Psalm 39: If You Can’t Say Something Nice…

I said, “I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth as with a muzzle, while the wicked are in my presence.” I was dumb and silent, I refrained even from good; and my sorrow grew worse. Psalm 39:1-2 NASB

I say it, especially as a parent.  “If you can’t say something nice, then don’t say anything at all.”  Curious.  I thought for sure that I was quoting the Bible.  I’m sure it’s in there.  Probably in the book of Hezekiah, right around the verse about “cleanliness is next to godliness.”

But I can’t find it now.  And maybe never will.  Where does that leave me?  After all, “if I can’t say something nice, then I should be quiet.”  Right?  Keeps me out of trouble.

Evidentially, that’s what the Psalmist decided to do.  Guard his ways, so he won’t mess up, especially with the wicked circling around… I told myself, “I’ll be careful not to sin by what I say, and I’ll muzzle my mouth when evil people are near.” I kept completely silent, but it did no good, and I hurt even worse. Psalm 39:1-2 CEV

It did no good and the NASB takes it a step further and says I refrained even from good.  The whole point of staying quiet when nothing nice can be said is to avoid conflict, right?  In today’s world, it’s important to be nice, not to hurt someone’s feelings, right?

But did the Psalmist avoid conflict?  Maybe outwardly… My heart became hot within me.  As I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue; Psalm 39:3 ESV

Ah, finally, a word.  He will speak.  He cannot stay quiet any longer.

“Please, LORD, show me my future.  Will I soon be gone?  You made my life short, so brief that the time means nothing to you. Human life is but a breath, and it disappears like a shadow.  Our struggles are senseless; we store up more and more, without ever knowing who will get it all.  What am I waiting for? I depend on you, LORD! Save me from my sins.  Don’t let fools sneer at me.  YOU treated me like this, and I kept silent, not saying a word.” Psalm 39:4-9 CEV

Hmm, okay, I’ll admit it, I’m confused.  The first few verses talk of staying silent especially with the enemy around.  “I’m being spiritual and guarding my ways.  I’ll be quiet even though I see evil all around me.  I don’t want to sin!”  But it comes to a point where the burning inside is so hot, he can’t stay quiet.  He speaks out.  Against his enemy?  Against the injustices in the world?  Against GOD?  WHAT?  He cries to GOD.  All right.  He is writing a Psalm in the Bible, I’ll grant that he’s more spiritual than I am.  Crying to GOD might not have been my first choice. 

The Psalmist cries to GOD for help.  And then what?  He blames GOD for his current situation.  Really?   Because it is THOU who hast done it says the NASB (verse 9b).

What kind of relationship does this person have with the Creator of the Universe that he cries out to GOD for help and then blames HIM for the situation?  Who has that kind of relationship with GOD?  The text tells me.  At first, he tried to stay quiet. Then the calls out to the ONE who he knows can handle it.  But even more so Both bad and good things come by the command of the Most High GOD.  Lamentations 3:38 NCV.

WHAT?  Good and bad from GOD?  But James clearly says When people are tempted, they should not says, “GOD is tempting me.” Evil cannot tempt GOD, and GOD HIMSELF does not tempt anyone (1:13 NCV).

But yet the Psalmist continues on “Won’t YOU stop punishing me? YOU have worn me down.  YOU punish us severely because of our sins.  Like a moth, YOU destroy what we treasure most.  We are as frail as a breath.” Psalm 39:10-11 CEV

Blaming GOD for his situation?  Crying out that GOD is destroying what he treasures most?  WAIT!  Maybe it’s a clue.  We are to love the LORD your GOD with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Deuteronomy 6:5 NASB.  If we love GOD, then what we treasure most (GOD) cannot be destroyed.

JESUS said it best:  “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matthew 6:19-21 NASB).

If we place value on items that can be destroyed or stolen, then we will be miserable.  As the teacher in Ecclesiastes says “Useless!  Useless!  Completely useless!  Everything is completely useless!” (1:2 NCV).  A bit extreme but true.  Like the famous book, “Gone with the Wind.”

The LORD causes it to rain on the righteous and unrighteous (Matthew 5:45c).  As a follower, as a child of GOD, we will not escape pain.  And we will not escape correction from GOD because HE loves us (Proverbs 3:12).  Can we cry out to HIM?  Yes.  The Psalmist did.  The Psalmist was honest with his pain.  He blamed GOD.  But do we leave it there, blaming GOD?  No.  For the Psalmist finishes the chapter—

“Listen, LORD, to my prayer!  My eyes are flooded with tears, as I pray to you.  I am merely a stranger visiting your home as my ancestors did.  Stop being angry with me and let me smile again before I am dead and gone.” Psalm 39:12-13 CEV

I want a relationship like that with the LORD.  One where I can be honest.  One where I can cry out to HIM, blame HIM but then beg for answers to my prayers in the same breath.  A relationship of ups and downs but one where I know HE is with me no matter what.  Abraham is called a friend of GOD (James 2:23b).  Am I HIS friend?

Who’s your friend?  And how honest is the relationship?

Justice—Mercy—How Long, Oh LORD, how long?

“Though you build high like the eagle, though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD. Obadiah 4 NASB

This is a chilly statement from a prophetic book written to an ancient people.  It would be safe to assume these people weren’t friends with the LORD.  The vision of Obadiah.  Thus says the LORD GOD concerning Edom—and so begins the book of Obadiah tackling the people of Edom.

