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Psalm 119:39
Take away my disgrace that I dread, for your ordinances are good.
37Turn my eyes away from looking at worthless things. Revive me in your ways.
38Fulfill your promise to your servant, that you may be feared.
39Take away my disgrace that I dread, for your ordinances are good.
40Behold, I long for your precepts! Revive me in your righteousness. VAV
41Let your loving kindness also come to me, LORD, your salvation, according to your word.
Notice
Dread of disgrace enters the prayer without disguise, and the plea for relief rests on the goodness of God’s ordinances.
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Where else Scripture says this
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Psalm 119:22Take reproach and contempt away from me, for I have kept your statutes.Both prayers ask God to remove disgrace or contempt, grounding the request in a stated regard for his commands.
1 Timothy 3:7Moreover he must have good testimony from those who are outside, to avoid falling into reproach and the snare of the devil.Both texts treat reproach as something to avoid; the psalm asks God for relief, while Timothy addresses a leader’s reputation.
Titus 2:8and soundness of speech that can’t be condemned, that he who opposes you may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say about us.Disgrace links these passages, though the psalm seeks its removal and Titus describes an opponent’s shame when speech cannot be condemned.
Joshua 5:9The LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” Therefore the name of that place was called Gilgal to this day.The psalm asks God to take disgrace away; in Joshua, the LORD declares that he has removed Egypt’s reproach.
Psalm 39:8Deliver me from all my transgressions. Don’t make me the reproach of the foolish.Both prayers seek deliverance from reproach, though Psalm 39 names transgressions and Psalm 119:39 leaves the cause of disgrace unstated.
Revelation 19:2for his judgments are true and righteous. For he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality, and he has avenged the …Both affirm the goodness of God’s rule: the psalm praises his ordinances, and Revelation declares his judgments true and righteous.
Romans 2:2We know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things.Both affirm the soundness of God’s judgment, describing his ordinances as good and his judgment as according to truth.
Psalm 57:3He will send from heaven, and save me, he rebukes the one who is pursuing me. Selah. God will send out his loving kindness and his truth.Both look to God for help under threat, with disgrace feared here and a pursuer named in Psalm 57.
Psalm 19:9The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever. The LORD’s ordinances are true, and righteous altogether.God’s ordinances receive praise in both passages: they are good here, and true and righteous in Psalm 19.
Isaiah 26:8Yes, in the way of your judgments, LORD, we have waited for you. Your name and your renown are the desire of our soul.Both prayers express regard for God’s judgments: one affirms their goodness, while the other describes waiting for God in their way.
Deuteronomy 4:8What great nation is there that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law which I set before you today?Both praise God’s ordinances, with the psalm naming their goodness and Deuteronomy declaring the righteousness of Israel’s law.
2 Samuel 12:14However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the LORD’s enemies to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you will surely die.”Both touch on dishonor, though the psalm seeks relief and this rebuke announces a child’s death after a deed that dishonors God.
Where this verse fits
Anxiety or panic. fear for the future. wanting a steady prayer habit.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Dread does not have to disappear before you pray. The psalm’s plea remains unresolved here, yet its trust has a clear ground: God’s ordinances are good.
Now put it in your words.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).