The Wise Silence of a Justified Man Text: Psalm 38:13-16
Introduction: The Noise of the Accuser
We live in a noisy age. The world is a roaring, clattering, cacophonous affair. Everyone has a megaphone, and they are all shouting at once. The accusations fly like shrapnel in a firefight. The court of public opinion is always in session, the mob is always the jury, and the verdict is always guilty. In such a world, the default human reaction, when the accusations are aimed at you, is to shout back. The impulse is to defend, to justify, to explain, to retaliate. We want to get our side of the story out. We want to control the narrative. We want to seize the microphone and give our own speech for the defense.
But the wisdom of God often cuts straight across the grain of our natural impulses. The path of righteousness is frequently counter-intuitive. In the midst of the clamor, when the dogs are barking and the slander is flying, the godly man is often called to a profound and startling discipline: the discipline of silence. This is not the silence of cowardice, nor the silence of apathy. It is not the effeminate silence that refuses to fight when a fight is called for. Rather, it is the potent, masculine silence of faith. It is the silence of a man who knows who his defender is. It is the silence of one who has entrusted his case to a higher court, one whose proceedings are not televised and whose verdicts cannot be overturned.
David, in this penitential psalm, is in deep distress. He is afflicted in body, likely due to his own sin (vv. 3-5). His friends have abandoned him (v. 11). And his enemies, seeing his weakness, are circling like vultures. They are plotting, speaking evil, and devising deceit all day long (v. 12). This is the context for his remarkable response. He does not engage. He does not argue. He does not enter the fray. He shuts his mouth. And in that silence, he teaches us a crucial lesson about what it means to truly trust in God for our vindication.
The Text
But I, like a deaf man, do not hear;
And I am like a mute man who does not open his mouth.
And I am like a man who does not hear,
And in whose mouth are no reproofs.
For I wait on You, O Yahweh;
You will answer, O Lord my God.
For I said, “Save, lest they be glad over me,
Who, when my foot stumbles, magnify themselves against me.”
(Psalm 38:13-16)
Calculated Deafness, Deliberate Dumbness (vv. 13-14)
We begin with David's description of his chosen posture.
"But I, like a deaf man, do not hear; And I am like a mute man who does not open his mouth. And I am like a man who does not hear, And in whose mouth are no reproofs." (Psalm 38:13-14)
David is not describing a physical ailment here. This is a spiritual discipline. He is surrounded by the venomous whispers and outright lies of his enemies, and he makes a conscious decision to be "like a deaf man." He chooses not to hear it. This does not mean he is unaware of what is being said. He has already told us that he knows they "devise deceit all the day long" (v. 12). Rather, it means he refuses to let their words penetrate his heart. He refuses to give their accusations standing. He will not honor their slander by treating it as worthy of a response.
This is a profound act of spiritual warfare. The devil is the accuser of the brethren (Rev. 12:10), and his minions are always busy. Their primary weapon is the lie, the slander, the half-truth. And their goal is to distract you, to embitter you, to entangle you in a pointless war of words. They want you down in the mud with them. David's response is to refuse the invitation. He will not play their game. By acting as a deaf man, he declares that their words have no authority over him. The only voice he is listening for is the voice of his God.
Not only is he deaf to their accusations, but he is "like a mute man who does not open his mouth." He has no reply. In his mouth, there are "no reproofs." He does not offer a defense, a rebuttal, or a counter-argument. Why? Because to do so would be to accept the premise that he is being judged by a legitimate court. But he is not. He is being slandered by wicked men. To argue with them is to grant them a status they do not deserve. It is to step down from the high ground of faith and wrestle with fools on their own terms.
This is a perfect picture of our Lord Jesus. When He stood before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin, and later before Pilate, He was met with a barrage of false testimony. And what was His response? "But Jesus kept silent" (Matthew 26:63). Isaiah prophesied it: "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth" (Isaiah 53:7). Christ's silence was not an admission of guilt. It was a declaration of sovereignty. He was not on trial; they were. His silence condemned their kangaroo court more powerfully than any words could have.
The Reason for the Silence (v. 15)
David's silence is not empty. It is not passive resignation. It is an active, expectant waiting, and he tells us exactly why he can afford to be silent.
