There is no volume in the world which corresponds with the Psalms in terms of their ability to uncover and relate the depth of suffering that the human mind and heart is capable of experiencing. Whatever valley we pass through in this life, there is an empathetic voice for us, an understanding touch that is felt when we read the Psalms. This is because, unlike books written by man, God wrote the Psalms and God understands human nature in a way which defies all of our comprehension.

As David, the most prolific writer of the Psalms penned his words he was sometimes afraid, sometimes, sick, sometimes betrayed, sometimes repentant, sometimes chastened and, as we noticed in the previous Psalm , often feeling broken and devastated. Yet still he learned to trust God; therein was His strength.

This Psalm is good inasmuch as it helps us unpick the reasons why it is so important that we trust God and keep trusting. In this Psalm David is also suffering and grieving but there is a pivot which turns him from complaining to praying:

my hope is in thee

Psalm 39:7

This will always bring about a change in the life and experience of any man or woman. Trusting doesn’t alter our natural circumstances but it transforms our spiritual state; trusting moves us from thinking horizontally to looking vertically, instead of looking around us in desperation we look upwards in anticipation. We gain peace in the midst of the storm.

I pity those who have never learned to trust, who have not begun trusting. Certainly many of us have little faith, we struggle with this but yet there is faith; a little faith is more powerful than we realise. But my heart goes out to those with no faith. Facing the miseries and grief of this world without faith is a monumental tragedy!

ANXIETY TEACHES US TO TRUST GOD

I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good;
and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me,
while I was musing the fire burned:

Psalm 39:2-3

Facing his particular problem David was determined not to speak because the wicked were before him. He didn’t want to say words which would be misinterpreted, twisted or used to slander his reputation. This inability to share his concerns with others prompted deep and intense thought where he mulled over his extremities.

His thinking appears to be grief; grieving is the most acute form of anxiety and mental anguish – it is in a character all of its own. David was no stranger to grief, his suffering when Bathsheba’s baby son died is well documented as is the sorrow he experienced when Absalom perished. Matthew Henry calls this a funeral song because of the manner in which David meditated upon the brevity of life; funerals are those occasions when we are caused to reflect most intently upon our own demise.

Those who have experienced deep and intense grief will relate to the fire burning within his heart, the stirring sorrow that threatened to devour him. On a lower level no-one escapes anxiety, worries and forboding which pursue us by day and keep us tossing upon the bed by night.

The lesson from all of this is from human nature itself. We will never find peace from looking inward. Self inspection and human thought will never give us peace in this troubled life.

We must look upwards to the Prince of Peace to discover true rest for our souls. Anxiety teaches us that we must trust in God alone.

MORTALITY TEACHES US TO TRUST GOD

In his sorrow David inevitably turns his mind to the human body and the frailty of the flesh.

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

Psalm 39:4-6

These words form part of a prayer, David wants to get a sense of the brevity of his life, he prays that God would help him understand this. He prays in this fashion because he knows that true wisdom is to live one’s life in the light of one’s death. It is utter foolishness to live as if life will never end, to work and to build as if we are going to be here in this world forever. Am inscription on the walls of a house in Cehshire erected in 1836 expresses this most succinctly:

You would weep if your life was limited to one month yet you laugh while you know not it may be restricted to a day

The message of mortality preaches that our own funeral march is drawing closer but the message of Scripture preaches an even more sober message – of eternity, heaven or hell and the final judgement. One day life will be gone forever, the chair will be empty, and we will have crossed the river to meet God. If these facts are not built into lives we are living like fools. David wanted to be grounded, to be realistic and to regulate his life accordingly.

Two words describe the philosophy of life which is articulated in this psalm: brevity and vanity.

BREVITY

Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth

The width of one’s hand is not a large span, it’s a small measurement. David wanted to appreciate the measure of his existence and the response wasn’t very encouraging. James described life as being like the rising vapour while the Book of Job uses the metaphor of the weaver’s shuttles flying quickly back and forth upon the loom. Even the longest of lives are a blink, slipping all so quickly past from the cradle to the grave.

VANITY

every man at his best state is altogether vanity

This second description of human life is less encouraging. While man knows that his life is brief he wants more than anything to make his time valuable, to make a difference. David discovered before God in prayer, that the best which man can offer is vanity.

