Psalms 39:7 - Meaning and Application

The psalmist had been thinking deeply about how short and uncertain life is, and how empty and frustrating even life’s comforts can be. Now he lifts his eyes and heart toward heaven. When nothing in this world can give lasting satisfaction, it must be found in God and in fellowship with him. And our disappointments in the world should drive us to him.

David first shows his dependence on God, in Psalm 39:7. Since everything is empty and man himself is so fragile, he gives up hoping for happiness from this world. “Now, Lord, what am I waiting for? I expect nothing lasting from the things of this life. I have nothing to wish for, nothing to hope for, from this earth.” The thought of how vain and weak human life is should cool our desire for worldly things and lower our expectations from them. If the world is really like this, then God should keep me from making it my share or even seeking it as my share. We cannot count on steady health, prosperity, or comfort in any relationship, because all of it is as uncertain as our time here. “Though I once foolishly promised myself this and that from the world, I now think differently.”

Then he fastens his hope on God: “My hope is in you.” When trust in created things fails, it is a comfort that we still have God to go to and trust in. That should stir us to hold more tightly to him by faith.

He also shows his submission to God and his willing acceptance of God’s holy will, in Psalm 39:9. If our hope is in God for happiness in the world to come, then we can also accept what his providence brings us in this world. “I was silent, I did not open my mouth in complaint or grumbling.” He had recovered the calm spirit that had been disturbed before. Whatever comforts he loses, whatever troubles he bears, he will remain steady. “Because you did it,” he says. It did not happen by chance, but by God’s appointment.

Here we see a good God ordering everything that happens to us. Of every event we can say, “This is the Lord’s doing,” no matter what human means were used. We also see a good man keeping silence for that reason. He has nothing to argue against God, no charge to bring, and no dispute to raise. All that God does is right.

Then David turns to his desire for God and the prayers he offers. Anyone who is afflicted should pray as David does here. He first asks for pardon for his sin and protection from shame, in Psalm 39:8. Before he prays, “Remove your stroke from me” in Psalm 39:10, he prays, “Deliver me from all my offenses.” That means from the guilt he has brought on himself, the punishment he deserves, and the power of corruption that has held him captive. When God forgives our sins, he truly delivers us from them all.

He also says, “Do not let me become a reproach to the foolish.” Wicked people are foolish people, and they show their foolishness most when they think they are clever by mocking God’s people. When David asks God to pardon his sins and keep him from becoming a reproach, he is asking for peace in his conscience, as if saying, “Lord, do not leave me under heavy sorrow that foolish people will laugh at.” He is also asking for grace, that God would not leave him to himself so far that he would do anything to bring shame on his name. This is a strong reason to watch and pray against sin, because the honor of our faith is closely tied to our integrity.

He next asks for relief from his suffering, so that his present burden may be lifted quickly, in Psalm 39:10. “Remove your stroke from me.” When we are under God’s correcting hand, we must look to God himself for relief, not elsewhere. Only the one who sends the blow can take it away. We can pray with faith for affliction to be removed when our sins are forgiven (Isaiah 38:17), and when the affliction has done its work, humbled us, and brought us to the right place before God.

He pleads how severe his suffering has become, which makes him fit for God’s mercy: “I am worn out by the blow of your hand.” His sickness had gone so far that his strength failed, his spirit sank, and his body wasted away. The strike, or conflict, of God’s hand had brought him near death. No one, not even the strongest and best, can stand against God’s wrath.

This was true not only of David, but of anyone who is brought into conflict with God, in Psalm 39:11. When God corrects us with rebukes, we cannot question his justice. He always corrects for sin. Our own ways and deeds bring trouble on ourselves, and we are beaten with a rod of our own making. It is the burden of our transgressions, even if his hand binds it on us (Lamentations 1:14). We also cannot resist the result of his rebuke, because he will be too strong for us. Since we cannot stop his judgment, we also have no way to escape its carrying out.

God’s rebukes make human beauty fade like a moth. We often see, and sometimes feel, how sickness can quickly weaken and wear down the body. The face changes. Where are the rosy cheeks, the bright eyes, the lively look, the smiling face? All that is replaced by its opposite. How small a thing beauty is, and how foolish people are to be proud of it or love it so much, since it can be consumed so quickly.

Some have taken the moth to picture man, who can be crushed as easily as a moth under a finger, as in Job 4:19. Others see the moth as a picture of God’s rebukes, which quietly and slowly wear us away, just as a moth eats a garment. All of this shows again what David said before, that every man is surely vanity, weak and helpless. That is how he will be found when God comes to contend with him.

David also pleads the good effect his affliction has had on him. He hoped the purpose of the affliction had been accomplished, and that this was why it should be removed in mercy. If an affliction has not done its work, then even if it is taken away, it is not really removed in mercy. It had made him weep, and he hoped God had noticed that. When the Lord called him to mourning, he answered and yielded to the discipline. So he could pray in faith, “Lord, do not be silent when I am weeping.”

The God who does not willingly afflict or grieve people, and especially not his own children, will not ignore their tears. He will either speak deliverance for them, and if he speaks, it is done, or he will speak comfort to them in the meantime and make them hear joy and gladness.

Affliction had also set him praying, and that is one of the good effects trouble can have. When hardship drives us to pray more, and pray better than before, we may hope that God will hear us and answer us. The prayer that God himself gives room for by his providence, and forms by his Spirit of grace, will not return empty.

It had also helped him lose his grip on the world and turn his heart away from it. He now saw himself more than ever as a stranger and a traveler here, like all his fathers, not at home in this world but passing through it on the way to a better country. He would not think of himself as settled until he came to heaven. So he appeals to God, saying in effect, “Lord, notice me and my burdens, because I am a stranger here and meet with strange treatment. I am ignored and oppressed as a stranger, and where else should I look for help except to you, the one to whom I belong?”

He also prays for a little more time, “O spare me, and lift me up from this sickness, so that I may recover strength in body and mind. Then I may come into a calmer and more steady frame of spirit, and be better prepared for the next world before I leave this one by death, and am seen here no more.” Some understand this as a desperate cry for quick help, as in (Job 10:20-21). But it is better to take it as a godly prayer that God would keep him alive until grace had made him ready to die, and that he might finish the work of life before his life itself was finished. “Let my soul live, and it will praise you.”