Psalm 39 Commentary
Make Me Know My End
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KEY THOUGHT: “Lord, make me to know my end, And what is the measure of my days, That I may know how frail I am. [Psalm 39:4 NKJV]
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Psalm 39 NKJV
Prayer for Wisdom and Forgiveness
To the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
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.”
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 [a]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 [b]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.”
Footnotes
a. Psalm 39:3 meditating
b. Psalm 39:6 make an uproar for nothing
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Psalm 39 Commentary
The psalmist will do his best to keep away from evil. He keeps quiet to ensure his mouth doesn’t breed trouble. But from his position of apparent “innocence”, more questions swell up within his heart.
“Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is.”
Then a shocking discovery. “You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure.” Everyone, believers included.
So let’s check what everyone is doing in view of this naked fact.
Some pile up wealth even when they know it all comes to nothing at the end of it all. But the psalmist seeks forgiveness for his transgressions. He specifically prays that the LORD doesn’t make him the scorn of fools.
The fools may represent individuals who feel there is nothing more than the life we know. They, therefore, seek maximum pleasure and fulfillment from it.
The saint, on the other hand, scorns the present life in preference for a better tomorrow in God’s presence. Let the LORD secure his afterlife; otherwise, there will be no end to shame.
The psalmist has just seen a movie between now and the end of his life. There is nothing to write home about. It could be an important exercise for many today.
See through your possible achievements, great or small. See through your social status, most popular or otherwise very private and obscure. Push your income to the highest point and replace the richest man in the world. Consider the wisdom route and be the most admired of men. What about power and authority? You can also have it. But what have you achieved?
Then comes the naked truth, the brevity of this physical life. Everything now looks vain and a chase after wind. The psalmist won’t have it that way. There should be more to existence. These pages provide an answer: the LORD God Almighty. A return to the LORD God in repentance, and then it can be good.
If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. First Corinthians 15:19. The psalmist prays for a better outcome. His own isn’t at all different from his ancestors. He dwells with God as a foreigner or stranger, as did his ancestors.
There is a thought that the psalmist is anticipating the resurrection. We have a pointer to blessed immortality in the presence of God. Then the saint will not be a stranger at all.
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