Year 2, Day 181: Psalms 38-39

Psalm 38

Psalm 38 reminds me much of the book of Job.  David pleads with God to stop disciplining him in His anger.  He tells God that he feels as though he is full of arrows.  David is clearly feeling as though he is under the full weight of God’s watchfulness.

As I react to this, I have to ask myself, “Why shouldn’t he?”  I mean, after all, it is David who is king over God’s people.  He is the monarch on the throne.  He is the guy in the spotlight.

I think human beings in the spotlight have always had this issue.  We love the spotlight when things are going great, but when life begins to fall apart we talk about all the pressure of the spotlight and how we are always the target of everyone’s watchfulness.  My response is “Uh, yeah.  There’s always a price to pay for being in the spotlight.”  We have a cliché in our culture that sums up what I am feeling pretty well: “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”

Don’t get me wrong, though.  It’s not that I have no sympathy.  I do.  I do feel bad that people in the spotlight are put under intense social pressure.  It’s unfortunate.  But it is a reality.  There is a way to escape the pressure: get out of the spotlight.

The reality is that if David is going to be king over God’s people, then he needs to expect to be in the spotlight.  He needs to expect that God is going to hold him to a pretty high standard.  It’s going to be hard from time to time, but it is a part of the arrangement.

Then I come back to me.  Not that it is all about me, mind you.  I’m not trying to be a self-monger here.  But if I am going to speak words of judgment, I can only speak them about myself.  You can apply this to yourself if you so desire.  But I come back to me.  I am supposedly a spiritual leader.  God has placed me in a position of leadership above a people.  Why should I likewise not expect to be in the spotlight?  Why should I not expect to be judged more harshly?  Why should I have any allusions about the fact that God does expect me to follow His ways and I will fall under His judgment more sternly when I don’t?

Like David – and like Job – it is time to fall before God and take the humble position.  It is time to confess my iniquity and acknowledge my imperfections.  The scrutiny of the world is all around.  Who can stand under such scrutiny but those who see the wisdom in humbling themselves before God and relying completely on His strength?

Psalm 39

Psalm 39 shows us a great discourse for humanity.  Tell me if this pattern sounds familiar to anyone.

• Step One: Hear something wrong, hold tongue out of fear or out of the need to keep peace.
• Step Two: Hear the wrong increase, begin to feel the need to speak out.
• Step Three: Holding it in becomes too much.  What’s inside comes rushing out.
• Step Four: Speak your mind in a way that you wish you could take back the manner in which you spoke (although not necessarily what you spoke).

This is David’s situation as we look at Psalm 39.  Out of fear he held his tongue, but he could not hold it forever.  When he spoke, the fire of his tongue and the heat of his heart erupted.  Yeah, I’ve been there.

What is the cure for such a condition?  Humble repentance.  Notice that David’s genuine reply is that God would make him know the measure of his days and the fleeting nature of his life.  David needs to feel just how much his life is but a breath among the billions of people who have lived on this planet.  The cure for overcoming a mistake is humbly reminding ourselves of our imperfections.

This is wisdom that I think the world largely ignores.  How often does a person make a mistake and then they try and justify it?  How often do you hear someone make the comment “It’s getting deep in here” or “would you like a shovel to dig your own grave?”  The reality is that we as human beings really do struggle with acknowledging our mistakes.  We don’t want to be seen as imperfect so we get defensive.  The more defensive we get the more blind we are to our faults.

David has it right in this psalm.  May God remind us how fleeting life is.  May God remind us how much our hope is in Him.  May God neither hold back His discipline nor His peace.  May God remind us just how lucky we are to be able to sojourn* with Him.

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*Lest anyone miss this word, I chose it quite intentionally.  It is important that we see ourselves as a sojourner with God.  A sojourner is someone who does not natively belong but who has chosen to make a home in a certain place for a time in spite of it not being their natural home.  That pretty much sums up our ability to be with God.