Psalm 39
I’m not sure what to make of this Psalm. It has all the elements of a lament, but in describing his situation it almost seems like David’s “enemy” is God Himself (see verses 9b-11), not unlike Job’s friends seeing Job’s illness as God’s punishment for Job’s sin.
Most prominent in this Psalm is David’s reflecting on some “end of life” questions (vv.4-6, 12b, 13b). But even with him mourning his situation and his end-of-life questioning David remains faithful: And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You. Deliver me from all my transgressions. (vv. 7-8a). David has hope (faith) and confession as his main tools against any adversity he faces. As with other Psalms, we could well follow his example.
Vs. 2 caught my attention, “But as I stood there in silence – not even speaking of good things – the turmoil within me grew to the bursting point.”
I’ve heard in another meeting I regularly attend that “…we are only as sick as our secrets…”. I take that to mean that when there is an unrecognized and unconfessed sin(s) in our life, there is a struggle within me to hang on to that secret or sin because I just don’t want to admit to myself, that I’m “that bad”. And I think I can deal with the sin issue by just keeping it inside or it’ll go away over time. As with David, in vs. 2, the turmoil in my mind never goes away. There’s a conflict between hanging on to the issue and confessing it to God and another human being. Relief from the internal conflict only comes through confession, asking for and accepting God’s forgiveness. David describes this well.