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Bible study · Psalm 39:1-13

Psalm 39: Only a breath

Read Psalm 39:1-13 before you meet.

In a few lines

In Psalm 39, "every man walks like a shadow" (39:6) uses tselem, the Hebrew word of "in his own image" (Genesis 1:27). Both of the psalm's Selahs come right after the words that every man is a breath (39:5, 39:11). And "Oh spare me" (39:13) asks, in Hebrew, for God's gaze to turn away.

The verse to carry

“Now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you.”

Psalm 39:7

To talk about

  1. 1. "LORD, show me my end, what is the measure of my days. Let me know how frail I am" (39:4). Would you want to pray that? What might change in how you spend this week if you did?

  2. 2. "He heaps up, and doesn’t know who shall gather" (39:6). What do you find yourself heaping up? What would it look like to say instead, "My hope is in you" (39:7)?

  3. 3. The psalmist kept his mouth with a bridle "while the wicked is before me" (39:1), and then spoke to the LORD (39:4). When have you kept quiet with people and brought it to God instead? What happened?

Prayer requests