The Focus of Life
We are going to be in Psalm 39 this morning
This is a Psalm written by David and it’s a Psalm of Lament. There are 150 Psalms and they can be challenging for us to encounter depending on what season we find ourselves (particularly the Psalms of Lament)
Just like all of life isn’t always rainbows and unicorns so the Psalms are not all uplifting praise poems and songs
David is just real and honest as he cries out before God in Psalm 39
If you’re coming in here this morning and you’re feeling lament, sorrow, pain, anger…I’ve got good news for you
We serve a God that we can bring it all to and lay it at His feet
He’s able to take it all and not only is He able, but He also is willing
Bring everything before Him this morning
If you’re coming in this morning and things are going well (job, marriage, kids, car is working) then Praise God!
But don’t tune out this morning because we live in a broken, fallen, and sinful world and times of lament will come
Let God prepare your heart while giving Him praise for all the He’s done
Title of today's message: The Focus of Life
Big Idea: Life on earth is short. Our hope must rest with God not things of the world
Context of Psalm 39
This Psalm of Lament comes at a low point, difficult point in David’s life
Scholars aren’t certain as to when in David’s life he writes this, but many believe it was at the end of his life
David endured many hardships in life (some self inflicted)
Being too small for battle before facing Goliath
King Saul trying to kill him
Power struggle over the kingdom with his son Absalom
Adultery with Bathsehba and resulting death of the baby
We can look to any point in his life and see some difficult things he’s having to go through
But the constant in his life has been his trust in the Lord
He’s messed up, been stabbed in the back, scared but David’s faith prevails
V.1-3
In these opening verses David is expressing real emotion before God
He isn’t afraid to bring exactly what he is feeling before God
V. 1-2
“I said, “I will guard my ways so that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle as long as the wicked are in my presence.” I was speechless and quiet; I kept silent, even from speaking good, and my pain intensified.”
We see David becoming silent both before the wickedness surrounding him but also from speaking good
He is weary and is at a point where he doesn’t have anything else to say
He has been surrounded by wickedness and sin and he’s just silently tired
Church, we experience weariness as we walk through this broken world
The more we pursue our walk with the Lord, the more He uses us for awesome work in His kingdom but…
Also the Enemy does more to try and stop us from doing that work
Fear not, because Satan can’t prevail against Jesus’ sacrifice
All he’s got against you is smoke and mirrors
If you’re feeling weary, allow that truth to penetrate your heart right now
And understand that you’re not alone
V. 3
“My heart grew hot within me; as I mused, a fire burned. I spoke with my tongue:”
David may have been weary and fell silent but a fire grew within him and he found words where he previously didn’t have any
That’s the Holy Spirit cutting through his pain, sorrow, and his lamenting
The Holy Spirit was on David and gave him strength where he previously had none
But here’s the thing church, we have it better than David ever did
He lived in a time before Jesus stepped down and took on sin for us
In the OT the Holy Spirit would come upon people like David and Elijah to do God’s work but He didn’t permanently reside in them
We even see examples of King Saul having the Holy Spirit but then Him leaving Saul
1 Samuel 16:14
“Now the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul, and an evil spirit sent from the Lord began to torment him,”
We now live in a post Jesus’ sacrifice world
When we come to know Jesus we not only are saved from sin but the Holy Spirit dwells within us not just on us for a period of time
With that in dwelling we receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit
So that Spirit led fire that David had as he was weary in verse 3, you also have in, but in FULL!
We are weak on our own merit, but the Holy Spirit working through us is mighty and no weariness, worldly oppression, or attack from the Enemy can stand against
For those of us living with the Holy Spirit inside of us, we cannot remain silent for long
Jeremiah 20:9
“If I say, “I won’t mention Him or speak any longer in His name,” His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones. I become tired of holding it in, and I cannot prevail.”
The prophet Jeremiah had to deal with an evil/godless time but even in all that he says that God’s Word cannot be contained and held in
He had to let it out. It was a burning fire that had to be released
Neither David nor Jeremiah could contain and be silent even in the hardships they endured
We cannot remain silent either
If you are dealing with stuff (see David and Jeremiah’s struggles) cry out before God
Don’t bottle stuff up but lay it at the feet of the ONLY one who can truly take care of you. Stop looking to hollow fixes and look to Him
Don’t be silent with what the Holy Spirit is leading you to do
Even in the face of all the worldly evil we are surrounded by, don’t be silent but proclaim the name of Jesus
Let God’s fire burn in your heart and push you to speaking…both to God and people
V. 4-6
V. 4
““Lord, reveal to me the end of my life and the number of my days. Let me know how short-lived I am.”
