PSALM THIRTY NINE

QUALITY OF LIFE. 
 
   Nothing sharpens the perception of the quality of life more than the
knowledge that one day it will end. We are here for a limited time and
with this in mind we ought to redeem the time and make the most of the
life we have. 
   This psalm is a song for Jeduthrun, i.e. it is a psalm for one who
gives praise. Verses 4-13 are read in most funeral services in England,
so we have a tendency to regard it as the Funeral Psalm. This is
misleading, it would be far better to regard it as an instruction to
enhance the quality of life. 
   There are FOUR THINGS which increase the quality of life. The first
is - A BRIDLED TONGUE. 
We need to 'take heed', guard, watch and keep that unruly member, the
tongue. The easiest way to sin is with the tongue. "BRIDLE IT!" The
bridle on a horse is for restraint and guidance. It is no use saying
"My tongue runs away with me!" Control it! MUZZLE IT! A muzzle is put
on a dog, to prevent it from biting. When the wicked are before us, we
should be very careful what we say. Criticise your Church and your
fellow-believers in the presence of the ungodly, and you have lost your
testimony. Remember that once you give currency to words, you cannot
withdraw them. 
   The second thing important to the quality of life is THE BURNING
HEART. It is far better to have a burning heart than a hot tongue. The
psalmist declares that he was silent, as though he could not speak at
all. His sorrow was stirred. His pain was irritated. Then his heart was
hot within him. He was in a state of deep excitement - "While I was
musing - the fire burned." There is no more reason for assuming that
these words "hot"  and "burned" describe a sinful state of mind, than
there is in the case of the Disciples on the road to Emmaus, when they
said, "Did not our hearts burn within us." There are times when we see
the movings of God, that our hearts truly blaze with delight. This
heart-burn increases the quality of life. 
   The third thing which helps the quality of life is THE BETTER HOPE.
In verse 4, when David prays, "Lord make me to know mine end and the
number of my days,"  He is not being morbid. He asks for a vision of
mortality. He continues, "My days are as a hand's breadth." The
handbreadth of the ancients was the spread of the four fingers,
omitting the thumb. God's hand covers my life. "Now," says David, "What
wait I for?" What have I been expecting? What can this life give me? We
spend the first part of our lives looking for something and missing it.
We spend the latter part of our lives looking back, searching our
memories, to try and prove that that SOMETHING was there. It was there;
but the majority miss it. Thus they destroy the real quality of human
life. Here is the something the majority miss - "MY HOPE IS IN THEE!"
Make life rich! Hope in God! All through life, God was there. Real
living began when we found Him. 
   The fourth thing which brings real quality to our lives is THE HAND
OF GOD. Suddenly the psalmist cries out "I am consumed by the blow of
Thine hand!" God breaks! - God makes! There is a beauty which is
secretly consumed by the moth. How suddenly things seem to happen in
life, yet the process may be life-long. Suddenly your glory is gone.
Suddenly you are old and life seems over. Yet there is a BLESSED HAND
which is with us through the whole of life and the quality of life is
enhanced by the touch of that hand. Three times the psalmist prays,
"Hear my prayer O Lord!" Let me recover myself before I walk and be
not. There is a sense in which we are to die daily. A knowledge of
impending death can give the present a special quality. Daily dying
causes death itself to lose its terror. Our departure, however, is in
the Hand of God. That is the hand which with love, mercy and grace, has
led us all the way. Whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. 



Copyright (c) 1995, Hedley Palmer. All rights reserved.



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