Psalm 39

39       Lamentation

            O God, Make Me to Know My End

            4 LORD, make me to know my end

            And what is the extent of my days;

            Let me know how transient I am.

·         Though some do vainly put a good resolution for a good deed, and do make it only to break it, and when broken do vainly make another just as worthless; yet he who expects to do right, must resolve to do right.

·         “There is nothing more slippery or loose than the tongue.” (Calvin) “It thou desire to be held wise, be so wise as to hold thy tongue.” (Quarles)

·         “There are seasons when a good man must be blind to what he sees, deaf to what he hears, and dumb when temptation to speak is peculiarly strong.” (Morison)

·         It is not wicked to be sad. He, who laughs when he should weep, or is glad when he should be grieved, is at least a fool.

·         If our thoughts and hearts are right, the more we are aroused, the more will we be inclined to carry our cause before the Lord.

·         It is wise to seek relief from all our distresses by beginning with earnest cries for pardon and purification.

·         Because our strength is small, it is wise, with submission to the sovereign will of God, to ask that any of our sufferings may be assuaged, any of our afflictions be made light. We must indeed close all such prayers with the sentence, “Thy will be done.”

·         God’s stroke is terrible. It will consume any who are not mercifully spared and sustained. It is not anywhere of record that man or angel has hardened himself against God and prospered.

·         Someone asked Leighton if he had been to hear a sermon. He answered: “I met a sermon, for I met a corpse; and rightly and profitably are funeral rites performed when the living lay it to heart.” “The best preparation for our own funeral is to meditate seriously and prayerfully over another’s grave, and take home with us the solemn truths it enforces.” (Bouchier)