# 27. 2018 Dev. Ps. 39:4. Long Life! Read all of Ps 39.The purpose of these devotionals is to draw Gremar and I closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.
Psalm 39:4 “Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is”.
This set of 4 Psalms are complicated in that they all speak to a different aspect of David dealing with his sin. In Psalm 38, David keeps his silence before God, he sees himself as a deaf / mute. He is overwhelmed with pain, real or imagined, but real non the less. In Ps. 39 he keeps silent before enemies for as long as he is able. His pain / Illness progresses to the point he is in fear for his life. And he speaks to God.
We may identify with David when there are times that all seems lost, even life after death seems too much to hope for. Illness comes upon us, or on a loved one, terminal Illness is real and present among God’s people as well as people of the world. Along with David we despair and say: v.5 “Surely everyone goes around like a mere phantom; in vain they rush about, heaping up wealth without knowing whose it will finally be”. It is proven over and over again, wealth or possessions do not satisfy. Serving God with what He has blessed us with – talents, funds, personality, is the great privilege of our life on earth. Satan wants to deter us and sin is never far away, but thanks be to God for His mercy, and His compassion, and His salvation.
When we put life in the context of serving Jesus, length of life is no longer important. We trust God for calling us and equipping us and we thank God for every day given to us. Life is a gift! As we read in this Psalm, our hope is in You, Lord Jesus. David keeps asking God for an answer but David knows and we know, God, that You listen to and answer our prayers.
I am writing this on the 4th of July. As we read this, life is being cut short for many service men and women, many of whom are not even citizens of the US. Non citizenship makes no difference in terms of commitment to this great land. I know, it happened to me, sent to war as a non-citizen I was prepared to have my life cut short, that did not happen but even if it had my life would not have been less meaningful, in God’s eyes or in mine. Praise God! We commit to You, Father God, all those who are suffering from war, suffering from illness, suffering from disillusionment, suffering from loss. Stay close Lord Jesus, Amen and Amen!
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