PM Service 28 December 2025 There are certain subjects that we, as human beings, would rather avoid. We fill our days with activity, our ears with noise, and our schedules with tasks—partly, perhaps, to drown out the deeper questions that haunt us: How long do I have to live? What will become of me when I die? What is the point of all my striving if I must soon leave it all behind? Psalm 39 forces us to face those questions head-on. It is one of David’s most searching and sobering prayers. You will notice it is not a psalm of praise or thanksgiving. It is a psalm of lament, born out of deep affliction. David is wrestling with the brevity of life, with the futility of human labor, and with the heavy hand of God’s discipline. He cries out: “O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!” (v. 4). In this psalm, David comes to terms with truths that every one of us must reckon with sooner or later: • Life is short. • Death is certain. • Wealth and human achievements cannot last. • And only God Himself can be our hope. This is not morbid reflection. It is wisdom. Moses prayed in Psalm 90:12, “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” In the same spirit, David here is asking the Lord to make him deeply aware of the brevity of life, so that he might live wisely, humbly, and hopefully before God. Psalm 39 is unique in that it leaves us with a sense of longing rather than resolution. It ends with a plea, not a triumph. But that longing is meant to drive us beyond David to David’s greater Son—the Lord Jesus Christ—who entered into our frailty, bore our rebuke, and secured for us eternal hope. So tonight, as we study this psalm, I want us to walk with David through his struggle: his silence, his lament, his confession, and his prayer. And in each movement, we will see how Christ fulfills this psalm and how He enables us to live as pilgrims in this fleeting world. Sermon Theme: Because life is fleeting and uncertain, we must fix our hope in the Lord through Christ, who alone gives permanence and peace. We will consider the psalm in four parts: 1. A Resolution to Guard the Tongue (vv. 1–3) 2. The Brevity and Vanity of Life (vv. 4–6) 3. Turning to God in Hope (vv. 7–11) 4. The Plea of a Pilgrim (vv. 12–13)