Psalm 39 - Shut Your Mouth

Podcast Transcript (Auto-Transcribed by Apple Podcasts)

This is Tabernacle Talk coming out on a Thursday. And whatever day that you are listening to this, hope that you're excited today to dive into God's Word.

We are in Psalm 39 today, and I've been using this particular Bible right here for those of you that are watching for the past couple of days. It's from Dees, D-E-E apostrophe S, Dees, Rebines. Just a great purple, purple leather Bible.

And every time I see it, it reminds me of two things. Number one, we're in Ravens country, and so it reminds me a lot of my people and seeing them all decked out during some of the fall and winter months.

And then it reminds me of one of my friends who I won't name on the podcast, but you know who you are if you're listening to this episode, who really, really, really loves purple.

And it always makes me think of them and pray for them and know that they have some areas of their life that they're really asking the Lord for right now and asking for him to move in some great ways.

And I'd encourage you, if there's maybe something in your life, some item, some sports team, something that makes you think about another person, especially if it's a fellow brother or sister in Christ, I would encourage you, text them.

Let them know, hey, you saw this today. It reminded me of you. And I'll let them know that you're praying for them.

Maybe it would remind you to pray for them, and then you can let them know, hey, is there anything else that I can be praying for you for? Let's remember one another.

And I think of the verse in Hebrews 10, where it talks about, let's, let's, here, I'm going to turn over the passage real quick. I just want to make sure that I get this particular quote right.

That way, not telling you to do something that God doesn't say to do.

He says, let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other and all the more as you see the day approaching.

And I want to have that heart that I'm watching out for one another to provoke love and good works to stir up that hope in others. Let's dive into Psalm 39. Thanks for kind of bearing with me, but hope that that might be an encouragement to you.

Remember other people. We want to make sure that we're growing in our spiritual walk, but part of our spiritual walk is remembering other people, loving other people, praying for them and doing what we can for them.

So Psalm 39, the inscription says this, for the choir director, for Jeddithun, a Psalm of David. And occasionally there'll be these things throughout Scripture here for Jeddithun, which is kind of an unknown.

It could be for a specific person with that name. It could be for an instrument that we don't really have a bunch of records of. It could be a specific musical style that it's supposed to carry.

But in any eventuality, God hasn't necessarily made us aware of what that particular word means with any clarity yet. So it's not necessarily important. Sometimes you might come across something in Scripture where you go, what's that?

I would encourage you. Google it, search it, and find out what you can about some things in the Bible. But there are some things that God has kind of left a little bit unknown.

Everything that's important, he has made clear. Everything that's not as important to us, he has not made as clear in Scripture. And that's just one of those things that you kind of learn about.

You go, OK, God, I'll trust you with what you have made clear. And I will speculate and think about what isn't clear and what that could mean. And we'll begin reading in the Psalm now.

I said, I will guard my ways so that I may not sin with my tongue. I will guard my mouth with a muzzle as long as the wicked are in my presence. I was speechless and quiet.

I kept silent even from speaking good. And my pain intensified. My heart grew hot within me as I mused a fire burned.

I spoke with my tongue. Yahweh, make me aware of my end. And the number of my days so that I will know how short-lived I am.

In fact, you have made my days just inches long. And my lifespan is as nothing to you. Yes, every human being stands as only a vapor.

Salah, stop, think about it. Yes, a person goes about like a mere shadow. Indeed, they rush around in vain, gathering possessions without knowing who will get them.

Now Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you. Rescue me from all my transgressions.

Do not make me the taunt of fools. I am speechless. I do not open my mouth because of what you have done.

Remove your torment from me. Because of the force of your hand, I am finished. You discipline a person with punishment for iniquity, consuming like a moth what is precious to him.

Yes, every human being is only a vapor. Selah. Hear my prayer, Yahweh, and listen to my cry for help.

Do not be silent at my tears, for I am here with you as an alien, a temporary resident like all my ancestors. Turn your angry gaze from me so that I may be cheered up before I die and am gone.

Here, as we'll see, even over, not necessarily this next Psalm, but in Psalm 41 as well, 38, 39, and 41 are all David. Kind of being aware that I've sinned and God's justice is coming down on me a little bit.

But here, as opposed to yesterday, David has a little bit more hope. There's some more things with his relationship with God that he's counting on, more things that he's focusing on than just his sin. And he starts it off like this.

He goes, okay, I'm going to guard my mouth. I'm not going to sin with my tongue. I'm not going to say anything bad.

