We move on in our daily journey to Psalm 39, which seems to have some connections with Psalm 38 which we looked at yesterday.
But whilst in Psalm 38 sickness has exposed sin and the need for forgiveness, here today in Palm 39 sin has exposed the reality that life is relatively short. So here is a poignant prayer of a soul deeply troubled by the fragility of human life.
One Bible writer has I think helpfully split the Psalm into 4 sections to lead us through it.
1) A strained silence (vs.1-3) – a fear of saying the wrong thing in a time of stress.
2) The burning question (vs.4-6) – behind the poetry of these verses is the question, ‘Am I going to die?’
3) God is my hope (vs.7-11) – in the midst of his anguish David realises that there is no other who can save him and restates his faith in the Lord. As we saw yesterday, ‘Only the Lord’s favour can deliver us from the Lord’s disfavour.’
4) A prayer for light (vs.12-13) – here is a desperate and modest prayer that he might just ‘rejoice again’ (literally brighten up) before he departs this life.
I find it a real comfort that in the language and the literature of the Scriptures we have such honesty and reality laid out for us, that we can use ourselves when we find ourselves in similar situations before the same Lord as David did.
In our cycle of prayer today, let us remember 2 who have had connections with us in the more distant and more recent past,- Champa- Evie