We Need To Talk

Psalm 39

I. David Had Said Too Much

A. David was determined to take charge of
what he had to say.  "To the chief Musician, even
to Jeduthun, A Psalm of David.  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."  (Psalm 39:1)

1. What a person says can make or break a
testimony.  "If any man among you seem to be
religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but
deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is
vain."  (James 1:26) Some minds are too small to
share.

2. Speech can generate incalculable
disaster.  "For in many things we offend all. If
any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect
man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that
they may obey us; and we turn about their whole
body. Behold also the ships, which though they be
so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are
they turned about with a very small helm,
whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the
tongue is a little member, and boasteth great
things.  Behold, how great a matter a little fire
kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of
iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that
it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire
the course of nature; and it is set on fire of
hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and
of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed,
and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can
no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly
poison."  (James 3:2-8)

B. The experiment did not work well.  "I
was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from
good; and my sorrow was stirred."  (Psalm 39:2)

C. Anxiety compounded to the exploding
point.  "My heart was hot within me, while I was
musing the fire burned: then spake I with my
tongue, LORD, make me to know mine end, and the
measure of my days, what it is; that I may know
how frail I am."  (Psalm 39:3-4)

D. Moses, who lived with words, faced a
similar challenge and made a corollary appeal.
"So teach us to number our days, that we may apply
our hearts unto wisdom."  (Psalm 90:12)

II. Life Is Too Short for Silence

A. Life is not very long and human dreams
and desires make little impact.  "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."  (Psalm
39:5)

B. God is eternal but people are ephemeral; people
must deal with God as the opportunity presents
itself rather than wait for some future time.
"For a thousand years in thy sight are but as
yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the
night. Thou carriest them away as with a flood;
they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like
grass which groweth up. In the morning it
flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is
cut down, and withereth. For we are consumed by
thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.
Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our
secret sins in the light of thy countenance.  For
all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we
spend our years as a tale that is told.  The days
of our years are threescore years and ten; and if
by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet
is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is
soon cut off, and we fly away."  (Psalm 90:4-10)

C. The hopes and ambitions of the human
heart amount to little; the Holy Auditor comes
quickly to settle accounts on Heaven's terms.
"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."  (Psalm
39:6)

III. Return To Talking with God

A. Believers trust God to hear them and
take care of them.  "And now, Lord, what wait I
for?  my hope is in thee. Deliver me from all my
transgressions: make me not the reproach of the
foolish."  (Psalm 39:7-8)  "Now the God of hope
fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that
ye may abound in hope, through the power of the
Holy Ghost."  (Roman 15:13)

B. The God of Providence set the crook in
the lot and He knows what to do; pleading differs
from whining.  "I was dumb, I opened not my mouth;
because thou didst it. Remove thy stroke away from
me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand."
(Psalm 39:9-10)

C. Forget the worry and take the final;
the Designer knows what He made and understands
all the properties and strengths of His building
materials.  "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."  (Psalm 39:11)  "For whom the
Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son
whom he receiveth."  (Hebrews 12:6)

D. Believers pray to the Lord Who
understands the problem intimately.  "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."
(Psalm 39:12)  "Who in the days of his flesh, when
he had offered up prayers and supplications with
strong crying and tears unto him that was able to
save him from death, and was heard in that he
feared;" (Hebrews 5:7)

E. A believer will want an opportunity to
benefit from the lessons of Providence before
leaving the school of this world.  "O spare me,
that I may recover strength, before I go hence,
and be no more."  (Psalm 39:13)