Reflections on Psalms 39

 Psalms 39(Contemporary English Version)

1. (A psalm by David for Jeduthun, the music leader.) I told myself, "I'll be careful not to sin by what I say, and I'll muzzle my mouth when evil people are near."
   
2. I kept completely silent, but it did no good, and I hurt even worse.
   
3. I felt a fire burning inside, and the more I thought, the more it burned, until at last I said:
   
4. "Please, LORD, show me my future. Will I soon be gone?
   
5. You made my life short, so brief that the time means nothing to you. "Human life is but a breath,
   
6. and it disappears like a shadow. Our struggles are senseless; we store up more and more, without ever knowing who will get it all.
   
7. "What am I waiting for? I depend on you, Lord!
   
8. Save me from my sins. Don't let fools sneer at me.
   
9. You treated me like this, and I kept silent, not saying a word.
   
10. "Won't you stop punishing me? You have worn me down.
    
11. You punish us severely because of our sins. Like a moth, you destroy what we treasure most. We are as frail as a breath.
    
12. "Listen, LORD, to my prayer! My eyes are flooded with tears, as I pray to you. I am merely a stranger visiting in your home as my ancestors did.
    
13. Stop being angry with me and let me smile again before I am dead and gone."

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The occasion of this psalm was a physical affliction David suffered which he attributed to God's discipline for some sin in his life. The experience had reduced him to the realization that life is completely in God's hands, including its length. The pursuit of possessions, or anything that does not enhance our lives with God, is vain for it will be left behind when this short life is ended.

In his affliction, which he attributed to sin, David tried not to sin further with his tongue, so he guarded his mouth, "with a muzzle as long as the wicked are in my presence." But his pain only intensified. So he turned to his only recourse which was to reach out to God saying, "Now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You." (39:7) He asked the Lord to deliver him from his transgressions and to remove his torment. Under the Lord's punishment he had lost what was "precious to him." (39:11) Was this his health?

David concluded with a plea for God to "Turn Your angry gaze from me that I may be cheered up before I die and am gone." (39:13) As one of the wealthiest and most powerful kings of his time, David's primary concern at this time was to simply "be cheered up" in whatever time he had remaining in life. The wealth and power were of little consequence. This "cheering up" was only possible if God turned away His anger and smiled once again on David.