Trying to Stay Silent
Study note
David tried to keep silent and not complain, but the more he held back, the more the fire burned inside him until he had to speak.
1 I made a decision: "I will be very careful about what I say. I will keep my mouth shut tight, like putting a muzzle on it, especially while wicked people are around." I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.
2 I stayed completely silent — I didn't say a word, not even anything good. But the pain inside me only got worse. I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.
3 My heart burned hotter and hotter inside me. The more I thought about it, the more it blazed — until the words finally burst out: My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue,
Life Is Brief
Study note
David asks God to show him how short his life is. His days are like a handbreadth. Every person is like a breath — a mere shadow.
4 "Lord, help me understand how short my life truly is. How many days do I have left? Let me see how brief my time here is." LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.
5 "You have given me only a handful of days. My whole life is practically nothing compared to you. When you come right down to it, every person alive is just a passing breath. Selah." Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
6 "People rush around like shadows. They work themselves to the bone for nothing. They stack up money without knowing who will end up spending it." Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.
Hope in God Alone
Study note
David puts his hope in God alone. He asks for forgiveness and for God to hear his prayer. He sees himself as a stranger passing through, like all who came before him.
7 "So what exactly am I waiting for, Lord? Every bit of hope I have is in you." And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.
8 "Pull me out of all my sins. Don't let foolish people use me as the butt of their jokes." Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish.
9 "I kept my mouth shut and said nothing, because I understood that you were behind this." I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.
10 "Please take this punishment off of me. I am being worn down to nothing by the blows of your hand." Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.
11 "When you correct someone for their sin, you eat away at what they treasure like moths eating through fabric. Truly, every person is nothing more than a breath. Selah." When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah.
12 "Hear my prayer, Lord. Listen to my cry for help. Don't ignore my tears. I am passing through this life as a stranger and a traveler, the same way all my ancestors were." Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
13 "Stop looking at me so sternly, so that I might find a reason to smile again — before I leave and am gone for good." O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.