The Biblical Illustrator
Psalms 39:13
O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence and be no more!
A prayer in the prospect of death
I. A departure anticipated. Death is clearly referred to, not annihilation. The text suggests the idea of departure--“going hence.” A traveller departs from an inn at which he has been refreshed; he pursues his journey, and reaches home. A mariner departs from the port at which he has touched; he completes his voyage, and arrives at the desired haven, Also, death is a going hence from present employments, and from present connections, trials, privileges, enjoyments, prospects.
II. The prayer presented. Here is implied a state of weakness--probably of the body. Or it may refer to political weakness.:But yet, more probably it refers to the state of the mind, its depression and declension. Hence he prays that his spiritual strength may be revived. No health is comparable to this in importance. Many are the motives which should lead us thus to pray.
1. Our safety.
2. Our comfort.
3. Activity.
4. Usefulness. Take notice of a man who has lost the power and spirit of religion; of what use is he in his family? He may have natural affection, and may be attentive to the temporal welfare of his connections; but in what does he benefit their souls? Of what use is this man in the church? He calls himself a member; his name is entered among those who have given themselves to the Lord and to one another, according to his will; but where is his zeal for the interest of the church? Would you be useful, as well as active and happy? You must feel the power of genuine religion; you must experience its vigour and its growth. “O spare me, that I may,” etc.
5. Your dying well pleads for this prayer. Many professors of religion die in a very doubtful way; others give real cause to fear that all is not well; but “mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of this man is peace.” It may not be triumph, though in some instances this is the case; but it is tranquil and happy.
III. Conclusion.
1. Death is certain--then prepare for it.
2. Live to some good purpose. What is life unless lived to some good purpose? Remember we are Christ’s, “bought with a price.” Therefore, let us in life and death seek to glorify Him. (T. Kidd.)
David’s view of the grave
The true mask of the Christian is in his solitary prayer. What men are before others does not say much, but it is when alone that their true character is revealed. But godly men vary much in their experiences, and here in this psalm we find many mingled feelings.
I. An affecting illustration of death. It is a “going hence.” This true of all. It is not a lonely path, but a highway open to all passengers, and along which all must go. And the traffic is continuous, uninterrupted. And the pace is swift. “Swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,” said Job. “The wind passeth over it and it is gone.” And our going this way is certain and unavoidable. The king of terrors hath no heart nor ears! From his arrest no state of eminence can screen us; and his summons no greatness can control. The added term, “going hence,” gives the idea that it is no short journey, or a near remove; but that he is going distantly, and beyond all ordinary space! And this going hence is for ever--“no more seen.” Not that David believed that the soul perished. He knew the contrary. He spake of this world only. And at death we do “go hence,” and are “no more seen” in the world!--whether the senator, the statesman, the teacher, the orator, the poet, the merchant. In his family, and in the church. And more especially is the text true of sinners (Psalms 37:36.)
II. The avowed desire in consequence--“O spare me,” etc. Now, our “strength” consists in--
1. Clear evidence of our state.
2. Habitual readiness.
3. A recovery of strength.
III. Wherefore he thus prays--
1. From natural desire.
2. Nervous feeling.
3. Spiritual decay.
4. For greater good and better service.
Now, let the sinner use this prayer. The backslider. The spiritual, for themselves and others. (W. B. Williams, A. M.)
Death
The consideration that at death we are to go from hence, so as to be here no more, is that which makes life upon earth of the greatest moment, and what even good men may sometimes pray to have continued a while longer, that they may be better prepared for their everlasting remove. This the psalmist here does, from the consideration mentioned; having but one life wherein to prepare for an endless state, how earnest was he that it might not conclude till his work was finished, as it was to be done now or never.
I. The notion under, which death is represented, a going hence.
II. How, when once gone, we are to be no more.
III. Wherein our strength lies for going hence.
IV. How much we are concerned to pray that god would spare us, to get or recover strength preparatory to our final remove.
V. That this is the great thing good men have in their eye in desiring life,
VI. When they may be led to pray that God would spare them.
VII. The use of the whole. (D. Wilcox.)
Prayer for prolongation of life
The believer is not at all times blessed with a spiritual and happy frame of mind, at least not in an equal degree; for there are times when sin lies heavy upon his heart. No wonder, then, if he cries out, when death knocks at the door, “Oh, spare me,” etc.
I. Illustrate the passage.
1. Death is represented as a “going hence,” or departing from this world--out of time into eternity.
2. When persons go hence, they are said to be “no more.”
3. Death is often, even to good men, an object of fear and dread. Those who are tired of the wilderness, and long to see the goodly mountain and Lebanon, would nevertheless wish, if possible, to avoid the Jordan that lies between.
4. Where this fear becomes immoderate, it is criminal, and highly unbecoming the Christian character. Are we not willing to be at rest, to be at home in our Father’s house?
