Psalm 39 ~ For I am a sojourner with you, a guest, like all my fathers. Look away from me, that I may smile again, before I depart and am no more

Exodus 19:18
Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently


Psalm 39

English Standard Version, David Cochran Audio Bible


To the choirmaster: to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

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:

4 "O LORD, make me know my end
and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting I am!
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!
Selah

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!

7 "And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?
My hope is in you.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions.
Do not make me the scorn of the fool!
9 I am mute; I do not open my mouth,
for it is you who have done it.
10 Remove your stroke from me;
I am spent by the hostility of your hand.
11 When you discipline a man
with rebukes for sin,
you consume like a moth what is dear to him;
surely all mankind is a mere breath!
Selah

12 "Hear my prayer, O LORD,
and give ear to my cry;
hold not your peace at my tears!
For I am a sojourner with you,
a guest, like all my fathers.
13 Look away from me, that I may smile again,
before I depart and am no more!"


What would it have been like to walk down the roads with Jesus? The blind see, the deaf hear, the lame leap, the leper cleansed - the 70 and the 12 disciples saw. Isaiah and Peter had the same reaction David did in this Psalm.

Isaiah 6:5
And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

Luke 5:8
But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

Yet David, Isaiah, and Simon Peter all continued with God. God did not bend down for them.

Isaiah 55:8
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.

Jesus once asked Peter if he was going to leave.

John 6:68
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."

All these people God called, remained with Him.

Psalm 103:12
as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us

Psalm 131:3
O Israel, hope in the LORD
from this time forth and forevermore



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