Deliver Me From Discipline
Last week, Pastor Ryan kicked off the start of our 3rd summer of Psalms. We got a late start this year, but are planning to work from Psalm 38 and to around Psalm 44. Psalm 39, similar to Psalm 38 can be categorized as a lament, that is connected on some level to personal sin in David.
David here, gives us a helpful, but surprising example of what to do with the tossing emotions of our hearts. This is not the first lament we have covered and won’t be the last. Laments certainly aren’t one size fits all. In addition to that, it is likely that the suffering you were experiencing last week, is still on your heart this week. So it is good for us to learn to cry out to God again and again that he may help us in our weakness, and provide instruction and comfort in our pain.
If this was Sesame street, this sermon would be brought to you by the letter “D”. There are 5 words starting with D, (not counting David’s name) that will be covered in 3 parts this morning. Here they are if you want to see where we are going:
First, we see David’s Declaration. Second, we see David’s increased Distress and Desperation. Last, we see David’s prayer for Deliverance from Discipline.
There is also progression of time in these 3 sections of the Psalm. David starts with a reflection on his past resolve, then he gives a little commentary on that went, and then cries out to God.
Let’s pray before we get started.
Father, would you give grace now as we open up your word. David wrote this Psalm so that it would be fruitful for us, and also instruct us. There is complexity here, help us to see what is truly there, and apply it to our hearts this morning. In Christ name amen.
David’s Declaration (His Resolution)
In v.1, David resolves to guard his ways in the presence of the wicked. He says:
“I said: ‘I will guard my ways, that I might not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle, so long as the wicked are in my presence’.” There are two things we clearly see here in verse 1.
#1. David’s Goal
He wants to honor God in his ways and his words. I will muzzle my mouth, I will put my hands over my mouth if need be, so that I don’t sin with my tongue. We can think of funny examples here, but there are many times we should have regrets over our words. There are many times our words have set things on fire and provoked others sinfully.
This is not the only time David says he kept silent. There are several times in the Psalms where David keeps silent. Later in verse 9, which we will get to, and also in Psalm 32:3 “For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away” In Comparison: Ps.32 he hid his sin, Ps.39 he seeks to keep his tongue from sin. Ps. 32 the silence ate away at him, Ps. 39 his heart stews as things get worse.
The point here is that I think David has an honorable motive here, we don’t see any evidence of him hiding unrepentant sin or hiding from God.
Proverbs 13:3 “Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life”
David sought to do this as he prayed in v. 8 “Do not make me the scorn, or reproach of fools.”
#2. The circumstance in which he wants to honor God
The wicked are around David and see his distress. In his distress, he is in a position that they may mock, or jeer at. They may try to provoke him with their words. They speak against God, in relations to their gods and idols. David is committed to holding my tongue, and keeping his peace. He is silent not in hiding sin, but so that he won’t commit sin.
David is seeking to be self-controlled, to guard his ways and his responses. He was able to bridle his tongue, but was unable to bridle his heart.
David’s Increased Distress and Desperation
David, after recounting what he had resolved, gives us a commentary on how it went. v.2-3a says this:
“I was mute and silent; I held my peace to no avail, and my distress grew worse. My heart became hot within me. As I mused, the fire burned;”
David here was able to hold his tongue, but it didn’t resolve the issue. He may have thought, if I keep quiet, maybe they will leave me alone, if I keep my peace, my fortunes will surely turn. But his distress grew worse, so let’s look at the kind of distress he may be in.
External distress: His distress is visible to wicked around him. His distress is in part connected to possessions and comforts.
v.6 Mentions that mankind heaps up wealth and riches in contrast to his current condition described in v. 11.
Internal distress:
v.3 His heart burned within him.
Comprehensive descriptions of his distress.
v. 10 “[he is] spent by the hostility of [God’s] hand”
v. 11 God is consuming what is dear to him, what gives him delight
As this distress grows, David’s mouth keeps quiet, but his soul does not. David mused and the waters churned. As David pondered, the coals in his heart were stirred, the fire burned hotter. And as he stews, the complexity of his heart and the complexity of the circumstance starts to reveal itself.
What did David muse over that made his heart so hot? The initial occasion is clear (David’s distress near wicked). He doesn’t want to sin with his mouth. He doesn’t want to be the reproach of fools. There are at least seven things he may have been pondering.