5. Yet this is not all he prays for, but that he may “recover strength” before he goes hence, and be no more. This may include the recovery of natural strength, or that he might be raised from his present infirm and languishing state; and such a prayer was offered by Job. But however desirable a revival of bodily strength may be, spiritual strength is still more so; and the prayer of a good man must be supposed to include both. This recovery of strength may embrace--
(1) A more eminent degree of spirituality and devotedness to God.
(2) Assurance of an interest in the Divine favour.
II. Apply the subject to ourselves.
1. If death be so dreadful to the righteous, what must it be to the wicked and ungodly. Their roots are so fastened in the earth, and their affections so firmly fixed on sensible objects, that it is no wonder they should start, back at the thoughts of dying.
2. Let Christians feel humbled and ashamed that their inordinate love of life should render death so formidable. Have you not forsaken all for Christ; and will you not forsake life itself for him? (B. Beddome, M. A.)
Death deprecated
1. Death is an event of dread significance.
I. It puts an end to our present mode of being. How the change is to be brought about; and what your experiences will be at the awful moment of transition, and afterwards, no mortal man can tell. No wonder, therefore, if in thought of these things your courage sinks, and you cry, “O spare me.”
2. It, separates us from all we hold dear on earth. “Go hence.” After all, this world is very dear to us. Here we were born. Here our minds have been formed, and our characters developed. Here we have tasted all the delights of knowledge, of friendship, and of personal achievement.
3. It settles for ever our spiritual destiny.
II. Good men sometimes shrink from death under a sense of weakness and unpreparedness. There are instances of good men who were prepared and ready to die. But such a state of mind is rare and inconstant. The best of men have their times of misgiving, as well as their moments of exulting faith. Doubting Castle and the Valley of the Shadow of Death lie in the pilgrim’s path, as well as the Delectable Mountains.
1. Strength is needed to face death with fortitude.
2. Strength is lost through sin (Psalms 31:10; Isaiah 59:1).
3. Strength may be recovered if sought in due time.
III. Is the soul’s darkest hour God is a sufficient refuge.
1. He is the Lord of life (1 Samuel 2:6; Job 12:10; Job 14:5; Revelation 1:18).
2. He is very pitiful, and of tender mercy (Psalms 103:8; Psalms 103:13; Ezekiel 33:11).
3. He is mighty to save. (W. Forsyth, M. A.)
Prayer for recovery
When we thank God for our creation and preservation, we are true to an instinct which is rarely overpowered. We shrink from death just as the psalmist shrank from it, who, if he did net regard it as the end of all things, only dimly conjectured of a life to come. We shrink from death, and therefore from that which is wont to herald its approach, the loss of health, the decline of strength. True, there are those for whom the strain of incurable sorrow or hopeless disease has turned life into a living death; these cannot take into their lips the psalmist’s entreaty and ask to be spared ere they go hence. We have heard men and women pray for death, and press for the assurance that their hour was come; but for most men life is sweet, and strength a precious boon. And what is it that makes it so? Is there something higher than animal instinct, something worthier than even the strong ties of human love to bind us to this frail existence and prompt the prayer for its continuance? Why prolong the “vain show” in which man “walketh and disquieteth himself in vain”? Surely that which makes recovery of strength so welcome a thing if once we know what issues upon our use of it, is the prospect of a new probation, a new chance of employing aright God’s wondrous endowment of life. “The living, the living, he shall praise Thee,” cried the king, who hung between life and death; and we, who, whatever we may reverently hope, are told of no opportunities save those given to us here--we who know how much we have done amiss and left undone, may still cry for respite when the close of all is upon us. There is, indeed, no passage in human experience so solemn as the rescue from mortal sickness. Never does God seem to deal so directly with the soul as when He makes life over again to a man by a fresh grant, and even when its shades have begun to fall, adjourns for him the night in which no man can work. What depth of meaning there is in the return to life from the gates of the grave, if only we have eyes open to God’s dealing. Friends rejoice and congratulate, but there is something mere precious than the fondest welcome back to the world we were quitting; and that, I repeat, is the renewal of opportunity, the summons to “redeem the time,” to repair the mistakes and omissions of the past. Yes, now we see how the years, freighted with golden possibilities, have been buried one by one in the bosom of an eternity which never gives up its dead. Well may we fear, when all looked so faulty and disordered, to face the account we have to give. We have trifled with a high trust, and we would fain retrieve our shame. We have numbered our days now in the glare of the immediate future, and would “apply our hearts unto wisdom,” and therefore we cry, “Oh, spare me, that I may recover my strength before I go hence, and be no more seen.” This, far more than the renewal of earthly opportunities, far more than the averting of sorrow from those to whom we are dear, is what gives value to convalescence. The Christian prays to be spared above all that he may learn and unlearn; that he may do more for God, for his fellow-men. He knows that lengthened days, unless it serves these ends, can be no boon at all. (Canon Duckworth.)