David knows that only God truly knows all and knows the extent of his days on earth
His prayer before the Lord is one that is humble
He has gone from feeling so weary that he can’t speak to just humbly speaking to the Lord (the only one who truly knows all)
His humble posture before God is one we should seek emulate
We should never shy away from the Father but constantly fall down at His feet
V. 5
“You, indeed, have made my days short in length, and my life span as nothing in Your sight. Yes, every mortal man is only a vapor. Selah”
We may read this and think David is merely trying to get the answer for how long he’ll live
If we look deeper we see that it’s really a recognition that life is only full of meaning and answers while resting in the Lord
Life standing on its own merit is “like a shadow” and only a “vapor”
Life without God really doesn’t hold any weight and is meaningless
It really isn’t life at all because He is the giver of life
So his question of “show me my days” is really him understanding where he stands before God and ultimately who God is
David is a man who (in human terms) did many mighty things
Slayed Goliath, was a victorious army leader, became a great king, had many children, built cities, etc.
However, in all that, at the end of his life he is still humbly recognizing that it’s not about him but about the God who is Creator and Giver of life
It would be easy to worship the things of life that are good rather than the Giver of life and Creator of those things
And that what we see in verse 6
V. 6
““Certainly, man walks about like a mere shadow. Indeed, they frantically rush around in vain, gathering possessions without knowing who will get them.”
As David is laying out his recognition of who God is and who he is, he points to the falsehoods that people unfortunately cling to
People are running around trying to maximize what they get out of life and the things they can collect in life but the irony is that someone else will take them someday when they die
We see that David and his son Solomon (see the book of Ecclesiastes) come to this same conclusion at the end of their lives
Both were kings who had been richly blessed but both come to the conclusion that life without God is meaningless but life with God is full and true
We would be wise to heed their words and listen to lessons God has given us through their writings
If you’re here this morning don’t fight the conviction of the Holy Spirit because the reality is that we ALL allow things in to supersede God
1 Corinthians 3:11-15
“For no one can lay any other foundation than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on that foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, each one’s work will become obvious, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, it will be lost, but he will be saved; yet it will be like an escape through fire.”
The Foundation of Christ is the most solid thing that can exist but we build puny houses on top of Christ that will be tested by fire
We are all going to encounter hard things in life (much like David)
People get sick, death, jobs, cars break down
The fires of life are going to come. I know that because bad things in life are the result of…
We are broken and fallen
We live in a broken, sinful world
Satan’s attacks
As these fires come (if you know Jesus) your foundation is built of stone and will NOT be shaken or burned up
BUT…what is built on top of that foundation? What material have you used?
If you’ve been only in pursuit of possessions, riches, self satisfaction then you’ve used hay (like in 1 Cor. 3) and when the fires of life come, they will consume what you’ve built
Have you ever seen hay catch on fire? It burns up quick!
If you’ve been caught up in the way you appear (social media, idolizing your self image, letting anything but God define your self worth) then your structure is gonna struggle when the fire comes
If you’ve been only in pursuit of keeping up “Christian religious practices” but don’t have substance in your faith, then the fires of life will burn your house up
BUT, if your total pursuit in life is Jesus, then not only is the foundation of stone but the whole house is as well and when the fires of life come, what is built withstands it
Church, we aren’t perfect but Jesus is and He’s given us all we need to walk faithfully in this life in relentless pursuit of Him
David is warning us here not to live a hollow life like what we see the world do, but to have God be the live giving center of all we do
V. 7-11
V. 7
“Now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You.”