He muses over his Condition
He has been brought low, and the distress is still increasing
In his silence the situation is only getting worse
He may feel helpless
Despite his resolve, nothing has changed for the better
Any patience he has had, hasn’t profited at all, his efforts are failing
He may be tempted to envy the wicked
The wicked may accuse him unjustly, and likely make judgements that aren’t true
They may say God has left him, or His God is not real or powerful to help
He may be perplexed by God’s justice
In his effort to be righteous, he is disciplined for his sin, but the wicked aren’t
They wicked seek for riches that are fleeting, and David doesn’t. Yet God is taking away the things that David has. And David feels the pain of these things being taken away, even though his hope should not be in them. The wicked are at ease, while the righteous suffer) It Doesn’t seem fair.
He may be frustrated
He desires not to be the scorn of fools, but knows that his distress is also caused by his sin and it is the discipline of the Lord that has brought him so low and it is his fault to some degree.
He may be confused
Mankind is but a breadth. “My lifetime is nothing before you.” Yet you are disciplining me so heavily? Like Ps.8, “What is man that you are mindful of him”?
He waits for the Lord and His hope is in the Lord, yet he knows that his pain comes from the hostility of God’s hand, and God's rebuke is heavy on him.
And, He is weary and broken
He is spent, he has confessed his sin but still feels the effects of it, and the Lord’s hand is heavy on him, and he doesn’t know when it might end.
We can relate to the busyness of David’s hearts. Our hearts are busy during times of suffering, we want to understand it, and solve it. And in our own musing, we realize both are out of our grasp. All the purposes God has in discipline are beyond us, and at times are a mystery. Our minds are occupied and anxious about many things.
So David’s heart mused and stirred, and the fire got hotter and hotter, and burned bright and brighter. Scripture says: “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks”. David feels it coming, his distress is increasing, his desperation is rising.
David, for a season could bridle his tongue but could not bridle his heart. And God desires all of our being to be in submission to Him. Not just a quieted tongue, but a quieted soul. And if the soul is not quiet, then soon the tongue will not be either.
David says in verse 3: “As I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue”. So David is going to speak, but what is he going to say? And to who?
Let’s first answer in the negative.
He does not speak against the wicked. David could have given full vent to his tossing heart, and sinned by returning evil with evil, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t defend himself, or try to prove them wrong, or let them have it. In fact, the wicked are hardly mentioned again.
He does not speak against God. v. 9 “I am mute; I do not open my mouth, for it is you who have done it”. David is speaking to God, but is silent on any protest of God being in the wrong. He isn’t mute in all things, but he is silent towards the suffering, because he knows that it is discipline from the Lord.
So when he does speak, he speaks to God, and against himself. In his desperate plea to God, he pushed back on the tossing of his heart. Rather than adding insult to injury with his words, he cries out to God and uses his mind and his mouth, to help steady the ship.
David’s prayer for Deliverance from Discipline
There are 3 things I want to highly here in David’s extended prayer which is the rest of the Psalm.
#1 Prays for help understanding his place (v.4-6)
“O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Surely a man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!”
He asks that God would humble Him. 3 times David say surely about the fleetingness of mankind. He essentially says, I know how small and fleeting I am, help me understand it! In one sense, this is a lesson every human should know. This reality should hit everyone in the clearly. When we consider our short lives in comparison to history. Our lives win light of Billions of other people. Our lives in light of the size of the earth, our galaxy, the universes.
But David sees and understand a spiritual reality behind it all that connect to his heart and his emotions. David sees that his heart is in turmoil because he is too high in his own eyes. David, who may already be more humble than the rest of us, asks God to drive him lower, that even in his weakness and distress, his sees himself too highly He does want his hot heart the become a hardened heart.
What an example David is to us! How often are we quick to speak against others, or against God in any affliction and discomfort we face. We are quick to question or blame or doubt at the first sign of trouble. We look all kinds of places except for inward.
Jeremiah Burroughs wrote a book 350 years ago about Christian Contentment. In it he does a great job diagnosing the disruption of our hearts in suffering and discipline. Here are a few things he says, that unfortunately are more fitting of our hearts in contrast to David’s.
When speaking about God’s work in discipline Jeremiah wrote:
“This is the first lesson that Christ teaches any soul, self-denial, which brings contentment, which brings down and softens a man’s heart. You know how when you strike something soft, it makes no noise, but if you strike a hard thing it makes a noise; so with the hearts of men who are full of themselves, and hardened with self-love, if they receive a stroke they make a noise, but a self-denying Christian yields to God’s hand, and makes no noise. When you strike a woolsack it makes no noise because it yields to the stroke; so a self-denying heart yields to the stroke and thereby comes to this contentment.”
