Psalm 39
For the choir director, for
Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
I said, "I will
guard my ways that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth as with
a muzzle while the wicked are in my presence." I was mute and silent, I
refrained even from good, and my sorrow grew worse. My heart was hot within me,
while I was musing the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue: "LORD,
make me to know my end and what is the extent of my days; let me know how
transient I am. Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime
as nothing in Your sight; surely every man at his best is a mere breath.”
Selah.
“Surely every man walks about as a phantom; surely they make an uproar for nothing; he amasses riches and does not know who will gather them. And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You. Deliver me from all my transgressions; make me not the reproach of the foolish. I have become mute, I do not open my mouth, because it is You who have done it. Remove Your plague from me; because of the opposition of Your hand I am perishing. With reproofs You chasten a man for iniquity; You consume as a moth what is precious to him; surely every man is a mere breath.” Selah.
“Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry; do not be silent at my tears; for I am a stranger with You, a sojourner like all my fathers. Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may smile again before I depart and am no more." (Psalms 39:1-13)
Growing in our faith is not only a responsibility for every believer it
is also the path to a deeper knowledge of God and richer Christian
experience. A simple faith may save us,
but a deepened faith sustains and empowers us for the course of life. Unfortunately, too many Christians are not
willing to go through the difficult experience of discovering deeper truth.
The unanswered questions that confound our faith are often the unasked
questions. We sometimes feel that there
are just some things that a person of faith will not question. Some even believe that to ask questions of
God is to doubt and to doubt is sin. The tragedy is that their questions are
never resolved and they never discover the depth of God's wisdom and the spread
of His grace.
God is not angry when we seek Him in times when our faith is challenged;
only when we walk away without answers.
A 35-year-old man with a 9-year-old understanding of God will find his
life bigger than his God and his faith weak.
Paul even challenged the church at Corinth to “grow up” so he could move
on into the deeper things of God. And
I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of
flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for
you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for
you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are
you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?
1 Corinthians 3:1-3
1 Corinthians 3:1-3
There are also times in life when we feel that it would be
"improper" to reveal the feelings and doubts that are boiling within
us. With everything within us we try to
“live LIKE a Christian should live.”
Such action is hypocrisy. It is
acting. It is not the valid
spirit-filled, spirit-led life of a walk of living faith. Anyone who has attempted to be a living
testimony for the Lord has found themselves in this place.
David gives us a picture of a man in just such a situation in life. The
emotions and actions are not there to be judged, but to reveal what any
believer can feel. We will learn this
week how to ask God, “Why?”
Scripture to Claim
For who among men
knows the thoughts of a man
except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except
the Spirit of God.
1 Corinthians 2:11
1 Corinthians 2:11
