The Length of our Lives

If I'm honest - I'm told I'm going to live for another 14 years! If I'm dishonest - it doesn't matter, because I died 19 years ago! What on earth do I mean? The other day I did an online questionnaire on 'life expectancy'. They ask you questions about your lifestyle - smoking, diet, exercise. When I gave a true response I was given another 14 years to live and when I gave false information (I said I smoked over 20 a day, ate fatty foods and did no exercise) then I had a score of minus 19 years! But if I was already dead, how on earth could I have answered the questions? The lesson is obvious – if you want to live longer be honest and not dishonest when you answer online questionnaires! Of course, the figures don't account for the unexpected… being knocked down by a bus, developing a serious medical condition, being killed by a terrorist, being struck by lightning… the return of Christ?

The Psalmist didn't need to calculate his life expectancy. He knew that life is ephemeral. He said life is like "a mere breath" (Psalm 39:5, 11). Life is short. Death is near. All of us will die - and what then? What sort of life is there beyond the grave? Concerning our lives and our futures we are all in God's hands. We certainly can't predict how long we have before we die.

In the Old Testament there was no clear grasp of the afterlife. Sheol was the gloomy underworld, the 'abyss of silence', the place of the departed. A life in the shadows but not in the sunshine. When Jesus preached to the spirits in prison (1 Peter 3:19) he turned their darkness into light. The Old Testament believer may have had a general hope in God (v.7) but the New Testament believer has an assured hope in the one who died and rose again. For the Christian new life in Christ has an eternal dimension. Life is much more than the here and now. We have the hope of heaven. We have hope because we are in Christ. We have hope because we are eternally secure in him.

To remind you – the Jews divided their Bible into three parts – the law, the prophets and the writings (Luke 24:27, 44). And the Psalms are part of the writings, the so-called wisdom books. The Psalms are not like the five books of the law (yet they instruct us and teach us the way that we should go). The Psalms are not historical narratives (yet they are set within the framework of biblical history). The Psalms are not prophetical sermons (yet they apply the divine word to a variety of situations). Psalm 39 is very much part of the wisdom tradition. Psalm 39 sounds rather like Job or Ecclesiastes or Proverbs. Psalm 39 echoes what is said in the two previous Psalms. Psalm 39 is profound. It's rooted on earth yet has caught a glimpse of heaven. It is 'a distinctive and very moving prayer'. Remember too, that it's a prayer for you and for me.

Three of the Psalms (39, 62 and 77) are dedicated to Jeduthun. We read elsewhere that he played the trumpet in the temple (1 Chronicles 9:16; 16:38, 41, 42; 25:1-3). But the name is also a word that means 'confession'. So here we have the words of a believer's prayerful confession. The words of a man of God who stood before his God and who contemplated his life and his experiences. He reflected upon the ups and the downs of his past, the reality of his present, and he was optimistic about his future. This man opened up his heart and cried out to the Lord. And his prayer was simple: "Hear my prayer, O Lord" (v12), for "My hope is in you" (v7). So tonight as we come before the Lord (and if you mean business with him) may his prayer be your prayer (and my prayer too). And as I speak, ask the Holy Spirit to apply these words to your heart. In his commentary on the Psalms, A. Weiser says that this Psalm is unique in that "God provides us with a deep insight into the struggles" of this man's soul. In this he becomes everyman. He speaks for you and for me. So tonight, I want each one of us to reflect with this man, and to echo the thoughts of this man as he contemplated his life and as he anticipated his future life.

Part One: Be Silent before You Speak (vv.1-6)

Some journalists and politicians just can't stop talking. They like the sound of their own voices. They have a view on just about everything. They pontificate and prattle on. Their words pour forth in torrents. But we know that their words are often empty words, words unsweetened by the regulation of the Word of God. Before he spoke the psalmist adopted 'a self-imposed silence'. There are times when the talking has to stop and the listening has to begin. As we are told in Ecclesiastes 3:2-7 there is:

A time to be born, and a time to die…A time to weep. And a time to laugh…A time to keep silence, and a time to speak…

Psalm 39 (within the same wisdom tradition as Ecclesiastes) advocates silence rather than speech. From the depth of his predicament - and in the presence of the ungodly - the psalmist kept silent. He saw their wealth and their power and their influence. They appeared to hold all the right cards. They had several silver spoons in their mouths. They were intoxicated with themselves, their status and their achievements. The Psalmist wanted to speak out, but in the presence of the godless he chose to remain silent. He kept his mouth closed so that he might not sin with his tongue. He exercised self-restraint. But the Psalmist couldn't bear any longer. His self-imposed silence had to be broken. He felt compelled to speak out. His distress caused him to explode. He had been silent; now he had to speak. Notice that his speaking was to his God, and not to the ungodly (vv.4-6). The godless would have been deaf to what he said: but he knew that his Lord would hear his prayer. The psalmist knew that his life was short (vv.4-11). How realistic he was! Twice he says that "all mankind is a mere breath" (vv.5, 11). Just think about it… your life (and mine) is of brief duration. But how long have we got before we die? How prepared are we for death? Psalm 90 speaks of us living for seventy or eighty years (v.10). But today we may well live beyond that biblical lifespan.

