Psalms 39:6-13

I have made no break or interruption in these verses, because the subject through the whole is one and the same. Under several very striking and elegant similitudes, the Psalmist in his prayer shows the shortness of life, and the vanity of all earthly things to satisfy the desires of the soul; and from hence takes occasion to seek an interest in the favour and love of God, to guide him, as a stranger and a sojourner, safely home through the whole of the wilderness state. And no doubt, if this prayer be read with an eye to Christ, who alone can give us to inherit substance, and fill our souls with durable riches and righteousness, this will be to convert the vanity of our present state into the means, under God, of procuring substantial good, and over-ruling the shortness of our existence, into the greater opportunity of obtaining in Christ an everlasting duration, in an inheritance that fadeth not away.