Verses 1-13

Psalm 39

Deep Soul Exercise in View of Man’s Frailty and Nothingness

1. The vanity of life (Psalms 39:1-6)

2. Self-judgment and prayer (Psalms 39:7-13)

This Psalm is connected closely with the preceding one and shows deep soul exercises. In the midst of trial, with God’s hand resting upon the sufferer, he had been silent before his enemies. Before the Lord he did not maintain silence but pours out his heart, confessing the vanity of his fleeting life which appears to him as a hand-breadth and altogether vanity. Beautiful is Psalms 39:7. “And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in Thee.” All else the saint waits for in this little life down here is vanity except the Lord. These two Psalms have also their special application to the suffering remnant, who learn the vanity of all things and wait for the Lord only.