Psalm 39:4, "LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am."
This morning, balance is necessary in many different areas of our life. For example, man's perspective of himself can be quite unbalanced in either ditch to yield an equally unprofitable conclusion. If a man thinks too highly of himself, he is full of self-worth or exaltation that leads to prideful destruction. (Proverbs 16:18) If a man thinks too little of himself, he is full of self-pity that leads to fruitless work and labour in the Lord's service. The balanced perspective is that we understand that without Him we can do nothing (John 15:5), but through Him, we can do all things. (Philippians 4:13) In both cases, the emphasis on the work is the person. The person cannot work to a profitable end without Christ, but with the strength and help of Christ, the person can work and do great service in the Lord's name. This strikes the proper Biblical chord of harmony of God's power and man's responsibility. However, we must, when considering this subject, always keep in mind the importance and shortness of our labour here.
In our verse, David is in the midst of describing the folly of his past efforts. In the preceding verses, David has described past events when he spoke and should have kept silent or kept silent when he should have spoken. Indeed, we all wrestle with similar situations do we not? My life is littered with past failures when I acted in the wrong fashion for that time and occasion. However, viewing these past failures - as David does here - is not for the purpose of having a pity-party and keeping the focus on "poor pitiful me." Rather, David brings these events to the forefront of the discussion so that he can encourage himself in the Lord to beseech Him to not only strengthen him personally but also view his labour in the proper light.
David knows that he has come short, and his awareness of that fact is shown in the description of "how frail I am." David understands that his best efforts are frail, and he later describes his best natural state as altogether vanity. (Verse 5) One might now inquire, "How can talking about this lead to any other outcome than sorrow upon sorrow with no peace of mind?" A valid and interesting question, and the answer is found in David's prayer to God in our verse. David's prayer is that the Lord show him some things that he might be renewed
In Hope,
Bro Philip