Thursday, September 1, 2016
Psalm 39:8-11 Deliver me from all my transgressions; Do not make me the reproach of the foolish. I was mute, I did not open my mouth, Because it was You who did it. Remove Your plague from me; I am consumed by the blow of Your hand. When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity, You make his beauty melt away like a moth; Surely every man is vapor.
LORD, SAVE ME
It doesn't matter what we have or don't have in this world. If we don't have the forgiveness of our sins, then we have absolutely nothing. As Christ asks, "...what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matthew 16:26). The psalmist's prayer is that the LORD would, "...not make me the reproach of the foolish."
Reproach means shame or disgrace. "Do not make me the object of shame for the foolish." The psalmist prays that the LORD would not let him be lost in his sins. God has promised to forgive us all of our sins. We not only have His Word on it, we have His action. He sent His Son Jesus to suffer and die on the cross to pay for our sins, so that He promises, "...whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). But remember that, at the time of the psalmist, the Savior was still in the future.
The psalmist proclaimed, as we proclaim now, that our only hope of salvation is in Christ Jesus. If God did not, or does not, keep His promise, then we are fools and the world would be right to make fun of us.
But He has kept His promise. He did send His Son. Sin has been paid for. And eternal life awaits us at the end of our life on this earth; the resurrection of the dead awaits us at the end of this world. We have God's Word on it, and He has backed it up with action at Jesus' cross and at His empty tomb!
