Silent Saviour (Psalm 39)

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Don’t just read the Bible; rather, let it search you & let God speak to you through it. Scripture came alive to me today as I meditated on Psalm 39.

What started as another Psalm of David’s lamenting injustice & detailing his struggle to remain quiet & at peace in his heart while feeling aggrieved by the actions of others (39:1-3)…Suddenly, it opened into a Psalm that helped me worship my Saviour today with a new light!

I was identifying with David on the struggle of holding your tongue in the presence of injustice & how restraining the tongue can lead to another fire – an internal one which ended up in hot words anyway… (39:1-3)

But then I was drawn to the phrase, “I was mute and silent; I held my peace…” And it struck me that Isaiah had prophesied about Jesus;

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7)

The apostle Peter, who was an eyewitness of Jesus’ various trials and his death on the cross, wrote these words;

When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:23-24)

Although David struggled in the presence of evil & injustice, and I like him too. My Saviour Jesus kept His peace when oppressed; he didn’t fight back but was silent and didn’t insult back when He was unjustly accused, abused and insulted.

And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you. (Psalm 39:7 in NLT)

Jesus Christ is our only hope, so

  • We put our hope in the ONE (vs7) who didn’t speak when falsely accused! (vs1-3)
  • We put our hope in the ONE (vs7) who, unlike us (vs4-6), is eternal, the unending ONE who can therefore save us completely (Hebrews 7:25).
  • We put our hope in the ONE who alone can deliver us from all our transgressions BECAUSE He didn’t ask the Father to deliver Him when He bore our transgressions (vs8).
  • We put our hope in the ONE who didn’t open His mouth to ask the Father to rescue Him from the cross so He could rescue us (vs9)!
  • We put our hope in the ONE who endured the wrath of God against sin, who didn’t ask the Father to remove His stroke from him so that we would never receive the stroke of God’s wrath against our sin (vs9-10).

Jesus, thank You for not asking the Father to deliver You from the sin that was on You SO THAT You could deliver us, thank You for not opening Your mouth to ask the Father to rescue You SO THAT You could rescue us, and thank You for not asking the Father to stop the His punishment of You for our sin SO THAT You could be the propitiating sacrifice that took away the Holy Father’s wrath, SO THAT we would never have to face His wrath but only receive His loving embrace!

We are in awe of You, Jesus; we worship You & praise You for who You are & for what You have done in saving us.

This entry was posted in Awe, Gospel, Grace, Gratitude, Jesus, Lament, Psalms, Salvation, Sin, The Cross, Worship and tagged , , , , , .

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