In life, we all have complaints about one thing or another. Some complain about no work, and others about too much work. Some say their work is too hard, and others say it is boring. Other people complain about their lack of money, how expensive things are, and how big the tax burdens are. Others complain about their life situation, friends, or even family because they don’t understand them or what they are going through.
If we complain out loud to other people instead of taking our complaints to the Lord and leaving them there, it may make them think there is nothing to our testimony of faith in God, or even make them believe that God exists. God will hear our complaints and do what is right, even if it is simply to listen to us ventilate. It is in this context that David wrote this psalm. Things weren’t going well, and he wanted to keep it quiet before those around him. So, he resolved to exercise self-control and keep his problem quiet, even though something serious was happening. In this psalm, he is silent before God. In the last one, he was silent before men. In both, there is an acknowledgment of sin and full trust in the Lord alone.
At first, he didn’t say anything and was silent before God, but in the anguish of his soul, he had to speak, but only to God. He didn’t want the ungodly to hear the words of his concerned and burning heart. We can understand this from our own perspective today. Human life is the greatest failure in the universe. God gave so much potential and authority, but it was lost by human sin. Even the creation around us suffers from the greed and self-centeredness of humanity. The only thing that gives meaning to life is a personal relationship with God. As the psalmist said, without that, everything under the sun is vanity.
So, the psalmist prayed for understanding. In essence, he said it would help me understand human failure and what life is all about. Why does God allow such failure and accept the short span of life, which to him was brief, and the major failure on earth? The more we think about it, the more we realize the futility of life and the frailty of man. “How short my time is” reminds us that we should not put off doing important things. There is no better time to fulfill my obligations than now. Is there a change I should make? Do it now. Is there someone I should contact or visit? Do it now. Is there some way I can better serve the Lord? Find out and do it now. Life is full of uncertainties, and they are known by shortness, not length.
Then David prayed for relief from sin and his enemies. If he spoke to others about his thoughts regarding life and its brevity and failures, he would be mocked by fools who live only for now. He understood the reason for God’s discipline but was waiting for a reason to hope and to live. God permits what happens for a reason, but the correction process is hard. The personal discipline and the rebuke were hard for one whose life is only one breath at a time.
The shortness of life is often mentioned in the Bible's poetic books. The Lord Jesus spoke to the shortness of life in a parable when He said, “Thou fool. This night thy soul shall be required of thee.” The world system is not favorable to righteousness and justice. Truth is mocked and, to many, is only a matter of personal choice rather than an unchangeable standard of righteousness and life. Sin is so commonplace that people don’t even know what it is. To say what is proper and correct and what is wrong is a reason for mockery among most people who think truth and right are relative to what is accepted in any given location. Therefore, God is the only one we can go to, open our minds and hearts to Him, and express our deepest feelings of concern.
To spend our lives and energy on temporary things of earth and ignore the future, rather than “lay up treasure in heaven,” is to waste our lives. Riches, possessions, and pleasure are only temporary, fleeting things at best. To the new generations, pessimism has left them with no real understanding of life. My generation wanted a house and a car. They wanted food to eat each day, and if possible, perhaps they might get an affluent life without worrying about money, war, or responsibility to other people.
But all of that has changed. Life became full of tension in order to keep a job. Traffic jams of frustrated people had to be faced going to and from work. Then, both husbands and wives had to work, and when they got home, there was tension. The children learned different things at the daycare and then at school that were inconsistent with what we believed. But because we needed to get ahead, we passed the important things over to others. The child-care person, the school teacher, and even the Sunday School teacher are expected to do for our children what we didn’t have time to do ourselves.
So young people look at that lifestyle, their parents, and life in general, and say, “Is this what life is all about?” Our only hope for meaning and significance in life is to set our hopes in God and live for His kingdom and glory. So many, even Christians and Christians’ children, walk away from the present kind of life and look for something different. It is not the house, car, and job that count to many young people. They are willing to settle for short-term relationships to see if they like each other. Maybe love will come sometime, they think. They seek new ways to find short-term pleasure without responsibility and hard work. They have heard the complaints of their parents about having too many obligations to their job, their home life, and their church, so they leave the word of God and go where they can pay professional religionists to “take care of their souls.” They can feel good about themselves and be entertained in the name of Christianity. They are willing to pay someone to do what God gifted them and intended them to accomplish for Him. They put their spiritual gifts on the back shelf and go out to live like the ungodly, and the advertisers say they should.
David felt like he was being physically struck by the disciplining hand of God. When that happens, there is a reason. Even though we may not know what it is, to submit to our Gracious Father and find our joy in the fact that “whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth” will bring a calmness of spirit to us. In a paraphrase of David’s last prayer, it would be something like this: O Lord, give me purpose and meaning in life. My only hope is in Thee. Don’t let me verbalize the pessimistic thoughts I have, where ungodly people will hear them, including my children. Let me have a real lively hope and live for Thee!”