should pray not only to live in God’s good graces, but to die in them as well.