“And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?
My hope is in you.
Deliver me from all my transgressions.
Do not make me the scorn of the fool!
I am mute; I do not open my mouth,
for it is you who have done it.
Remove your stroke from me;
I am spent by the hostility of your hand.
When you discipline a man
with rebukes for sin,
you consume like a moth what is dear to him;
surely all mankind is a mere breath! Selah
“Hear my prayer, O LORD,
and give ear to my cry;
hold not your peace at my tears!
For I am a sojourner with you,
a guest, like all my fathers.
Look away from me, that I may smile again,
before I depart and am no more!”
Comment: Honestly I feel that this is a bit of a wimpish dealing with the situation – but then we humans are often wimpish. It starts out sounding good – ‘my hope is in You’, David says. Next there is an explosion of, dare I say rebellion, as David complains about God’s discipline, as if it were extreme. The Amharic word for a moth means ‘the food for fire’ and it seems as if David is accusing God of treating him like a moth. He ends with a plea for God to take his angry, disciplining look away from him before he dies. He wants to be a traveller in life like his forebears were, knowing the smile of wellbeing and God’s peace and blessing. I wish that David had later written a commentary on this psalm – but then maybe we need to look at others to put this in a true context!
Prayer: Thank You that You are a good God even if we don’t always read You correctly.
As I read it! 