Psalm 39 Jan. 22 For the Chief Musician. For Jeduthun. A Psalm by David.  1I said, I will watch my ways, so that I don’t sin with my tongue. I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me. 2I was mute with silence; I held my peace, even from good. My sorrow was stirred. 3My heart was hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned: I spoke with my tongue: 4Yahweh, show me my end, what is the measure of my days. Let me know how frail I am. 5Behold, you have made my days mere handbreadths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath. Selah. 6Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn’t know who shall gather. 7Now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You. 8Deliver me from all my transgressions. Don’t make me the reproach of the foolish. 9I was mute. I didn’t open my mouth, because You did it. 10Remove Your scourge away from me; I am overcome by the blow of Your hand. 11When You rebuke and correct man for iniquity, You consume his days like a moth. Surely every man is but a breath. Selah. 12Hear my prayer, Yahweh, and give ear to my cry. Don’t be silent at my tears. For I am a stranger with You, a foreigner, as all my fathers were. 13Oh spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go away, and exist no more.   

Commentary

39:1 Keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me- We need to think ahead as to our likely weaknesses, recognizing that being in the presence of some people is going to provoke us to speak badly. In all our spiritual battles we should talk to ourselves like David did, and be aware of how upcoming situations are likely to lead us into temptation. 
39:4-6 David reminded himself of man’s mortality in order to steel himself against the temptation to talk wrongly; he realized that sinning with the tongue can lead to losing our hope of eternity, and so he reminded himself of this in the face of the upcoming meeting he was going to have with people who would tempt him to misuse his tongue. We can do the same.
39:13 David didn’t go to Heaven at death (Acts 2:34); he understood death as total unconsciousness.