Friday, June 6, 2008

A plea for help and forgiveness-- Psalm 39

Psalm 39 caught my attention today.

This is a song of sorrow and pleading. David is realizing the darkness of his heart and how his life is far too short to make up for the problem.

David cries out to the only being who can truly understand his plight.

“O Lord, help me understand my mortality and the brevity of life! Let me realize how quickly my life will pass. Look, you make my days short-lived, and my life span is nothing from your perspective. Surely all people, even those who seem secure, are nothing but vapor. Surely people go through life as mere ghosts. Surely they accumulate worthless wealth without knowing who will eventually haul it away.” (4-6)

David has tapped into a profound truth. We live too short! Our lives are not long enough for us to save ourselves. We need to find redemption in something outside ourselves.

The truth is, no matter how long we could possibly live we cannot live long enough to help ourselves. When the standard is God (perfection), once perfection is lost it can never be regained. That's the nature of perfection... it can never be less then perfect, or else it will never be perfect. The only thing we can hope in is something outside of us, more powerful than us, and perfect to redeem us.

In verse 12, David also abandons all stoicism. He pleads with God, "Hear my prayer, O Lord Listen to my cry for help! Do not ignore my sobbing!" This is an example of how we will respond if we truly know the separation we have created from God for ourselves. To be unholy in God's presence has only one true response, a sobbing heart and pleading mind.

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