"For I wait on You, O Yahweh; You will answer, O Lord my God." (Psalm 38:15)
Here is the foundation of it all. This is the load-bearing wall of the entire structure. David is silent before men because he is waiting on God. The word "for" is crucial. It connects his silence to his faith. The reason he does not need to answer is because he knows that God will. He has appealed to a higher court. He has handed the case file over to the ultimate Advocate and Judge.
His silence is not a vacuum; it is filled with hope. He waits for Yahweh. This is covenant language. He is waiting on the God who has made promises, the God who has bound Himself to His people. And the substance of his hope is this: "You will answer, O Lord my God." He is utterly confident that God will speak. God will have the last word. God will render the final verdict. And because God's answer is coming, David's answer is unnecessary. More than that, his own answer would be an act of unbelief. It would be an attempt to do for himself what he claims to be trusting God to do for him.
This is where we so often fail. We say we trust God, but our actions betray us. We trust God with our eternal salvation, but we don't trust Him with our reputation on social media. We trust Him to raise us from the dead, but we don't trust Him to handle the office gossip. David's faith is robust and practical. He understands that trusting God means taking your hands off. It means zipping your lip. It means waiting for the Lord's timing and the Lord's vindication, knowing that it is certain to come. God will answer. Let that sink in. He will not let the lies stand forever. He is a God of truth, and He will vindicate His truth and His people.
The Prayer Behind the Waiting (v. 16)
David's waiting is not idle. It is undergirded by prayer. He has spoken to God about the situation, which is precisely why he does not need to speak to his enemies.
"For I said, 'Save, lest they be glad over me, Who, when my foot stumbles, magnify themselves against me.'" (Psalm 38:16)
Notice the motive. David is not primarily concerned with his own comfort or personal honor. His great fear is that his enemies would "be glad over me," and in doing so, bring reproach upon the name of God. He knows they are watching for him to stumble. He is weak, he is afflicted, and his foot is unsteady. This is exactly the moment his enemies relish. They "magnify themselves" against him. They puff themselves up at his expense. Their glee at his downfall is not just personal; it is theological. They see his suffering as proof that his God has abandoned him. If David falls, they will not just mock David; they will mock David's God.
This is why David's prayer is so urgent. "Save me!" he says. But it is a "save me" for the sake of God's glory. He is asking God to act so that the wicked will not have an occasion to blaspheme. He is concerned that the testimony of God's faithfulness would be tarnished if those who hate God are seen to triumph over His servant.
This transforms our understanding of vindication. We are not to seek vindication for the sake of our own pride. We are to desire it so that God's name is honored. When we are slandered, especially for our faith, the real target is not us, but the Lord we serve. And so our appeal should not be, "God, defend my fragile ego." It should be, "Lord, defend Your holy name. Do not let the wicked think they have triumphed over Your cause. Answer them, for Your glory's sake." When that is our prayer, we can be confident in waiting silently for the answer. We have placed the matter in the hands of the one whose reputation is actually on the line.
Conclusion: Trusting the Just Judge
The posture David models for us here is one of the most difficult and yet most liberating disciplines of the Christian life. It is the discipline of entrusting our reputation, our defense, and our ultimate vindication to God alone.
We live in a world that is fundamentally unjust because it has rejected the only standard of justice. When we are mistreated, slandered, or falsely accused, we are tasting the fruit of a world in rebellion against its Creator. Our temptation is to fight fire with fire, to adopt the world's methods of self-justification and verbal brawling.
But we are called to a different way. Like David, and supremely like the Lord Jesus, we are called to a faith-filled silence. We are to be deaf to the accuser and mute before our accusers. Not because we are guilty, and not because we are weak, but because our Defender is strong. We do not need to speak because we have a God who will answer.
This is not a call to passivity in the face of all evil. There are certainly times to speak up, to contend for the faith, to rebuke the mocker. But when the attack is personal, when the slander is aimed at us, the first and highest road is the road of silence and trust. We must commit our cause to the one who judges justly (1 Peter 2:23). We must take all the energy we would have spent in crafting our defense and channel it into one simple, powerful act: waiting on the Lord.
He sees. He hears. And in His perfect time, He will answer. He will silence the liar. He will humble the proud. He will lift up the afflicted. He will vindicate His people, not for our sake, but for His. Therefore, let the world shout. Let the accusers rage. We can afford to be quiet. For we wait on Yahweh, and He will answer.