Psalm 39 ends with David still asking for relief. He has confessed his sin, acknowledged how brief his life is, and placed his hope in God. Yet the final verse gives us no account of an answer or a change in his circumstances. The prayer reaches its end while the trouble remains unresolved.
And what an ending it is:
“Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may again be cheered before I depart and am no more.”
Psalm 39:13, Berean Standard Bible (BSB)
Why would anyone praying to God ask Him to turn His gaze away? Read the verse in isolation and it can sound like something of a farewell to faith. Read it in the context of the psalm and we are listening to a man in misery asking the God he still hopes in for room to breathe.
The silence before the prayer
The psalm opens with a meditation on guarding the tongue. Among the wicked, David intends to guard his speech so that he will not sin with his words, withholding even the good words that he might speak. But his sorrow grows, and his heart burns within him (Psalm 39:1–3).
When he finally speaks, he addresses the Lord. His question concerns the smallness of his life: how many days does he have, and how fleeting are they? He pictures a lifetime measured in handbreadths. People hurry about accumulating possessions, unable to know who will receive them when they are gone.
These are not easy topics, and the psalm makes room for them. David is not first coming to terms with death, guilt, and pain and then presenting a neat summary of what he has discovered to God. Those questions are part of the prayer.
The movement from silence to speech matters. Guarding his tongue has not removed his anguish. Now he is bringing that anguish to the Lord.
Why does David ask God to look away?
The key to the final request comes a few verses earlier:
“Remove Your scourge from me; I am perishing by the force of Your hand.”
Psalm 39:10, BSB
David has asked to be delivered from his transgressions in verse 8 and in 11 he refers to God correcting a person for sin and consuming what is dear to them. He sees his misery as connected with the correcting hand of God. When he comes to the plea for God to turn His gaze away, it is because that gaze has become something he cannot bear.
Read it in this context and you can hear the plea of verse 13 for a lifting of the pressure so that the person can find some gladness before their life is over. These are strong words because the need is great, but we should not turn them into a demand that a person live without God.
Note the previous verse and you will see why this is not something we can do. David has just pleaded with God to hear his prayer and to give attention to his tears (Psalm 39:12). He is asking God to listen, to give relief from the pressure of His hand. Both these pleas are part of the prayer.
We also need care with David’s account of correction. He is not giving us a reason for someone else’s illness or loss. It is one thing to acknowledge the reality of wrongdoing and ask for mercy, quite another to assume someone must be suffering because of unconfessed sin.
When Jesus’ disciples saw a blind man and assumed he was suffering because of his own sin or the sin of his parents, Jesus corrected them (John 9:1–3). Psalm 39 invites us to take our sins to God and ask His mercy and forgiveness; it does not give us grounds for charging someone with hidden guilt.
The hope is in the middle
It would be easy to miss where David’s confession of hope occurs:
“And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.”
Psalm 39:7, BSB
Verse 7 is followed by confession, a plea for relief, tears, and the startling last line. The psalm does not move neatly from sorrow to confidence and stay there. David can name the One he hopes in while continuing to describe how unbearable life feels.
That is important when we are measuring a prayer by how it makes us feel at the end. If we have spoken honestly but are still crying, did we pray badly? Must we keep going until we can add a cheerful final sentence?
Psalm 39 gives us reason to question that expectation. It preserves the cry without adding a scene of recovery.
Its heading even addresses the choirmaster: this difficult prayer has a place in the worshipping community’s songs. It has not been set aside until the singer can offer a happier account.
Reading with hope, without changing the ending
Christians have reason to hope beyond death. Jesus rose from the grave and those who belong to Him look forward to the redemption of their bodies. Paul mentions this hope alongside the groanings of those who already belong to God by the Spirit (Romans 8:11, 23–25). The waiting and the groaning are part of the picture.
This hope gives us a way of reading Psalm 39 without changing the ending. David’s closing lines reflect the urgency of a life that must be lived within the limits of mortality. They do not give a complete account of what lies beyond death and the psalm does not tell us when the plea of verse 13 was answered.
So let the prayer end where it ends, and read slowly enough to hear the hope of verse 7 and the tears of verse 12. If you are beside someone whose grief continues, resist the urge to finish their prayer for them. You can listen, remain with them, and ask God for the relief they need.
If this is your own prayer today, you can bring the request you really have, the desire for forgiveness or the longing for an explanation. You can ask for enough relief to make it through the day. You are not required to report a recovery that has not happened.
There is a line you can borrow from this prayer, even if nothing else seems available:
“Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping.”
Psalm 39:12, BSB, excerpt
Sermon inspiration: Tim Keller, Praying Our Tears, preached February 27, 2000. For help beginning to pray, read How to Pray When You Don’t Know What to Say.