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Scripture Reading: Psa. 37; Psa. 38; Psa. 39
In this message we want to see the mixed expressions of the psalmist's sentiment in Psalms 37—39. Psalm 37 reveals the psalmist's sentiment in his logic concerning God's dealing with the righteous and with the wicked based upon the principle of law-keeping. David could not stay away from the principle of keeping the law. Psalm 37 is essentially a lengthened repetition of Psalm 1. We may say that it is the enlarged, lengthened, and expounded Psalm 1. Psalm 38 reveals the psalmist's sentiment in his suffering of God's dealing, and Psalm 39 shows us that the psalmist realized the vanity of his life.
In Psalm 37:1-2 David said, "Do not be incensed because of evildoers....For they soon wither like grass/And fade away like green herbage." Verses 7 and 8 say, "Be still before Jehovah, and wait on Him;/Do not be incensed because of him who enjoys prosperity on his way,/Because of the man who performs his evil schemes./Cease from anger and forsake wrath;/Do not be incensed; it only leads to evil."
David also said that you should trust in Jehovah, do good, feed on His faithfulness, delight yourself in Jehovah, and commit your way to Jehovah. Then He will give you the requests of your heart and cause your righteousness to go forth like light and your justness like noonday (vv. 3-6).
Verses 9-40 point out that according to David's concept, the evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait on Jehovah will possess the land. David said, "For the evildoers will be cut off;/But those who wait on Jehovah,/They will possess the land./And in a little while longer there will be no wicked man;/Indeed, you will look diligently for his place, and he will not be there" (vv. 9-10). According to David's logic, in a little while there would be no wicked man. If there were no wicked man, we would not need the police, the law courts, or the government. But there is not such a thing on this earth today.
Again and again throughout Psalm 37, David said that the righteous would inherit the land and the wicked would be cut off. This is a principle set up by David's logic according to the principle of law-keeping. This logic, however, is altogether wrong. Such good logic belongs to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
In the following message we will be on Psalms 40 and 41. Psalm 40 says that Christ will come to do the will of God (vv. 6-8), and the will of God is that Christ has to replace everyone, everything, and every matter. In the whole universe, God does not want anything except Christ. God wants only one person — Christ. He wants Christ to replace all the offerings, to replace all things, to replace all matters, and to replace all men.
Paul said in Galatians 2:20a, "I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me." Paul said that he had been terminated and that there was someone else to replace him — Christ. He had been crucified and replaced by Christ. Christ lived in him. Paul spoke Galatians 2:20 in the context of his speaking concerning Christ replacing the law (vv. 11-21). He told the Galatians that they were foolish for trying to keep the law (3:1-3). David encouraged people to keep the law, but Christ crucifies, terminates, every law-keeper. Christ does not want to see anyone endeavoring to keep the law. He wants to see every law-keeper terminated by the cross.
The concept in Psalm 37 is on one pole, and the concept in Psalm 38 is on the other pole. David's concept in Psalm 38 contradicts his logic in Psalm 37.
In Psalm 38:1-8 we see that God's chastening forced David to confess his sins and iniquities. David said that in his flesh there was no soundness because of God's indignation, and there was no wholeness in his bones due to his sin (v. 3). There was indignation on God's side, and sin on David's side.
Verse 4 says, "For my iniquities have passed over my head; /Like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me." If we do not like this verse, we are wrong. We have to love this verse to the uttermost.
Verses 5-8 say, "My wounds are odious and festering/Due to my foolishness./I am bent down and bowed utterly;/I go about all day long mourning./For my loins are filled with burning,/And there is no soundness in my flesh./I am benumbed and crushed utterly;/I cry out due to the groaning of my heart." Groaning indicates that you have a burden to pray, yet you do not know what to say. In Psalm 37 it seems that David was so clear about everything and had the utterance to pray for everything. But in Psalm 38 all he could do was cry out due to the groaning of his heart. At times we may have some burden and some feeling, but we do not know how to utter them. We have no knowledge about how to utter our prayer. Thus, all we can do is groan and say, "O Lord Jesus. O Lord Jesus."
In Romans 8:26 Paul said, "Moreover, in like manner the Spirit also joins in to help us in our weakness, for we do not know for what we should pray as is fitting, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." The weakness here is our ignorance of how we should pray. We do not know the kind of prayer God desires, and we are not clear how to pray, according to the burden we feel, for our being conformed to the image of God's Son; hence, we groan (v. 23). In our groaning the Spirit groans also, interceding for us. His interceding is mainly that we may experience the transformation in life for growth into the maturity of sonship that we may be fully conformed to the image of God's Son (v. 29).