The Hebrew Scriptures are graphic on this point. “Every man” literally means “all Adam” while the word “vanity” is derived from the named “Abel”. Therefore all men and women are just like Abel, the name Abel meaning “a breath”. Abel promised so much and in both him and his brother Cain Adam and Eve staked all their hopes. But with the murder every dream was smashed as the hearts of our first parents were broken. They lost not just one son on that black day but two because Cain was never seen again. They were the first people to lay eyes on a still corpse, Adam was the first gravedigger and undertaker, Eve was the first heartbroken mother. What sorrow they bore on that day as the earth was shovelled over Abel’s lifeless body, blaming themselves for the curse that now reached its tentacles right into their own little family.

But now David says – we are all like this, every marriage and every home is affected – we are so like Abel, disappointment, guilt, brokenness stalks our every move…at our best, at our strongest, at our richest we are weak and poor – without strength. Solomon perhaps, drew some inspiration from his father as he penned the words, “vanity of vanities, all is vanity”.

It is significant that after each of these phrases David employs the sacred pause “Selah”. We are to pause and think about the brevity, the uncertainty, the unpredictability and the abject emptiness, the vanity of life!

At one time before atheistic humanism with its flawed concept of elevated humanity overtook our culture the most secular of authors were informed by such a rooted biblical framework. Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a case in point:

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing.

Act 5 Scene 5

The Christian message, however, is not quite so bleak.

Certainly living without Christ is to live wthout hope and such a life renders the greatest of acheivements foolishness. The most brilliant mind is ignorant and the richest person is impoverished if the claims of Christ over the human soul are rejected. It matters not how popular and famous the individual is, if that or woman is rejected by God at the judgement day.

But while there is life in this world there remains hope; the great hope of the Gospel of redeeming grace. Only Christ who bore all of our troubles and sorrows, who died and rose again can give life in a world of death, delivering us from this futile miserable existance.

Therefore because of the natural mortality and all it entails we must place our trust in God, there is nothing else and no-one else.

Iniquity Teaches us to Trust God

Having declared his hope in God in this pivot text David proceeds to reflect upon his sin.

Deliver me from all my transgressions:
make me not the reproach of the foolish.
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 39:8-11

The core reason why this world is such a wretched place is the sinfulness of humanity. Our sins have separated us from God and have rendered this planet and the entire universe a place of the curse. Judgement is ever present through change and decay, suffering and illness, tragedy and sorrow, diasters and destruction. We cannot understand the world without judgement and this curse afflecting us is a direct consequence of our sin. Therefore we must hope in God because His grace alone deals with the sin question.

Therefore, like David we must pray the sinner’s prayer, seeking deliverance from all of our transgressions.

Some are led a most difficult rough road on the journey to repentance. The Philippain jailor was brought through an earthquake which threw open the doors of his prison house, loosing the bands of the inmaates. The poor man was on the brink of falling upon his own sword thinking that his execution was imminent, before the voice of the apostle broke the gloom, “Do thyself no harm”. In that instant he believed the Gospel the Apostle preached; “What must I do to be saved!”.

David, however, recognised in his sorrow the chastening hand of God; graphically he talked about feeling the blow of the divine hand. He also discusses the reason why God chastens us so; to make human beauty fade away like the moth-eaten garment. At times God will make us drink the bitter drink of our own foolishness, causing us to learn the consequences of our sin in order that we might seek forgiveness.

Sin binds, it chains, it addicts, it divides, ruins homes and marriages, it generates mistrust, it causes violence and mayhem, creates bitterness and fear, it destroys our health, distorts our thinking and ultimately ends in death. Sin is a path of destruction because the way of the transgressor is hard.

The prime reason why we must trust God is our sin; the prospect of facing Him, at the last day, unforgiven is unthinkable.

In Conclusion

Finally David summmons up all his strength and moral resources to makes one final great appeal to God:

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.
O spare me, that I may recover strength,
before I go hence, and be no more.

Psalm 39:12-13

Everything that David has learned is found in this last appeal. There are cries and tears, he begs as one who is separated from God; he is a stranger and sojoruner. He desired to be made strong in this hour of weakness, only God’s strength will suffice.

Such prayers are heard in the courts of heaven; the broken and contrite heart He will never despise. Learn the lessons dear unconverted soul and cry unto God for grace, trust in Him alone; your life and your eternity depends upon your faith in Christ!