This psalm is another psalm of repentance and many people believe it is a sequel to the previous psalm. David who is going through a tough time begins the psalm by telling us he is lost for words, then he finds the words to speak and finally, he prays about his troubles.
Although the headings aren’t inspired by God, they are important because they give us some understanding of the Psalm and they help us to see why it was written. The headings usually tell us four things.
1. Who wrote them, probably wrote them, or possibly wrote them.
2. Information about the historical background to the Psalm. Why it was written.
3. They tell us of the tune the Psalm was written to.
4. How it was used.
The heading tells us that this is a psalm of David, for the director of music. Some commentators believe that the ‘director of music’ is God Himself and others believe that it is a song leader who led choirs or musicians, 1 Chronicles 6:33 / 1 Chronicles 16:17 / 1 Chronicles 25:6.
Jeduthun was one of the musicians appointed by David to lead Israel’s worship, 1 Chronicles 16:41 / 1 Chronicles 25:1-3. He also mentioned in the headings of Psalm 62, and Psalm 77.
David begins his psalm by asking God to help him not speak foolishly or sinfully when the wicked are before him, Psalm 39:1. He will put a muzzle, Psalm 39:1 / Deuteronomy 25:4 / 1 Corinthians 9:9, on his mouth while he’s in the presence of the wicked, that is, he is going to restrain himself from saying the wrong thing.
It appears that David found it easier to say nothing than to speak words of wisdom, Psalm 39:2. Back in Psalm 38:13, David said he was feeling so low partly because of the wicked, that he wasn’t able to defend himself with words. Here, he did well not to speak about his doubts or fears before the wicked, Psalm 39:2 / Psalm 73:15.
As his anguish increases, his heart grows hotter, Psalm 39:2-3, which tells us that his silence has done nothing but bring him sorrow and anger, Deuteronomy 19:6 / Job 32:18-19 / Jeremiah 20:9 / Jeremiah 51:39 / Ezekiel 36:5.
It’s clear that the more David thought about his problems, the more frustrated he became, the more he suppressed his feelings, and the worse he became. Surely, this is a lesson for all people today, not to bottle things up inside, but to speak to someone about how we’re feeling.
David couldn’t hold his feelings in any longer, and so, he turns to God in prayer, Psalm 39:3-4. He asks God to show him his life’s end, the number of his day and the shortness of life, Psalm 39:4.
Henry, in his commentary, says the following.
‘He prays to God to make him sensible of the shortness and uncertainty of life and the near approach of death. He asks God to give me wisdom and grace to consider it, Deuteronomy 32:29, and to improve what he knows concerning it, Ecclesiastes 9:5.’
Duhm, in his commentary, says the following concerning this prayer.
‘In this Psalm, the psalmist has the idea of personal and conscious immortality before him. He longs to know whether his life or at least his full conscious life, is to cease with death and he here asks God to teach him this mystery.’
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This expresses evidently the substance of those anxious and troubled thoughts of Psalm 39:1-2 to which he had been unwilling to give utterance. His thoughts turned on the shortness of life, on the mystery of the divine arrangement by which it had been made so short, and on the fact that so many troubles and sorrows had been crowded into a life so frail and so soon to terminate.’
David compares his days as a ‘mere handbreadth’, Psalm 39:5, which is around two inches, Job 6:4-12 / Job 7:7 / Job 14:1-13, but is nothing before God. Everyone’s life, no matter how secure they feel is but a breath, Psalm 39:5 / Job 7:7 / Psalm 144:4 / James 4:14.
You may notice at the end of verse five, some translations have the word, ‘selah’, although no one really knows what this word means, it’s likely it means to pause. It’s a time to stop and reflect upon what has just been said. We can almost imagine David pausing for a breath as he contemplates the shortness of life.
Man indeed walks about as a mere phantom or shadow, Psalm 39:6 / 2 Kings 11:18 / Amos 5:26, and because life is so short, there is vanity to trying to amass wealth, Psalm 39:6 / Genesis 41:35 / Job 27:16 / Habakkuk 1:10.
People get so busy focusing on their wealth, that they forget just how short life is, Job 27:16-19 / Ecclesiastes 2:18 / Ecclesiastes 2:21 / Ecclesiastes 5:13-14 / Luke 12:20.
After realising that bottling his feelings up was doing him more harm than good, David talks to God and after doing so, he places his hope in God, Psalm 39:7. He understands that he can’t do anything about the situation, but God can, Psalm 39:8.
Although we don’t know exactly what transgression David is referring to, Psalm 39:8, he knows that only God can deliver him from his transgression, Psalm 39:8 / Romans 7:24-8:4. Notice that David freely admits that he is a transgressor, he doesn’t blame others for his transgression but knows what’s happening to him is because it is God who is doing it to him.
David was ‘silent’, Psalm 39:9, that is, he didn’t open his mouth to complain, he didn’t speak of God as if he had dealt unkindly or unjustly with him, Psalm 39:2 / Isaiah 53:7. He knows he doesn’t understand everything, but he also knows that it was God who wouldn’t let him speak, Psalm 39:9.
He asks God to remove His scourge because God’s hand was too much on him, Psalm 39:10. This tells us that when God was disciplining him, it was painful in many ways, therefore, he asks God for some relief.
He describes how the Lord’s rebuke and discipline are like a moth, Psalm 39:11. As a moth consumes or destroys valuable objects, such as clothing, the strength of man is consumed or destroyed, as the texture of the cloth is by the moth, Job 4:19.
David asks God to hear his prayer, Psalm 39:12, that is, to hear the remorse in David’s heart because of his transgression. He wants God to have mercy on him, and to hear his cries and his tears of repentance, Psalm 39:12 / Job 16:20 / Romans 8:26.
David, along with his ancestors were foreigners in a strange land, Psalm 39:12 / Exodus 22:21, but he understood that he was only passing through this life, Psalm 39:21 / Hebrews 11:13 / 1 Peter 2:11. He understood that in the briefness of his life on earth, Psalm 39:13, he could enjoy the creation which was owned by God, 1 Chronicles 29:15 / Hebrews 11:13-15.
Before passing from life, David wanted to be forgiven of his transgression, Job 9:27 / Job 10:20 / Amos 5:9, he wanted to be healed of his physical illness before he died. It appears that David thought, that if he was going to die, he didn’t want to die feeling the way he was feeling, he wanted to die being right with God, Job 14:1-12 / Psalm 6:5 / Psalm 30:9.
David struggled to express how he was feeling, he bottled his feelings up deep within himself and as a result, he just felt even worse. However, when he started to pray to God about how he was feeling, he ended up feeling a sense of hope. All too often in our Christian lives, we bottle things up because we think our problems are far too big for God to help us with.
When we turn to God, He helps us put things into perspective, Matthew 16:24-27 / Romans 5:3-5 / Romans 8:28 / 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 / Philippians 4:10-13 / Hebrews 12:1 / James 1:2-4 / James 1:12.
God helps us see that He is more powerful than any problem we may be facing, John 16:33 / Matthew 8:23-27 / Psalm 40:1-3, and He reminds us that He is with us through our problems, John 16:33 / Romans 5:9 / Galatians 2:20 / Ephesians 1:7 / Ephesians 2:14-21 / Colossians 1:19-22 / 1 Thessalonians 5:10-11 / Hebrews 13:5.
God reminds us that He will give us peace, whilst we go through our problems, Numbers 6:25-26 / John 16:33 / John 14:27 / Philippians 4:7, and He reminds us that He can take our problems and make something good out of them, Genesis 45:4-8 / Proverbs 16:9 / Romans 8:28 / James 1:2-3 / 1 Peter 1:6-9.