He goes on to say: “Carnel men and women do not know their own spirits, and therefore they fling and vex themselves at every affliction that befalls them, they do not know what disorders are in their hearts which may be healed by their afflictions.”
And last, he says:
“A man who is little in his own eyes will account every affliction as little, and every mercy as great.”
In other words, the big egos of men and women make big noises. Prideful hearts either protect themselves, or pity themselves, but never speak to God against themselves. They are too ridged and and fragile to yield to a disciplining stroke from God.
Proverbs 17:10 “A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool.”
David wants to gain understanding, and that is the very reason he is crying out! He feels the blows, and doesn’t want to be like a fool.
One crucial clarifier:
A quieted heart and a silent heart are not the same thing. A quieted tongue and a silent tongue are not the same either. A quieted tongue and soul can and will cry out to God, but will not contend with him. It may ask and express all kinds of things, and it should! That is what David is doing, and part of the problem here may be that he didn’t do it sooner!
#2 He acknowledges the loving, but hard hand of God
v. 11 “When you discipline a man with rebukes for sin, you consume like a moth what is dear to him; surely all mankind is a mere breath!”
He sees God stripping away all the things he delights in. Whether these things are idols in David life, or are necessary strokes to get his attention. God removes all other joys in David’s life to teach him to find joy in God alone. God’s Jealous and protective love drives us to find joy in him.
Consider this example: When a kid is starting to get lost in a massive crowd, is it right for their parents with a forceful hand and a stern voice to command them to return to their side? Or when they disobey, you don’t give them candy, or a toy, or tv to comfort them. They need to be reconciled with you, so that you may be able to give them real comfort, and real restoration.
To do any less for your child would be unloving, because you know that you are their parent, they are your child and you love and care for them like no-one else can.
And if its right for a parent, how much more God, who we are made for and is the source of all joy. He pulls us towards himself because only He can satisfy.
Hebrews says: “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
I fear some, who are under the loving discipline of God, never look at themselves. They feel the piercing of his arrows, but attribute them to the wicked, not to a loving and righteous God who shot them. The result is that they are not trained by it, and therefore will never receive the peaceful fruit of righteousness. They never receive the quieted soul. They are waiting to be exalted, but fail to first be humbled.
Remember 1 Peter 5:5-6 from a few weeks ago. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
David does exactly this, he humbles himself, cries out, and waits for God.
This is a hard word, but there is life in it, there is eternal life in it, for those who receive it. There is hope here! There is a depth of grace from Jesus in the low times that is not found anywhere else.
God’s grace may rain on the mountain tops of life. And there is a blessing in the enjoyment of good times. But the grace that rains above, also trickles into streams, that flow into rivers, that pours into oceans at the bottom.
And that ocean of grace, has a depth of mercy and comfort that those hiking above do not know of. “God is near the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” In the losing of our lives there is a gaining of it. From humbling come exultation. From tribulation comes peace! The way to more grace and blessing is down, not up. God opposes the proud, but give grace to the humble!
#3 He trusts and hopes in God
v.7 “And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you”
v.12 “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; hold not your peace at my tears! For I am a sojourner with you, a guest, like all my fathers.”
This is the only Psalm David uses the phrase “I am a sojourner with you” David is a breath, a humble traveler, but a traveler with God.
David still is perplexed, situation not solved, his tearful cry to for help seems to wander a bit, but shows a heart that is starting to be humbled and stilled as it reaches out to God. He trusts God in the mess, and will hope in Him.
Let us wait and trust in Jesus, and look to him for hope! The one who bridled both his tongue and soul. The sinless son of God, yet he “he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross”. He bore the full stroke and full hostility of God, so that we may live and live eternally.
Our hearts have illnesses we do not know of, that Jesus aims to heal. He will not give us to fleeting joys, He loves us too much. Trust in Him, Receive forgiveness from Him. Make Him your hope, it’s the safest place for it to be!
Now as we turn to the table. We share this table together as a reminder of what Christ has accomplished on the cross, that he was wounded for our transgressions, and suffered for our sin. Christ died, so that when we are wounded, in turn and in time, we may be healed.
Communion
The bread and the cup are primarily for members of Cities Church, but if Jesus is your treasure, you are a sojourner with Him, then we welcome you to eat and drink with us. But if you are not there yet, we ask that you let the elements pass, lest you proclaim something you do not believe and bring judgement on yourself.
His Body is the true bread, and His Blood is the true drink, let us serve you.