Make me to know my end: “This was not a prayer inspired by a desire to know when life would end it was not a request to be told the date of death. Oh! if my swelling heart must speak, Lord let it speak with thee.” (Spurgeon) “It is well that the vent of his soul was Godward and not towards man. We might have expected David to break his silence by telling off his enemies or by defending his own righteousness. Here David asked God for wisdom - specifically, the wisdom to know the shortness and the frailty of his life ( that I may know how frail I am). He would not speak his fears and doubts before the wicked, but he would pour them out before His God. LORD, make me to know my end: David’s silence was broken in the best way - by humble prayer to God.

“Surely every man walks about like a shadow Ī. Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths,Ĭertainly every man at his best state is but vapor.” Selah The more he reflected on his situation, the more he became exasperated.” (VanGemeren) “The metaphors ‘my heart grew hot’ and ‘the fire burned’ express anger (cf. It brought him sorrow and inner turmoil ( the fire burned). My heart was hot within me: In this instance silence was not golden for David. It was an easy, safe, and effectual way of avoiding sin, if it did not involve a neglect of the duty which he owed to God to speak well of his name.” (Spurgeon)Ĭ. “Perhaps he feared that if he began to talk at all, he would be sure to speak amiss, and, therefore, he totally abstained. Here he did well to not speak his doubts and fears while the wicked are before me. In Psalm 38 the idea was that David did well to not defend himself. In the previous psalm David showed his godliness by his silence before his accusers ( I am like a mute who does not open his mouth, Psalm 38:13). He soon felt the pressure that one feels when intense feelings are kept silent. I was mute with silence, I held my peace even from good: David found it easier to speak nothing than to speak wisely. “The firmest believers are exercised with unbelief, and it would be doing the devil’s work with a vengeance if they were to publish abroad all their questionings and suspicions.” (Spurgeon)ī. To them his words would seem to be a criticism of God and his ways.” (Boice) “He knew how his words would be misunderstood and misused by such persons.

“David’s feelings were running high enough to be taken for disloyalty if he had vented them in the wrong company.” (Kidner) I will guard my ways, lest I sin with my tongue: David began this psalm by recounting his prayer - asking God’s help in not speaking foolishly or sinfully when the wicked are before me. David finds the words to pray a prayer of wisdom.Ī. It is possible that it was from his last few years of life.Ī. This is a Psalm of David, though it cannot be connected to any specific point in his life. Jeduthun ( mentioned also in the titles of Psalm 62 and 77) was one of the musicians appointed by David to lead Israel’s public worship ( 1 Chronicles 16:41 25:1-3). The Chief Musician is thought by some to be the Lord GOD Himself, and others suppose him to be a leader of choirs or musicians in David’s time, such as Heman the singer or Asaph ( 1 Chronicles 6:33, 16:5-7, and 25:6). This psalm is titled To the Chief Musician.

Psalms 91 blue letter bible study notes