INTRODUCTION - Psalm 39
Sitting in my hospital bed surrounded by both young and older people who are healing so quickly and then are going home, it makes me feel so old and weary. Most of the nurses have been really good, but now and then you will come across one that is a little incompetent and lacks empathy. They make life even more depressing.
Although, not in hospital, David was feeling in a similar way when he wrote this Psalm. The long shadows of age and pressure are beginning to fall on David. He has lived a fall life and experienced the highs and lows. He was weary, or as some Bible versions say: "he was exhausted".
David also recalled the punishment and consequences that he experienced when he turned from away from God: the grief of losing two sons, a 3 year famine that had struck his land, and finally they were back at war with his old enemy, the Philistines. Now I am not saying that my fall and my time in hospital is necessarily a `punishment or consequent for turning away from God', for He promised us back in Psalm 37:
"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in His way. Though he fall, He shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholds him with his hand." Psalm 37:23&24
But lately, I have been so busy with work and rushing around I feel I have put God `second' in my life. Sometimes `illness' is the only way God can slow us down to remind us as He did David, to `put our hope' in Him.
In these last days, David continues to cry out to the Lord. The tears are not totally gone, he is still weary at times. But what he wants most now is to be able to `smile again'.
DAVID'S STORY - 2 Samuel 21-2
"Once again the Philistines were at war with Israel. And when David and his men were in the thick of battle, David became weak and exhausted." 2 Samuel 21:15
These chapters in 2 Samuel are the beginning of David's ill health. He was `weak and exhausting', beginning to collapse under the pressures of leadership. During the famine he had made what it seemed to be some terrible decisions and now he was `thick in battle'. But then he remembered four promises:
1. When things are tough, GOD IS OUR SECURITY.
"The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my Saviour; my God is my rock, in whom I find protecton." 2 Samuel 22:2-3
2. When days are dark, GOD IS OUR LIGHT.
"O Lord, you are my Lamp. The Lord lights up my darkness."
2 Samuel 22:29
3. When our walk is weak, GOD IS OUR STRENGTH.
"God's way is perfect. All the Lord's promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection. For who is God except the Lord? Who but God is a solid rock? God is my strong fortress and he makes my way fortress." 2 Samuel 22:31-33
4. When our future is foggy and fuzzy, GOD IS OUR HOPE.
"You have given me your shield of victory; your help has mad me great. You have made a wide path for my feet to keep me from slipping." 2 Samuel 22:36 & 37
CONCLUSION
My `friend' Charles Swindoll, says that he has noticed that as we get older "the future becomes more significant than the present." We begin to wonder - will we live long enough to be able to do all those things we believe God wants us to do?
David reminds us in these 4 statements that God will indeed take care of us forever. We have no need to fear the future, or the present. Most of all we can thank the Lord for being our only HOPE, SECURITY, LIGHT and STRENGTH.
The Holy Bible: New Living Translation.
