Psalms 39:3-8

“While I was musing the fire burned”

Psalms 39:3-8, “My heart was hot within me while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue. Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them. And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee. Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish.”

Think before you speak. When you speak speak as of the oracles of God because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Verses 1-2 of Psalms 39 tell us that a Christian should be careful what he says because the people of this world are looking to use what you say against you. There is a time to be silent and a time to speak. Know when to be silent and when to speak. And when you speak make sure that you magnify Jesus Christ in the things that you say.

Psalms 39:3 says, “My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue.” Think before you speak. Notice the words musing and fire. The words musing and fire are words that describe for us the process by which a Christian becomes filled with the Spirit of God. To be filled with the Spirit of God means to be led by the Spirit of God in what you do and what you say and what you think and what you desire. Ephesians 5:17-19 says, “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the LORD is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the LORD.” Galatians 5:22 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

Be filled with the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Think before you speak and when you speak be led of Spirit and speak as of the oracles of God. Psalms 39:3 says, “My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue.”

The reason a Christian thinks before he speaks is to make sure that what he says is what God wants him to say. The words musing and fire describe for us how to do this. The word musing is a word that means to meditate. The same Word is used in Psalms 1:2 which says, “But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” The word that is translated in these two chapters of Psalms as meditate and muse is a word that means, “the roaring of a lion over its prey.” The roaring of a lion over its prey is the sound of victory. Victory means success. And success in the spiritual warfare of words will only come by meditation upon the word of God day and night. This constant study of the Word of God is what keeps a Christian connected to the Spirit of God. Musing and fire says Psalms 39 and verse 3, “My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue.” My heart was hot within me means the passion of the heart is stirred; a passion for the truth, a passion for the word of God, a passion for the souls of sinful men who are on the path to eternal separation from God in the lake of fire. By meditating on the Word of God you can become connected to the Spirit of God in your heart and be stirred as with a fire.

Jeremiah 20:9, “Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.” The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire. The light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ is what shines in the hearts of men. Fire symbolizes the Holiness of God. Fire symbolizes the great loving-kindness of Christ. The word loving kindness is a word that means zeal with mercy, a passionate mercy. There is no passion like the passion of Christ. This kind of passion is not a physical emotion but a spiritual emotion.

Deuteronomy 4:24 says, “For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.” Jeremiah 23:29 says, “Is not my word like as fire? Saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” Psalms 36:7, “How excellent is thy loving kindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings!”

But the Lord is with me as a mighty terrible one. There is no passion like the loving-kindness of Christ the eternally existent one. To be connected the power of the Spirit in what you, say think before you speak and think about the Word of God. Psalms 39:3 says, “My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue.”

Psalms 39 begins by warning the Christian to think before he speaks because the wicked are looking to use what you say against you. This is why verse 1 says, “I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.” While I was musing the fire burned, then spake I with my tongue.

Now notice what Psalms 39:4 says, “Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.” This verse begins as a prayer directed towards Christ. Of course prayer is talking to God. God created speech. Speech is communication. The primary reason that God created Speech is so that a person will talk to God and fellowship with Christ through meditation on the Word of God and through prayer. Notice what meditating on the Word of God results in. It results in a Christian praying. The more you study the Bible the more you will pray. Think before you speak. And when you speak you should remember that God is listening because God is all powerful, all knowing, and Omni-present. If you think before you speak, and if you think upon the Bible before you speak, and if when you speak you speak in prayer to God even before men then you will stay connected to the Spirit of God and you will be sure to say the right things. Then it will not matter what the wicked say when they use your words against you because Jesus Christ will be glorified and the gospel of Christ will be preached. This principle of thinking before you speak is the same principle that preacher uses in preparing a sermon before giving that sermon. How important it is to muse and let the fire burn before you speak.

To say the right words is always a challenge. No matter how much wisdom you gain in life you are going to always find it challenging to say the right thing. James 3:7-8 says, “For every kind of beast, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” The tongue can no man tame. But God can tame it through the power of the Word of God and through the Spirit of God.

While I was musing the fire burned. You will know a man who has mused upon the Word of God because that man will speak of Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, who died on the cross of Calvary, was buried, and rose again the 3^rd day. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” While I was musing the fire burned. There is greater truth to meditate upon than the righteousness of the law which is given freely through faith in the name of Jesus Christ. If you have never turned from your sins to Jesus do so today and receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

$Description: C:\BibleGemsDoc\Image37.gif$

___________________________________________________