I wanted to challenge myself and write on an entire book in the Bible.  I love writing on single verses.  Short statements.  General ideas.  Expository writing.  “Shining a light on the original meaning.”  But as someone who not only loses the forest for the trees but the trees for the leaves, I thought it might be good to get out of my comfort zone.  Take a leap into unknown.  So I chose Obadiah.  It is the shortest book in the Old Testament.  Okay, I don’t want to leap too far my first time.

The vision of Obadiah… concerning Edom.  The Edomites.  Who are these strange people and why did they disappear from the planet?  (And why do I care?)  First things first.  Abraham had Isaac.  Yes, yes, I sound like a genealogy, therefore, I must be doing a history lesson.  Next thing you know, I’ll start using “begat” which signals a Biblical history lesson.  Isaac and Rebekah begat twin sons, Esau and Jacob.  GOD changed Jacob’s name to Israel.  And, presto change-o, the twelve tribes of Israel were birthed.  And thus comes into being the chosen people of GOD, through Jacob, aka Israel.

But what about Esau?  I’m glad you asked.  Esau’s kids were called the Edomites.  The Edomites and the Israelites were cousins.  And like all families, they had their ups and downs.  Jacob and Esau had a rocky relationship, if you recall your Bible history.  But amazingly, they did reconcile.  But Esau ran to meet him [Jacob], and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept (Genesis 33:4 NASB).

Fast forward a dozen, hundred, thousand years and ask “Oh Esau, it’s two thousand years later and do you know where your kids are?”  Yes, yes we do.  They are in the rocky mountain area Southeast of the Dead Sea (Israel is North and West of the Dead Sea).  Since they were cousins with Israel, they got along beautifully, right?  No border disputes, right?  I mean Jacob and Easu reconciled and because of that, all their kids were BFFs, right?

Wrong.  Not even close.  Obadiah 10-14 tells a chilling story of one brother’s sin to another.  Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.  On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. Obadiah 10-11 ESV.

You were like one of them.  Israel has had its share of invaders.  And when the invaders came, what did Edom do?  Edom stood there and watched as foreigners entered Jerusalem and took what they wanted (part of 11 CEV).  Edom chose not to help.  I know it is evil to steal, murder, or destroy.  But to stand and watch as stealing, murdering and destruction occurs—is that evil?  Are they as guilty as the ones performing the actions?  Would it have made a difference?  Should they have done something?

What did they do while watching?  They rejoiced at the fall of their brother—Why did you celebrate when such a dreadful disaster struck your relatives?  Why were you so pleased when everyone in Judah was suffering (12 CEV)?  Youch, they celebrated?  Okay, so maybe their sin isn’t so bad.  They didn’t help, they just watched.  That’s bad but not as bad as helping the enemy, right?  They were afraid, maybe.  Yea, that sounds good.  They were in fear of their lives?  Edom, you helped when the invaders left, right?  They are MY people, and you were cruel to them.  You went through their towns, sneering and stealing what was left (13 CEV).

It’s so sad.  Edom.  Brothers to Israel.  Rejoicing at Israel’s destruction?  Looting what was left?  They did what they wanted because they thought they were safe.  GOD tells them: “The arrogance of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, in the loftiness of your dwelling place, who say in your heart, ‘who will bring me down to earth?’” Obadiah 3 NASB

Okay, that’s Edom, not us.  I mean what does an old book written to a people who no longer exist mean for us today?  I think I might have a clue.  Have you ever asked, as the psalmists and prophets of old have asked “How long, O LORD, how long?”  We look around.  We see evil.  We see the enemy gaining ground.  Why is nothing done?

For the day of the LORD is near upon all the nations.  As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head. Obadiah 15 ESV

Why doesn’t GOD administer justice now?  Why does HE wait?  What is HE waiting for?  The LORD is not slow about HIS promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.  2 Peter 3:9 NASB

GOD is just.  And HE is merciful.  HIS waiting is for those who don’t know HIM so they can know HIM.  HE desires reconciliation.  So HE waits.  But be warned, HE does administer justice.  Edom found out.

What happened to Edom?  Why have they disappeared from history?  Obadiah tells us.  The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble; they shall burn them and consume them, and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau, for the LORD has spoken (Obadiah 18 ESV).  The rest of the book describes the division of land on who gets what.

Babylon and Edom were allies, at first.  Instead of joining with Israel--their cousin, and defending her, Edom chose Babylon.  The Babylonians rewarded Edom's alliance by destroying the Edomites.  The children of Esau ceased to exist in history.

What should we take from this lesson?  You surely don’t think much of GOD’s wonderful goodness or of HIS patience and willingness to put up with you.  Don’t you know that the reason GOD is good to you is because HE wants you to turn to HIM? Romans 2:4 CEV

 
Edom had the claim of being relatives with Israel—the chosen ones of GOD.  And that didn’t save them.  They did evil and were punished for it.  GOD knows what is happening.  HE saw the evil in the world then and HE sees it today.  HE waits—not because HE fears doing something.  HE waits because HE desires each person to reconcile with HIM.  But as we see with the Edomites, there is an end to HIS waiting.  The day of the LORD is near upon all nations.

Will you be reconciled with the FATHER or will you be in rebellion?

For GOD so loved the world, that HE gave HIS only SON, that whoever believes in HIM should not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16 ESV