Psalm 38:9-20 shows that David's environment compelled him to groan before God and declare his iniquity and sin. In verse 18 David said, "For I declare my iniquity;/I am anxious because of my sin." This is a good verse, which we all should love. We always have to say, "I declare my iniquity;/I am anxious because of my sin." This thought is altogether in contrast with David's logic in Psalm 37. Psalm 37 says that as long as you are righteous, not wicked, you will be all right. But in Psalm 38 David said that he was suffering, and he declared his iniquity. Psalm 38 is much higher than Psalm 37. It would be good to read Psalm 38 in a prayerful way again and again, even on our knees.
In Psalm 38:21-22 David said, "Do not abandon me, O Jehovah;/O my God, do not be far from me./Hasten to help me,/O Lord, my salvation." In Psalm 37 it seems that David did not need God to come to save him. He thought that he was righteous and that because of this he would be all right. But in Psalm 38 all he could do was cry out due to the groaning of his heart. At the end he cried out for the Lord's help as his salvation. He begged God not to abandon him but to hasten to help and save him.
I would like to ask how God would answer David's cry to help him. When the apostle Paul asked the Lord to remove the thorn from his flesh, the Lord's response was, "My grace is sufficient for you" (2 Cor. 12:9). The Lord might tell David, "I will not answer your prayer for help in your way. Instead, I will allow you to suffer because the more you suffer, the more you know your sin. The more you are under suffering, the more you will declare your iniquity, not your righteousness as you did in Psalm 37."
Which psalm would you take for your prayer — Psalm 37 or Psalm 38? We all have to learn not to pray in our natural way. David's logic in Psalm 37 is very natural. We should abandon our natural logic. Instead, we must learn to pray in the revelation of God. We must learn to pray when we are under God's dealing, under God's compelling, in a kind of odious situation (Psa. 38:5). Then we will be blessed, and we will become a blessing.
We may say that the title of Psalm 38 could be "Sin and Iniquity," and the title of Psalm 39 could be "Nothing and Vanity." Psalm 39 reveals the psalmist's sentiment in his realizing the vanity of his life. This psalm shows us that we are nothing and vanity.
In verses 1-3 David said that he kept his ways by muzzling his mouth.
David realized the nothingness and vanity of his life and asked God to remove His chastening (for his transgressions) from him and look away from him as a stranger and sojourner (vv. 4-13). We always think that we are something and somebody, but David was brought by the Lord into a situation to realize that actually he was nothing and vanity. David said that every man at his best is altogether vanity (v. 5). He said that his days were as handbreadths. A handbreadth is very short, that is, only about four inches. David said that man goes about as a semblance, an empty show, and that people are bustling about in vain. They heap up riches, but they do not know who will come to gather them (v. 6).
At the end of Psalm 39, David asked Jehovah to hearken to his cry (v. 12). But I do not believe that God would answer him right away. God would keep David in his situation for a while so that David would be compelled to realize his real situation and his real condition. We need to realize that our condition is sinful, and our situation is one of vanity.
In Psalm 37 David had much to say. It seems that in this psalm he knew everything and could say everything. But in Psalm 38 he realized that his condition was sinful, and in Psalm 39 he realized that his situation was full of vanity. Many of us are still remaining in Psalm 37. In one meeting a brother prayed a long prayer. It seemed that in his prayer he knew everything, understood everything, and could say everything. Such a long prayer, however, kills everyone. Instead, we should be those who pray, "O Lord, I don't know what to say, and I don't know what to do. I even don't know what I am. My lifetime is as nothing before You. Lord, have mercy upon me."
David eventually said that he was a stranger with God, a sojourner, just as all of his fathers were (Psa. 39:12). A stranger is one who does not know anything about the place where he is. In the New Testament, all the believers should be heavenly strangers and sojourners (1 Pet. 1:1; 2:11), sojourning as foreigners on this earth. This means that we all have been replaced by Christ. We all have been crucified with Him. Then it is a fact that it is no longer we who live, but it is Christ who lives in us. We need to see the human concept in the Psalms so that we can jump out of this concept into the divine concept in Paul's Epistles.
The Bible tells us that the word of the Lord is the truth, the reality (John 17:17), and also the light (Psa. 119:105). Through the truth and light released in these messages, I hope that we can see what God wants us to be. God wants us to be nothing. God wants us to be replaced by Christ. Therefore, what God wants was expressed by Paul when he said, "I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me" (Gal. 2:20a). Christ has crucified me, and Christ has come into me to replace me. Now I have an organic union with Him. He lives and works, and I live and work with Him. Christ replaces me to live Himself through me. This is the divine concept of God according to the divine revelation of the New Testament.
