BROKEN BY FEAR
Psalm 39
The early days of 1933 were among the bleakest in the history of
the United States as the Great Depression settled down across the
country. Some 13 million people were unemployed and the failure
of the banking system had crippled the nation. During this time
a new President was elected, who knew what is was like to face
difficulties because he was handicapped. Leading the nation
from his wheelchair, Franklin Delano Roosevelt recognized
that the greatest failure was not the economy, but the failure
of courage in the face of difficulty.
For that reason on March 4, 1933 as he delivered his first inaugural
address, President Roosevelt called the citizens of the U.S. to look
fear in the face and not to be afraid. He said, “So, first of all, let
me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear
itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustifed terror which paralyzes
needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”
Our English word fear comes from the Latin word danger.
Webster defines fear as: a painful emotion excited by an
expectation of evil or apprehension of impending danger.
We can be afraid of darkness, height, water or almost anything.
We can be afraid of our future, health, security or wealth.
Fear is the overwhelming enemy of our hearts and spirits.
It will paralyze us from doing something or trusting God.
Fear is the opposite of faith. While faith trusts, fear retreats.
Puritan William Greenhill wrote, “Our help is in the name
of the Lord, but our fears are in the name of man.”
David addresses his concern that our lives are so short and the
fear that his life will end too soon. This prayer could have been
written when Absalom forced him to flee from Jerusalem. He
feels that his life is in real jeopardy if the rebellion succeeds.
Our of fear for his own life he offers an honest prayer to God
about his fear of soon losing his life.
TRAPPED BY FEAR
:1-3
David desires to do what is right even though his enemies have
unjustly attacked him. He wants to be wise in how he responds.
He knows that what we say often gets us into trouble because it is:
1. Not the whole truth. 2. Hurts the feeling of others.
3. Said with the wrong attitude. 4. Misunderstood.
Sin with my tongue – our words come from our sinful heart.
James 3:8 The tongue is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
1. It is easy to sin with the words that come out of our mouth.
2. Therefore we need to think before we speak so we don’t sin.
David wants to protest to God that his suffering is not fair, but
he does not want to do it in front of unbelievers because they
will not understand he can honestly share his feelings with God.
:2 He continued not to say anything, but inside he became
more and more disturbed about what might happen to him.
Being quiet did not relieve his fears it magnified them.
The longer he kept quiet the more he became angry.
Distress (KJB sorrow, NIV anguish) – Heb. grief or pain.
It includes both emotional as well as physical pain.
Job lost of all of his property, then all ten of his children killed and
then he was struck with painful sores all over his body. Three of
his friends came to comfort him in his suffering.
Job 2:13 They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven
nights and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his
suffering was very great. He was suffering emotionally as
a result of all he had lost personally and he was suffering
physically as a result of the painful boils all over his body.
:3 Mused (2x) – Heb. murmuring (5:1 meditation).
Here the word means to think with the attitude of complaining.
It comes from the word meaning heat or fire which he just used.
He sat stewing over his situation without saying anything.
Application
1. When you are suffering be honest with God about it because
he already knows what you are feeling and thinking anyway.
Tell him how you feel, not what you think he wants to hear.
2. Don’t wait until you are so angry you cannot talk to him.
It is better to talk to God sooner than later when you are suffering.
3. God wants to see your faith in him so he will then help you.
BREVITY OF LIFE
:4-6
Revelation
:4
In dealing with trouble in our life we need to understand that
our physical life is really short from an eternal perspective.
Psalm 90 written by Moses describes man’s life as temporary.
Thousands of Israelites died during the 40 years in the wilderness.
He made this observation about human life seeing people die.
:10 The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength
eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone.
Calvin wrote, “When the time is divided into small portions, the
very number itself deceives us, so that we flatter ourselves that life
is long . . . yet we find that the term of seventy years is short.”
Description
:5
Behold – this is important or significant so pay attention.
David understands that the length of his life is really short.
Handbreath (6x) – Heb. the width of the palm of your hand.
It was one of the smallest units of measurement in the O.T.
It was the thickness of the great basin for water with the twelve
bulls under it in the temple which Solomon built (I Kings 7:26).
Breath (KJB vanity, NKJ vapor) – Heb. breath from your mouth.
James 4:14 What is your life? You are a mist that appears
for a little while and then vanishes.