When wicked people come into the room, he says, I'm putting a muzzle on. I am not even going to make it an option for me to open my mouth because I know that I'm going to say things that are not right. I love the thought from Proverbs.

Even a fool, when he shuts his mouth, is considered wise. Someone will go, man, yeah, that person, they don't say a lot. But when they say something, it's something worth saying.

And it might be that the person only has one or two things that are worth saying at all. But if they don't say any of the bad things, then you'll think that that person is a lot brighter than they are, a lot wiser than they are.

Frankly, as I'm doing this podcast, this is episode number 48 in the Book of Acts, and now it'll be 40 tomorrow. So that puts us at 87. So we've done 87 podcast episodes.

I am nervous about every time that I turn on this camera. I don't have a pre-written out script that I'm following. Everything that I say is kind of just what comes to my head.

And so I have a deep desire for this to be true in my life. I will guard my ways so that I may not sin with my mouth. I don't want just because I'm saying a lot of words, I don't want to sin.

I don't want to bind people's consciences unnecessarily with things that the Bible does not command, that God does not say for every person. I don't want to say things that are untrue. I don't want to get any of the Biblical accounts wrong.

And I would ask you if you're, you know, we're nine minutes into the episode, if you think of it, pray for me. I want to only do what God has. And this is David's prayer.

He says, God, I don't want to sin with my tongue. He says, I was speechless, I was quiet, I kept silent. He says, even from speaking good.

But then he says that it burned in him. He says, OK, well, I've got to say something. So then what comes out?

And verse number three into verse number four, I spoke with my tongue, Yahweh, make me aware of my end and the number of my days so that I will know how short lived I am. Man, that's a heavy prayer. God, make me aware of how short my life is.

Make me think about the number of days that I have to live and the fact that everything is going to be gone in a moment. There you have that verse, that specific phrase that he uses twice in the Psalm. Yes, every human being stands is only a vapor.

It's just, it's just gone, missed, that appears for a little bit of time and then vanishes. And James in James chapter four references this as well.

He is talking to people that are boasting about the great business things and the great plans that they have and how much money they're going to make. And James tells them, what?

Don't you realize that your life is only a vapor, a missed that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. So he says, don't count on your own greatness or how long you have to accomplish everything that you want to in life.

He says, instead, like say, if God wills, like if it's God's will that I do this, I'm going to go for it. If it's not God's will, then I'm not going to do it. So I'm not going to boast about, oh, yeah, I'm going to make so much money this year.

I'm going to do this or that. He says, just go, all right, God, whatever you have for my life. Great.

I'm going to. It's not going to stop me from making plans and trying to steward well what you've given me, my days, my hours, time with family, time with friends, business endeavors.

It's not going to stop me from continuing to make forward progress, but I am going to do it with the realization that I do all of it by your will.

That it's only your sustaining my health, sustaining my breath, sustaining my business that I'm able to do anything. And I realize anything good that happens isn't me. Anything good that happens isn't my planning.

Anything good comes from you and realizing that. And here David's talking about this same thought. He says, God, help me to realize how short lived I am and that I am in desperate need of you.

He says, God, please don't let me become the taunt of fools that I think about some people in our world today that really are the taunt of fools, that their name gets thrown around as a joke. So OJ.

Simpson recently passed, and his name in kind of the cultural zeitgeist, as I'm on some different forms of social media, whenever his name is mentioned, it's mentioned not in any sort of good way, but in a bad way. It's a taunt.

The name of Jeffrey Epstein is a taunt towards people and of failure, of political ruin. And here David's saying, like, God, I have this, you know, kind of established place.

It doesn't mention specifically in here what time in David's life he's writing this. So he could have written this as a king.

He could have written it as a kind of rogue commander that the king of Israel and the kings of the Philistines were after him. And it could be with that notoriety that he's saying, God, like, I'm well known by some people.

You know, David has slain his 10,000s. He says, I'm well known by some people, but don't let me become a joke. Don't let me become an epithet, a taunt of the wicked.

And I can think about people, not just the big and famous in my life, but people that really messed up, that they walked away from a vibrant relationship with God and committed horrible actions.

And as a result, their name is forever tainted, that if someone were to say, oh, you're just like this person, it would be a huge insult to me because of that person's actions.

And I'd encourage you, have that same prayer to God that would say, God, like, keep me in good relationship with you. Don't let me, the prayer of our Lord in Matthew chapter 6, do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

And that's a great prayer to pray. Obviously, Jesus commanded it, and so it must be. But that would be the prayer that David prays here.

