Prepare
Opening Prayer
Father, thank you for the rich blessing of coming to your Word. Apply it to our hearts so that we follow you and cry out to you even in distress. In Jesus' name, amen.
Read
Scripture Passage
Psalm 39
Prayer for Wisdom and Forgiveness
To the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
1 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:
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
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.
7 “And now, Lord, what do I wait for?
My hope is in You.
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
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.”
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ps 39.
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
David tries to remain silent in sorrow, but his heart burns until he cries out to God. Recognizing the brevity of life, his sin, and God's sovereign discipline, he asks the Lord to deliver him from transgression, remove affliction, hear his tears, and restore his strength.
B — Best Verse
Which Verse Best Summarizes the Passage?
Psalm 39:8, 10
Bryan explicitly underlines verses 8 and 10. Together they express David's plea for deliverance from sin and relief from God's disciplining hand.
C — Called or Christ
C — Called to Do
Do not bury distress in stoic silence or rely on your own resolve. Humbly confess sin, cry out to the Lord in both good and hard times, and ask him for mercy, forgiveness, relief, and renewed strength.
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
Well, why don't we go ahead and have some coffee? We'll pray. This is where every day you and I, we get together, we get into God's Word, and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2021, we'll make it through all the wisdom literature. Well, this morning we're at Psalm 39. Let's go ahead and have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for what a rich blessing it is to come to your Word. We pray now that as we read it, you would apply it to our hearts. We pray that we would follow after you and we would cry out to you even in our distress. In Jesus' name, Amen. All right, why don't we go ahead and turn over here in our Bibles to Psalm 39. Psalm 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. I was mute with silence. I held my peace even from good and my sorrow was stirred up. My heart was hot within me while I was musing the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue. Lord, make me to know my end, and what is the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am. Indeed, you have made my days as a hand-breaths, and my age as nothing before you.
Certainly, every man at his best state is but a vapor. Selah. 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. And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you. Deliver me from all my transgressions. Do not make me the reproach of the foolish. I was mute. I did not open my mouth because it was you who did it. Remove your plague from me. I am consumed by the blow of your hand. When with rebukes you correct a man for iniquity, you make his beauty melt away like a moth. Surely every man is a vapor. 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. Remove your gaze from me, that I may regain strength before I go away and am no more.
David is crying out here, what's this about? David is crying out in his distress. David is saying, I kept my mouth shut. When bad things were happening, I didn't know what to do, I didn't know how to say it, and so I just kept quiet. My days were numbered, you knew what was going on, your hand was heavy. And then he says, but then I opened my mouth.
And he cries out to God. I think this is sometimes, once again, the Psalms are just so hard for us to think, is it pious to say these things? Well, yes, it is. It is godly. Not to be a stoic and just swallow it down and act like, oh, I can just handle all this. No, that's not what biblical Christianity is like. The people of faith say, Lord, you're the one who's sovereign. I don't know why I'm sick. Please remove this plague from me. God, I know that I'm a sinner. Please take this guilt away from me. Restore to me my strength. Remove your heavy hand from upon me.
I mean, this is what Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians, right? He says that some people are coming to the Lord's Supper, and they're not discerning rightly the body and blood of the Lord, and for this reason, some of them are sick, and some have even died. Right, we wanna act like it's just germ theory that makes us sick and stuff, but the reality is that's not just the case, right? God does bring us sickness because of, or through, things like germs and viruses. But if we cried out to the Lord, Have we cried out confessing our sin and asking him for mercy?
What's the best verse for this? I think in my Bible, I'm going to underline verse eight, deliver me from all my transgressions. Do not make me the reproach of the foolish. And then also, where's that here? Verse 10, remove your plague from me. I am consumed by the blow of your hand.
Well, why don't we go ahead and pray this morning? Lord, we do thank you that you hear our prayers, for we pray in Jesus's name. Lord, we do pray that you would forgive us of our transgressions, that if we are those who are under affliction and hardship, that we would cry out to you. Lord, that we would not just try to swallow these things up and pick ourselves up by our bootstraps, but that, Lord, that we would walk before you in humility, Lord, we pray that your hand would be good towards us and your face would shine upon us, that we would trust in you and cry out to you in the good times and in the hard times. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, may the Lord bless you today. May he fill you with joy and peace. I hope you stay warm and I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.