This is one of those Psalms where we are only guessing at David’s purpose in writing it. Certainly, we can look at the individual statements and find some instruction and guidance in general, but what are the specifics?
One the one hand, we might take the first three verses as a ‘set-up’ for the rest of the psalm, “I was silent as long as I could be and then when I could restrain no longer I began to speak…. O Lord make me to understand my purpose (‘end’)….”
On the other, we might hear him expressing a frustration with himself and an appeal for wisdom and grace, “I said that I would not sin with my words…. and I succeeded for a while… but I grew so frustrated that
I could not keep my vow….. O Lord…. help me to understand my frailty…”
1 I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me. 2 I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. 3 My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue,
K&D separates this portion from the rest of the Psalm and suggests that v.4 does not flow out of the now unrestrained tongue but vs. 1-3 are the introduction of a thought (problem?) and the prayer which follows is an
appeal for greater wisdom so as to not repeat the problem that has been described. After reflection, I tend to agree with this analysis.
4 LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. 5 Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
“Help me to understand my relative insignificance.” This is the idea that escapes us when we begin to believe that our words are important and can actually change the behavior of the wicked. “Let me ‘Selah,’ stop and think about this so that I can return to my previous restraint and wise use of my tongue.”
6 Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them. 7 And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.
Here he reminded himself that the gathering and storing of riches for someone else to ultimately plunder is a foolish endeavor and he recalled his own hope. The Lord is His Treasure and His Reward is the Ultimate Gain.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish.
“Out of the heart the mouth speaketh,” and he did not want his innermost being to be corrupt and motivate him to sin with his mouth. Also, he remembered that he was an agent of God and that the reproach upon him for sin became a reproach (in the minds of men) upon God Himself.
9 I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.
It seems clear that he is here re-visiting the first few verses. One possible thought here is that he had sinned in his speech and caused damage, the Lord had chastened him and he recognized it, purposing then to not
sin again in this way, but his purpose had collapsed and he had repeated the sin for which he was being chastised. He proceeded to grieve over the intensity of “the blow of thine hand.”
10 Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand. 11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah.
He may have been reflecting on his internal turmoil which resulted from being silenced by God, “my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned…”
‘God does a good job with discipline,” he seems to say. There is no more profound grief than the one experienced by a true saint when he realizes that he has sinned and is under chastisement from God, has been set aside and is for the time being useless. “Spend some time contemplating the hand of God when He sets Himself to discipline His child,” is the impact of the “Selah.”
The next words speak of the agony of the repenting soul.
12 Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. 13 O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more. KJV
Something profound had happened which had drained him of strength and it seems to have happened at a late stage in his life because he was longing to have the damage reversed before he died.
The appeal for a hearing at least hints that this was a situation that had been going on for a while and about which he had not only prayed but also agonized and wept. Such should be the attitude of every child of God when under chastisement.
— September 24, 2020