He says, don't let me become a taunt for people. That would, if someone says, oh, you're just like David, where that would drag someone down.

And obviously, we know there are aspects in which David, to this day, is still kind of an epithet because of his adultery that he committed against Bathsheba and Uriah, many of the things that he did in connection with that that were shameful.

And just because we pray a prayer one time doesn't mean that then we are have like a bubble of righteousness around us that keeps us from ever making mistakes.

David didn't have this same heart when he took those actions against Bathsheba and against Uriah. He didn't have this same heart when he failed to execute justice for his daughter Tamar and in several other instances in his life.

It's not that we pray something and then we get a special righteousness bubble. It's something that we need to be continually praying and asking God for because it shows where our heart is.

Prayer ought to be the actual desire of our heart that then this is what I want, God, and I want to be close to you. I want to walk in your way. And I would encourage us to do that exact same thing.

Then want to end just the last phrase here in verses 12 and 13. Hear my prayer, Yahweh, and listen to my cry for help. Do not be silent at my tears.

It says, for I am here with you as an alien, a temporary resident like all my ancestors. It's such an interesting thought that he brings out here. He says, God, when I'm with you, this is your home.

You live in righteousness. Your presence is a place of holiness. And he says, I'm an alien.

I'm a temporary resident here. I'm a foreigner. I'm just visiting this land.

And so, God, I want you to change me. He says, listen to my cry for help. Hear my prayer.

Don't be silent at my tears. He says, turn your angry gaze from me so that I may be cheered up before I die and I'm gone. Obviously, here in the Old Testament, there was no promise of heaven.

There was a promise of resurrection that was familiar to God's people. But there really wasn't a thought of, I'm going to go to heaven when I die. If you read throughout all of the Old Testament, you won't find that particular thought fleshed out.

That was something kind of new that Jesus brought to the table. Hence, in my father's house, there are many dwelling places, many rooms, the older translations would have it. There are many mansions.

If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. That place wasn't available in the Old Testament. Christ hadn't died for sin yet.

We couldn't be in God Himself's presence. So they didn't really know how the afterlife worked, and so they didn't have that hope.

And so here David says, the only time that I get with you right now, God, like before the resurrection, the only time I have with you is here, when I'm praying with you, when I'm worshipping with you, when I am maybe in your tabernacle, when then in

Jerusalem, when the Ark of the Covenant was brought in later. He says, God, this is all the time that I have with you. And so he says, Lord, I don't want to spend it under condemnation because of my sin. He says, like, God, forgive me.

Bring me back into a happy place that when I'm in your presence, there is joy as opposed to this heaviness and the sadness, these tears.

And I want to encourage us today, like, be thankful for the relationship that we have with Jesus, that it spun a whole new thing for the game, if you will.

It made it so that when we enter God's presence, yes, there can be sadness, there can be mourning like we talked about yesterday, but there can also be this wonderful hope.

It's Hebrews 4 that we come boldly to the throne of grace and we find grace to help in time of need.

And what a wonderful thought that we don't come condemned, we come forgiven, that we come realizing that the judge, the one who ought to punish us, is the one that took our punishment. And what a wonderful truth that that is.

Be thankful for the hope of heaven that when we die, we know that we're going to be in the presence of Jesus. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And then one day He will resurrect us.

And then we will reign with Him on earth forever. What a wonderful truth that is. I'd encourage you today, have this same heart as David.

It is a good thing to close your mouth and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt. Let's ask God, God show me how short my life is and the fact that I need to make every day count. I need to make every day count for my family.

I need to make every day count for my spiritual relationships with other people. God help me to not boast in my business, my greatness, my travel plans.

Help me to like have, make the plans, but then hold them in an open hand to say, God, if you want to change something, you have absolute freedom from my part. I'm completely willing to do whatever you want.

And then rejoice in the fact that we continually live with the presence of God and we are not aliens. We are not foreigners to his holiness, to his presence, but it lives in us and the person of the Holy Spirit.

And one day we will be reunited with him never again to experience a moment without the presence of Jesus. And what an incredible thought that that is. Let's mourn sin.

Let's not view it as something to be taken lightly, but let's be so thankful for what Jesus has done in reconciling us to God and sending his presence to live in us. That's an inestimable gift. Take advantage of it today.

Pray for others, love others, encourage others. Be the arms and feet of Jesus. He made you a part of his body and he wants his body to do the kinds of things that he did while he was on earth.

Caring for people, loving people, bringing the message of the gospel. So thanks for listening in today. I hope you have a wonderful day.