Now with the understanding of where he stands before God, David proclaims where his hope is
If his world is built on the pursuit of possessions, then his hope will be tied to those things (like the world around)
However, if his life is tied to God (the life giver) then his hope will be tied to Him as well
V. 8-11
“Deliver me from all my transgressions; do not make me the taunt of fools. I am speechless; I do not open my mouth because of what You have done. Remove Your torment from me; I fade away because of the force of Your hand. You discipline a man with punishment for sin, consuming like a moth what is precious to him; every man is only a vapor. Selah”
We know David wasn’t perfect and dealt with sin just like the rest of us
Now he declaring:
First his hope does NOT reside with possessions and things of the world like those apart from God
Those things will be consumed like moths consuming something precious (v. 11)
Second that his hope DOES reside with God
Third that God is truly the only one he can humbly cry out to to be saved from the sins he’s committed
Church that is the same for us today as believers
What we find is that as we start taking our focus from worldly pursuits, then the fullness of the Holy Spirit can work through us
Imagine if we as the body of Christ relentlessly pursued the removal of the world from our lives, our homes, our workplaces
Imagine if we the relentlessly pursued the call and work of the Holy Spirit in every aspect of our lives
Well we don’t have to imagine…We have to do!
God is with us and giving us the tools to do exactly that
Ephesians 2:8-10
“For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift — not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.”
We are new creations in Christ and now called to work in the Kingdom
But if you’re a skeptic this morning let me encourage you in this way
You’ve probably tried to fill your life with various things and there may be satisfaction for a time but it’s temporary
You feel like there’s something more but you can’t figure out the puzzle
Or possibly you’ve come in this morning and the weight of the world and sin is on your shoulders and you just don’t know what to do
You feel too broken, too fallen, and too sinful
Yet here you are
Jesus did something for you that will turn your world upside down
He died on a cross and took on your sin willingly!
Then through that sacrifice and sin removal He gives us the Holy Spirit (God Himself!) to work mighty miracles through us and guide us in this life
These are the answers you’ve been looking for
Don’t wait and wonder any longer. Step into relationship with Jesus
Come talk to me or any of our pastors. We’d love to talk with you about Jesus
V. 12-13
““Hear my prayer, Lord, and listen to my cry for help; do not be silent at my tears. For I am a foreigner residing with You, a temporary resident like all my fathers. Turn Your angry gaze from me so that I may be cheered up before I die and am gone.””
David ends his prayer, his lament with a final cry before the Lord
He is basically saying Lord listen to me, hear me because I know where I am isn’t where I need to be. I’m a foreigner, and alien and I just need You
He’s recognizing that he sins and falls short but that’s not who he is
He’s in the world but not of the world. He is just temporarily there and his sin (while wrong) is not what defines him
His relationship with God is what defines him so he cries out to the Definer and Author of his life
Church we must learn to do what David does here and cry out to our God because we are not defined by our sin but defined by God, our Maker
He hears your prayer and listens to your plea
We serve an intensely personal God
He not only hears but understands that we are foreigners living in a world that is increasingly hostile to us, His children
Stop trying to lean on comfort and things of the world, of your flesh and cry out to the One who created you and knows you
We will all face struggle, sin, oppression…Therefore go to God with it ALL
I promise God will always be listening and working
I promise He will never abandon you
You’re His child and He cares for you on a level we cannot fully comprehend
Final Takeaway
Big Idea: Life on earth is short. Our hope must rest with God not things of the world
All of us have these Psalm 39 lamenting moments
Maybe you’re coming here this morning and the weight of your sin is just too heavy
Cast it down at the Father’s feet. Cry out to Him as David does here in Psalm 39
Maybe it feels like nothing is going right, right now
Your job sucks and money is tight
Your home life feels empty and it’s a struggle raising kids
You’ve got an older kid that is walking away from their faith and you don’t understand why
People you love are sick and dying
You walk outside or go on your phone and there’s hate and bitterness all around
You feel like everywhere you turn, it’s just difficult
Church, turn to Jesus in all things, not some, but ALL
We know that life around us is broken, fallen, and sinful
If we seek to solve the world's problems with solutions of the flesh, then we end up just like the world around us
I know it seems so simple that all the answer rest with Jesus but it’s truth
The answer is simple, but now we have to work to put it into practice
Relentlessly pursue injecting Jesus into your job, home life, kids (Jesus has got to come before sports), interactions in public, through your phones
Watch as you do that, the Holy Spirit will work more and more through you
Let’s be Jesus proclaimers, Holy Spirit workers…Let’s be the Church