But the question still remains: how much longer have we got before we die? One day our life on earth will end and what then? Are we prepared and ready to meet with our Lord? Are we heaven bound or hell bound? How well are we using the time that we have left? As the years have passed have we grown in our Christian faith and become more Christ-like … more like Jesus?

Attending a funeral service permits us to reflect upon our own mortality. We are reminded that one day we too will end up in a coffin. But we tend not to think about it. We push the thought aside. Long before his death a Puritan minister had his coffin made for him and he kept it in his house and he used it as a wardrobe. It was a constant reminder to him of his mortality. One day the coats would be removed, and he would be laid in the coffin and buried in the ground. The presence of the coffin reminded him of his death and life beyond the grave.

Recently there have been a number of celebrity deaths, people who have died in their 50s. Did you notice how the media seemed unable to cope with the thought of death and dying? Yes, it is tragic when someone dies young. But death will happen to each one of us – some sooner than later! As Bill Clinton put it the other day, some of us "have more yesterdays than tomorrows". But for each of us, whether life is long or short, we have time to repent and come to the Lord; to confess our sinfulness and to know his forgiveness; to grow in Christlikeness and to become more like Jesus. Our constant prayer should be that of the psalmist: 'Lord, hear my prayer, for my hope is in you' (vv.12, 7).

Did you notice in the text that at the end of verses 5 and 11 was the word 'Selah'? It may be a musical direction, perhaps directing a change of musical instrument or singer, or it could be a direction to pause and to reflect. An opportunity to bow down and to worship, and to pray: 'Lord, hear my prayer, for my hope is in you'. That reverential pause is essential for us all. To stop and take stock, to pause and to reflect, and to ask – 'Where am I?' 'Who am I?' 'What precisely is my identity?' Recently people were impressed with the Archbishop of Canterbury's response to the news that his human father wasn't the person he thought he was, but someone else. Justin Welby made the telling point that his identity was in his heavenly Father and not in his human parentage. That is true for each one of us.

Part Two: Be Silent before You Speak (vv.7-13)

Just now I suggested to you that Jeduthun might be a confession - a prayerful confession before the Lord, a confession of faith in God. The psalmist is clear: 'Lord, hear my prayer, for my hope is in you'. 'Lord, forgive me, and cleanse me, and make me new. Lord, act decisively. Lord, hear my prayer'. And the Psalmist prayed even more vehemently. In verse 12 the NIV has "Hear my prayer, Lord, listen to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping". Why the tears? It's unclear. Perhaps his life was in danger? Perhaps he was sick and at death's door? We are not told. Notice the sequence: prayer – cry for help – tears. This progression is what someone has called 'a rule for prayer'. Confident prayer; earnest, fervent prayer; trusting, believing prayer; submissive, honest prayer. 'Lord, hear my prayer, for my hope is in you'. If we are believers, then our prayers ought to be much more than the 'God bless' prayers of Christopher Robin! Rather we should learn to pray like the psalmist!

We learn too that the psalmist was being disciplined. For him it was an overwhelming experience, almost too much to bear. He had been brought low; he was humbled before his God. Perhaps overwhelmed by his consciousness of sin and the nearness of death? Look at the interesting picture that is used in verse 11. Elsewhere in scripture we read that God is like a lion. Here God isn't a roaring lion but a clothes-eating moth. God is eating away the pretence of the godless, eating away the pride of the believer. Discipline is an important and necessary part of the Christian life. In Hebrews 12 we read how God disciplines his children. We sin – repeatedly, wilfully and deliberately – and as a consequence the Lord disciplines us for our good that we might be restored and to "share in his holiness" (v.10). The Lord's discipline is necessary. It may be painful, but it's for our good. As I've got older, I know just how sinful I am in thought and word and deed. We need the honesty to admit with John Newton that:

I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am

What do you make of the strange words in verse 13? "Look away from me, that I may smile again, before I depart and am no more" (ESV). Other versions have "Look away from me, that I may enjoy life again…" (NIV). 'Look away from me' - that is - 'remove your stroke from me'. "No longer to frown upon me" (NEB). The psalmist asks that the searching eye of God would look away from him so that before his died he might have peace - to free him, to release him. He will only rest if God no longer looks at him in his wrath, but in his mercy. John Calvin put it like this: "David entreats God to grant him a little relaxation from his trouble, that he might recover strength, or, at least, enjoy a short respite, before he depart from this world". Of course this Psalm doesn't say everything about the believer, and of the future of the believer. Nor does this sermon! But the pathway is laid out before us.

Finally, may I say something to those of you in your 60s to 90s? If you are younger you can overhear what I say. What of your final years where there are more yesterdays than tomorrows? Are you still trusting the Lord? Are you still faithful to the Lord? Are you still trusting in him alone? Do you walk by faith, not by sight? Is your hope fixed on him? The realism of the psalmist before his God should prompt each one of us to humble ourselves before him so that in penitence and faith we might know him and love him more - for life is short. And at the same time, that we might glimpse something of the glory of God in the face of Christ. That we have a strong Christian hope enables us to move forward and onward and upward, to trust in the mercy of God and the grace of God. And when difficulties and problems arise (as they do) we know that our hope is in God who, having led us thus far, will lead us into his glorious presence. Home, home at last! 'Lord, hear my prayer, for my hope is in you'.