Pastor's Ponderings: Old Testament bible study of Psalm 39 (December 4, 2025)

December 4, 2025:  Thursday Bible Study on Psalm 39

May the blessing of this sunny December day fill you with joy in the coming Light of God for all people, His only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. A truly short reminder - Gospel Music Sunday this Sunday, Dec. 7. Chili luncheon to follow. Please join us for wonderful worship, the proclamation of the Word of the Lord, good music, and the living presence of Christ in the celebration of Holy Communion, all followed by Fellowship in Christ, and good food!

Today our Psalm is 39. In 38 we dealt with the issues of sin and brokenness. But our Psalm for today is different. In this Psalm we hear David's concerns about his coming death. It must be he has reached that age where is telling himself to curb his mouth, to remain in control when he is amid those who have no faith, and to not fuss at God as David's health appears to be in obvious decline.  We all need to understand that God is the only one who can do anything at all about what we know to be the inevitability of death. Like David, I suspect that when we reach the age of crankiness, our tendency is to act as though we have all the answers to life's questions and certainly in the face of the problems everyone faces. However, honestly, we have no answer to the issues of our death. People die unexpectedly from children, teens, young adults, middle agers, and seniors, and as we look at this, we often see no action which results in unexpected death. Oh yes, it is certainly true that if a person is excessive in the use of alcohol, or prescription or illegal substances, or is a reckless driver with little regard for the laws meant to regulate traffic for safety, or we end up with a deadly illness prognosis, or even when we attain that senior achievement, we all know that death can come at any time, in any situation, or location.  I must admit as I see the age of famous people who are dying at a young age, I wonder what brought their lives to that point. I am not nearly so curious about folks who are my age. After all we know that there is an end coming sooner than we want it to. For myself I sometimes get caught up in how many theological thoughts about God's Word, God's Son, and Salvation that I want to yet say. But like David I pray that I will not fall completely short on what needs to be done before that day comes. David expresses fear in this Psalm that his own words may be offensive to God, and that he may really mess up his chances to move into God's eternal care. This Psalm gives every one of us a shakeup of our daily reality and relationship with God. Obviously, Jesus brings a new dimension to our relationship with God at the time of our death. What David speaks to in Psalm 39 is an awakening call to every one of us. We must always know that faithfulness, gifted by the Holy Spirit to each of us, can , if we do not actively participate in this Holy relationship, find ourselves moving away from the Grace and Love of the LORD of Host, the Father of our Lord Jesus, and as we have heard in other passages, the mouth can certainly be the cause of our biggest problems with the LORD.  It is NEVER our LORD'S desire to have us reject His Love. Our Good News is that God always continues to search for, and to seek, everyone, no matter what you and I may think about any individual to bring Salvation to them.

With Love, Hope, and Joy in Christ, Pastor Kim