Walking With God # 12: Life is Short- Pray Hard, Psalm 39

Introduction: It’s no secret, life is short. The evidence is all around us- from the murder of Iryna Zarutska, to the school shooting in Colorado, to the assassination of Charlie Kirk, we don’t know when our life will end.

But we need to think about it, because it is certain. It’s a sobering thought, & one that most of us don’t like to think about. That’s why we put off making those wills & having those end-of-life conversations.

We need to think about it because it helps us set our priorities in order. When I felt God was calling me here, my potential lifespan played a role- I knew if I was going to have a 20-year church, this was my chance. The older we get, the more we feel time slipping away from us.

There are many philosophies about how to approach the shortness of life. One approach that people take is “life is short, so play hard.” I think the example of Psalm 39 teaches us that “life is short, so pray hard.”

Psalm 39, 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. 5Indeed, 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 6Surely 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.”

Before we get to the prayer of the psalm, there is a preface, or prelude, that sets up the rest of the psalm for our understanding.

1. This Psalm is a Prayer from the HEART, vss. 1-3

David shares his thoughts as he endured a difficult season in his life. His intention was to remain silent about his situation. Guard my ways- to prevent conduct. David wanted to keep himself from running off at the mouth- sinning with his tongue, especially around unbelievers.

Vs. 2- Mute with silence = depicts a person who is incapable of speaking; so distraught is David, he even keeps himself from saying anything good out of fear that he will say too much. He felt like his best course of action was to say nothing at all, but it was too much for him.

Vs. 3- His heart grew hot within him. A fire burned in his brain (musings = sighing) & he had to let it out. JFB- “his emotions, as a smothered flame, burst forth.” The fire that burned within came out in the form of a 3-pronged prayer, designated by the name “LORD” in vs. 4, 7, & 12.

His example is a good one for us.How many of us, when we’re going through a hard time tend to say too much to too many people before we even say one word to God. We need to talk to God first, not last.

2. A Prayer for HELP | Help to Number our Days, 4-6

What weighed so heavily on David’s heart & mind that he couldn’t keep it in any longer?We see it in vs. 4, make me to know my end, the measure of my days, how frail I am. Frail- fleeting, short-lived. It will serve us well to take stock of where we are & of how much time we may have left. Two ways to measure our days:

In light of ETERNITY, vs. 5. The measure of our days is like a handbreadth when compared to God’s existence. Handbreadth = 4 fingers; in light of God’s eternal nature, our lifespan is like the span of a hand. That’s not very much space to measure anything by.

How many hands equal eternity? Infinite amount, we are each just one.

This is what Moses was saying in Psalm 90:1-2, Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God… In stark contrast to God is us

Psalm 90:10-12, The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away... 12 So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. In light of eternity, the most we are, is a mere breath(vapor- hevel, inhale/exhale, nothing).

In light of VANITY, vs. 6. Our earthly existence is like a shadow, but we keep ourselves so busy with the trappings of it. Busy- tumultuous, turbulence, it describes a state of commotion, noise, & confusion. Our busyness is meaningless (in vain- result of spending time on things that have no value or significance). It’s what the author of Ecclesiastes meant when he wrote Ecclesiastes 1:2, “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” All is meaningless.

It sounds defeatist, right?The attitude is related to what we spend our time on- heaping up riches. Storing up riches is vanity because we don’t know how long we have to spend our time on things that do not matter. In light of vanity, most of what we spend our time on is meaningless.

James 4:13-14, Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

We need God’s help to number our days, to measure them against eternity & vanity, the things that matter vs. the things that don’t. That is a prayer from the heart that we would ask the Lord to help us with.

3. A Prayer for HOPE | Hope to Deal with our Sins, 7-11

Here we begin to understand his underlying dilemma. He has been suffering both from sickness and from sin. His only hope for dealing with sin is waiting for God to rid him of it. This is the hope of every Christian that God will deal with our sins.

God is the only one who can DELIVER us from sin (vss. 8-9, deliver me from my transgressions), & one of the ways that God deals with our sin is through DISCIPLINE (vss. 10-11, with rebukes You correct man).

God redeems us from sin. Redemption means that Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty for sin to buy us back from bondage to sin so that we are free to serve God. There are 3 phrases of our redemption:

1st, we are free of the PENALTY of sin (this happens as soon as we trust Christ as our Savior).

2nd, we are free from the POWER of sin. This happens at the moment of our salvation, when we receive the Holy Spirit, but the effects are not immediate. The big sins go first, then as we get closer to Christ, we become more & more aware of little sins, & they must go too.

3rd, we will be free of even the PRESENCE of sin. Right now, sin is still in us, & around us, but one day it will go away for good. Romans 8:23, we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. This is the hope that saves us, that we wait for with perseverance.

Between being set free of the power of sin but still dealing with its presence, is where the Lord’s discipline comes into play. Plague (vs. 10)- onset of illness, or an affliction that is hard to get rid of. We need to view things like this as correction from God. Hebrews 12 teaches that God only disciplines His children & chastens those He loves.

It’s a good sign to feel conviction of sin & correction from God, because it means we are His. Hebrews 12:11, Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Conviction and correction are how God deals with our sin, and the natural response to this hope is a prayer for healing.

4. A Prayer for HEALING | Healing from Situation, 12-13

David is asking God to heal him from his current situation. Several commentaries connect Psalm 39 with Psalm 38, he was “seriously ill and facing the prospect of imminent death… as might be expected following such sickness, he is contemplating life’s brevity” (J. M. Boice).

In Psalm 38:13-14 he is silent before other people… But I, like a deaf man, do not hear; And I am like a mute who does not open his mouth. 14 Thus I am like a man who does not hear, and in whose mouth is no response. The theme of keeping silent is where this psalm began.

But now we’re at the end and he is no longer silent but is crying out to God. His intensity has increased- what began as a burning question gave way to communication through prayer, conviction because of sin, and desperation for healing.There is not only a cry in his voice but tears from his eyes. Spurgeon- “Tears speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues; they act as keys upon wards of tender hearts...”

David acknowledges that this world is not his home.He is a stranger & an alien, a sojourner & a pilgrim- a stranger WITH God but not from God. 1 Peter 2:11, Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. God and David are still walking together, but he feels God gazing at him in anger (vs. 13).

ILL: Do you remember that look your parents gave you, when you just looked away because they wouldn’t. My daddy didn’t have to spank me much; his look would often work. Have you ever felt that look from God?

You just want Him to turn His gaze away so that you can feel better (regain strength- to brighten up, become cheerful). That’s what David wants. He is asking God to lift His heavy hand of judgment so that he can feel happy again before he dies. Life is short- so he prays hard.

Charlie Kirk had no idea that when he went to Utah Valley University last Wednesday that it would be his last day on earth. Moments before his assassination Kirk spoke openly about the Bible & his belief in Jesus… “Jesus Christ was a real person. He lived a perfect life, he was crucified, died and rose on the third day, and he is Lord and God over all…”

Charlie Kirk was only 31 years old, but in his short life, he made a big impact. C.T. Studd was a famous English missionary who served in China, India, & Africa. He was 71 when he died.

He wrote the poem- Only One Life. The last stanza reads: Only one life, yes only one, Now let me say, “Thy will be done”; And when at last I’ll hear the call, I know I’ll say ’twas worth it all”; Only one life,’ twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last. Life is Short- Pray hard.