1 I said, “I will guard my ways,
that I may not sin with my tongue;
I will guard my mouth with a muzzle,
so long as the wicked are in my presence.”
2 I was mute and silent;
I held my peace to no avail,
and my distress grew worse.
3 My heart became hot within me.
As I mused, the fire burned;
then I spoke with my tongue:
My first thought after reading these three verses was “Uh-oh.” I know well that experience of repeating internally “I won’t say anything, I won’t say anything,” reaching a breaking point, and then speaking. When self-control has been breached, it’s no telling what might come out.
But no need to worry in this situation, because the words spoken are addressed to God. Again, the lesson we perhaps most need to learn from the Psalms is that prayer is the safest place to speak my roughest thoughts as well as my most careful. It is the place to say just how frustrated I am with those “wicked” people who “are in my presence” (verse 1), including myself.
4 O Lord, make me know my end
and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting I am!
As with other prayers for knowledge, this one asks not so much for new information as for what is known in theory to become instinctual. The “make me know” or “let me know” here is like a prayer spoken to Jesus (Mark 9:24), “I believe—help my unbelief!” except that here it is “I know (otherwise I would not think to ask for it), but teach me!” And the knowledge possessed but sought is that this life is temporary.
5 Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths,
and my lifetime is as nothing before you.
Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!
6 Surely a man goes about as a shadow!
Surely for nothing they are in turmoil;
man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!
In that situation of speech breaking out at the worst time, which I hope most people have so that I am not so alone in it, it is good to have that broader perspective. Because everything we can find to fuss about has an end, then we can say that “for nothing [we] are in turmoil” (verse 6).
The rest of the psalm goes on with the theme of the fragility of human life, especially when it seems to be under attack by God himself in rebuke and judgment: “Look away from me, that I may smile again, before I depart and am no more!” (verse 13). Again, in prayer say what you really think!
But we can also repeat that other lesson as we shuffle along and fuss and fight with each other over opinions about everything we can think of, such as the president, money (the third line of verse 6), beliefs odd and otherwise, whether to encourage the kids in some activity or not, what to do with grandma, and where to put the couch. In the long perspective, much of the energy invested is “surely for nothing,” and no mere opinion is worth endangering relationships with people or God.
- Psalm 39 is quoted here from the English Standard Version (2011).
- These posts on the Psalms are in aid of the reading of the Psalms—one a day through the first five months of 2022—by members, attenders, friends, et al. of Together Church, Wyoming, MI.
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