Paraphase – “You have really made my life very short and it
is nothing compared to you who are eternal and everlasting.”
Frustration
:6
Shadow (NIV phantom) – image which appears for a little
while and then disappears just as quickly as it appeared.
We work hard to gather and save money so we can feel secure
and be able to take care of ourself, but we do not know what
will happen or control what will happen in the future.
Application
1. Because life is short remember trials are only temporary.
They may seem like they will last forever, but they do not.
2. Trials should cause us to focus on what is really important
and that is our personal relationship with God who loves us.
3. We focus on how long something goes on, but God focuses
on developing our character so we become more like him.
DISCIPLINE OF GOD
:7-11
Repentance :7-8
Hope (6x) – Heb. expectation of God’s blessing or forgiveness.
Proverbs 10:28 The hope of the righteous brings joy.
Hope is the confidence assurance that God can bring meaning
and purpose to our life even though it is short. There is no hope
without God because life is filled with afflictions, and suffering.
Without hope in God life would not have meaning.
Transgressions (93x) – Heb. rebellion from root word revolt.
It is a deliberate and willful breaking of any command of God.
This is the strongest word used for sin in the O.T. because this
is not just a mistake, but knowing disobedience to God’s law.
David uses this word to acknowledge his of adultery with
Bathsheba and murder of her husband to cover up his sin.
Psalm 51:1 Blot out my transgressions . . .
All transgressions – he humbly acknowledges himself guilty
before God who alone can forgive him of his sins.
Calvin wrote, “We are taught by the example of David, not merely
to seek deliverance from the miseries which afflict and trouble us,
but to trace them to their cause and source, entreating God that he
would not lay our sins to our charge, but blot out our guilt.”
Grace Alone
This psalm was one of John Calvin’s favorites. In commenting
on the phrase “deliver me from all my transgressions” he wrote,
“If God should begin to deal with us according to the strict
demands of the law, the consequences would be, that all
would perish, and be utterly overwhelmed under his wrath.”
One of the five solas of the Protestant Reformation was “grace
alone” meaning we are forgiven of our sins by the grace of God
alone without anything which we have done to deserve it. God
choose to forgive us by faith in Christ because he loved us.
Acceptance :9
David realizes that the affliction and fear he feels have come
from God and he humbles himself under God’s sovereign hand.
He believes God is in control of everything that happens to him.
Calvin wrote, “David regards the judgments of God with such
reverence . . . he considers it sinful to open his mouth to utter
a single word against him.”
Deliverance
:10-11
When God disciplines us for our sins we need to ask for his
forgiveness and trust that he will restore us to fellowship again.
The goal of discipline is that we would change our lives.
Hebrews 12:11 At the moment all discipline seems painful rather
than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceable fruit
of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Henry wrote, “When under the correcting hand of the Lord,
we must look to God himself for relief, not to any other.
Our ways and our doings bring us into trouble, and we
are beaten with a rod of our own making.”
REQUEST FOR MERCY
:12-13
Stranger :12
He prays for God’s mercy upon him because he feels like a
stranger who is not part of God’s family, but a foreigner who
has not claim to any of the blessings or promises of God.
Sojourner (KJB stranger) – Heb. temporary inhabitant.
The idea was they did not have any right of inheritance.
Guest (KJB sojourner) – Heb. alien, emigrant or foreigner.
The two words are synonyms used of those who were not citizens.
He doesn’t just want to experience relief from his suffering, he
also has a sincere desire to renew his relationship with the Lord.
Danger :13
David asks God to remove his hand of judgment upon him so that
he may enjoy the few days of life which he believes he has left.
He believed that if nothing changed he would not live very long.
If the men loyal to Absalom were to find him they would kill him.
APPLICATION
1. How long we live is not as important as how well we live.
We are concerned about the length of our life, while God
is concerned about the depth of our commitment to him.
2. Often we only want relief from our present physical suffering.
God wants us to renew our relationship with him so we come
to depend upon him and trust him more than we did before.
CONCLUSION
Oswald Chambers, chaplain to British soldiers in Egypt during
World War I said, “God allows anguish to come right to the
threshold of our lives in order to prove to us that his life in us
is more than a match for all that is against us.”
Romans 8:39 Nothing in all creation will be able to separate
us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.