Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 39:1

"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." — Psalms 39:1 (ASV)

I said - This refers to a resolution that he had formed. He does not say, however, at what time of his life the resolution was adopted, or how long a period had passed from the time when he formed the resolution to the time when he thus made a record of it. He had formed the resolution on some occasion when he was greatly troubled with anxious thoughts; when, as the subsequent verses show, his mind was deeply perplexed about the divine administration, or the dealings of God with mankind.

It would seem that this train of thought was suggested by his own particular trials (Psalms 39:9–10), from which he was led to reflect on the mysteries of the divine administration in general, and on the fact that man had been subjected by his Creator to so much trouble and sorrow—and that, under the divine decree, human life was so short and so vain.

I will take heed to my ways - Namely, regarding this matter. I will be cautious, circumspect, prudent. I will not offend or cause pain to others. The particular thing referred to here was the resolution not to give voice to the thoughts that were passing through his mind regarding the divine administration. He felt that he was in danger, if he stated what he thought on the subject, of saying things that would do harm, or that he would have reason to regret, and he therefore resolved to keep silent.

That I sin not with my tongue - That I do not utter sentiments that will be wrong, and that I shall have reason to repent; sentiments that would do harm to those who are already disposed to find reason for complaint against God, and who would thus be supplied with arguments to confirm them in their views.

Good men often have such thoughts passing through their minds—thoughts reflecting on the government of God as unequal and severe. If these thoughts were expressed, they would tend to confirm the wicked and the skeptical in their views. These are thoughts that good men hope, regarding themselves, to be able to calm through meditation and prayer, but which would do only unmitigated harm if communicated to others, especially to wicked people.

I will keep my mouth with a bridle - The word used here means rather a “muzzle,” or something placed “over” the mouth. The bridle is to restrain or check or guide the horse; the muzzle was something to bind or fasten the mouth so as to prevent biting or eating (Deuteronomy 25:4): You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the corn. See the notes at 1 Corinthians 9:9. The meaning here is that he would restrain himself from uttering what was passing through his mind.

While the wicked is before me - In their presence. He resolved to do this, as suggested above, lest if he should utter what was passing through his own mind—if he should state the difficulties regarding the divine administration that he saw and felt, if he should give expression to the skeptical or hard thoughts that occurred to him at such times—it would only serve to confirm them in their wickedness and strengthen them in their alienation from God.

A similar state of feeling on this very subject is referred to by the psalmist in Psalms 73:15, where he says that if he were to utter what was really passing through his mind, it would greatly pain and offend those who were the true children of God, and would fill their minds with doubts and difficulties that might never occur to them: If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I shall offend against the generation of your children.

As illustrations of this state of feeling in the minds of good men, and as evidence that its existence in the mind—even in the severest and most torturing form, as in the psalmist's case—is not proof that the man in whose bosom these feelings arise is not a truly pious man, I offer the following extracts. These express the feelings of two of the most sincere and devoted Christian men who ever lived, both eminently useful and, in an eminent degree, ornaments to the Church: Cecil and Payson.

“I have read all the most acute, learned, and serious infidel writers, and have been really surprised at their poverty. The process of my mind has been such on the subject of revelation that I have often thought Satan has done more for me than the best of them, for I have had, and could have produced, arguments that appeared to me far more weighty than any I ever found in them against revelation.” - Cecil.

Dr. Payson says in a letter to a friend: “There is one trial that you cannot know experimentally: it is that of being obliged to preach to others when one doubts everything and can scarcely believe that there is a God. All the atheistical, deistical, and heretical objections that I encounter in books are childish babblings compared with those that Satan suggests, and that he urges upon the mind with a force that seems irresistible. Yet I am often obliged to write sermons and to preach when these objections beat upon me like a whirlwind and almost distract me.”