Psalm 30
This is Psalm 30, beginning at
verse one. I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me
up. You have not let my foes rejoice over me. O Lord, my God,
I cry to you for help, and you have healed me. O Lord, you have
brought up my soul from shield. You have restored me to life
from among those who go down to the pit. Sing praises to the
Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name. For
his anger is but for a moment, his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning.
As for me, I said in my prosperity, I shall never be moved. But your
favor, O Lord, you made my mountains stand strong. You hid your face,
and I was dismayed. To you, O Lord, I cried. To the
Lord, I plead for mercy. What profit is there in my death?
If I go down to the pit, will the dust praise you? Will it
tell of your faithfulness? Hear of, O Lord, and be merciful
to me. O Lord, be my helper. You have
turned for me my mourning into dancing. You have loosed my sackcloth
and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may send your praise
and not be silent. O Lord, my God, I will give thanks
to you forever and ever. May God bless his word to us
this night. I’m guessing that most of you
in your lifetimes have had a pretty rough experience. And after having
gone through that, especially if it was one that lasted for
a pretty lengthy amount of time, that when you came up out of
that hardship, you looked back on it and you saw the positives,
the negatives, the light, the darkness, the good, the bad,
the ugly. And with great joy, you said, I’m glad I got through
that. I’m glad that it’s over with. I’m glad that the Lord
has seen me through it. And maybe after one of these
periods of time in your life, you said to God, God, you got
me through it. And you made some sort of promise.
I want to serve you better. I want to worship you more. I
want to praise your name. I want to help others through
hardship like this. We see this from time to time
on television. Recently on the news, I was watching
little news segment and there was a football player whose daughter
had cancer. His daughter had been in remission
for two years, so what did this football player do? Well, he
started a foundation to help others who are going through
a similar situation. And we do things like that. We
get through something. We undergo the hardship of it
and we come out of it on the other side and we say we want
to do something. We want to do something positive.
And that’s, in a sense, What we have a lot of times in the
Psalms where King David or someone else has gone through a hardship,
they come through it and they say, I want to help others be
better for it or to not have to experience my hardship. Psalm
51 where David confesses his sin and guilt over Bathsheba
and Uriah and all that mess that he made. After he confesses his
sin, he says, I want to teach others how to live for God. And so that’s something of what
we have in Psalm 30. And there’s a number of compare
and contrast in here. He’s been sick and made whole.
He’s had the anger of God and then the favor of God. He’s been
sinful and then been repentant. He’s been full of grief and then
experienced joy. And there’ll be some others we’ll
look at. But this Psalm breaks up into some words you’re probably
familiar with. It may sound a little bit like
our prayer time. Verses one through five are praise. Verses 6 and 7 are confession.
Verses 8 through 10 are supplication. And then at the end in verses
11 and 12, he gives testimony to God’s goodness. Let’s first
look at verses 1 through 5 with the praise. He says, I will extol
you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up and not let my foes rejoice
over me. We’re not exactly sure what the
original story was, but most folks believe that David was
sick. and he was so sick that he almost died. And you can understand
that from those simple words in verse one, you have drawn
me up. God has literally dipped into the pit. It’s kind of a
word or idea of dipping water and lifting it out of a hole,
lifting it out of a cistern. David was in a pit. He was, as
I’ll mention later, he was in the grave. He was in Sheol and
God lifted him up. And so in verses one through
three, we have a little bit of a personal praise. Notice the
personal pronouns, I, I, I, I will extol you. You’ve drawn me up,
I cried to you, you have helped me. But notice how verses four
and five under this heading of praise turn corporate, turns
toward the people of Israel. He says, sing praises to the
Lord, O you his saints, give thanks to his holy name. His anger is but for a moment,
his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes in the morning. And these are good reminders
of us that we should personally praise God. Day after day, the
praise of God should be on our lips. We should praise God for
his mercies each day. But there’s also a sense here,
we do come to church to praise God together, but there’s a sense
where we should praise God together when we see one of our fellow
saints. redeemed or rescued or delivered
out of the pit. Every week I have a bird’s eye
view of what many of the families in the church are going through.
And in a given week, we have surgeries, we have biopsies,
we have hardships with family, we have health scares, we have
auto accidents, we have heart trouble, we have cancer, we have
Job loss, I mean, you go through the list. There are lots of ups
and downs in the church, and so there ought to be a sense
when we come together and see one another, we give praise to
God that he’s delivered us, that he has brought us safely through
another week. It’s also a good reminder, especially
verse five. God’s anger is for a moment.
His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning. It’s a good reminder that after
darkness, there’s light. After hardship, there’s mercy,
there’s grace. And even through it all, God
is always with us. We’re a strange people as Christians.
We believe that no pain, no gain, right? What does James chapter
one say? Count it all joy, whenever you face trials of any kind.
That’s a little weird sounding, isn’t it? Count it all joy when
you go through hardships. Keep your head up, God’s at work
in your life. That’s a little odd sounding, but that’s the
way of the Christian life. There are times when God’s favor
is not with us. There are seasons when his favor
is upon us. There are good and bad. I remember,
this is not a Christian viewpoint, but I remember talking to my
backdoor neighbor one time. We were talking about earnings,
and this was a period of time where I was unemployed. He said,
you know, it all evens out in the end. mid-seventies, I believe,
he said, he said, there’s ups and downs. He says, I’ve lived
through stock markets that go up and down, they go crazy. He
said, but it all shakes out in the end. And I thought, you know,
that’s just a good piece of worldly wisdom that life, you know, has
its ups and downs, but it settles out, especially under the providence
of God, we can believe that. And so these first five verses
teach us to praise God when we come through our hardships, when
he delivers us, when he hears our cries, when he helps us,
and when he heals us. Now there’s a confession in this
passage. And we find it in verses six and seven. It’s an interesting
confession. He says, as for me, I said in
my prosperity, I shall never be moved. That’s pretty arrogant. By your favor, oh Lord, you made
my mountain stand strong. He’s probably speaking of Mount
Zion, the city we just read about. And Samuel, where did he get
Mount Zion from? Well, he stole it from the Jebusites,
right? He cleared out the land. Land
hadn’t been cleared out, David finishes it off, and he steals
a city and makes it the city of David. Used to be the city
of Jabuz, but now it’s the city of Zion, the city of David. But
as for me, he said, I shall never be moved by your favor, oh Lord,
you’ve made my mountain strong. But then he says, you hid your
face from me, and I was dismayed. Y’all heard the proverb that
says, give me neither poverty nor riches, lest I forget the
Lord and all that he’s done. The writer of Proverbs is saying,
don’t make me too rich and don’t make me too poor, but give me
just exactly what I need so that I will be dependent on you. You
know, we’re a pretty prosperous bunch. I would imagine we don’t
think it or feel it at times, but we would be in the top percentage
of the world. We got money in our ashtrays.
a few bucks in the bank. We’ve got retirement plans and
pensions. We’ve got shoes on our feet and probably plenty
more in the closet at home. We have a lot. We have cupboards
and freezers full of food. We’re blessed. We have drinking
water that’s pure and fresh and drinkable. We have all kinds
of things at us. But we need to be careful in
our prosperity that we don’t say, I provided it for myself. Remember also God’s warning to
Israel. The first generation of Israelites
came out of Egypt and they lived in the wilderness. They died
in the wilderness because of their unbelief. But their children
entered the promised land. And you get to the book of Judges
and it tells that the third generation, it would be the grandchildren
of those who left Egypt, be the children of the parents who entered
the promised land. It says, there arose a generation
who did not know the Lord their God and all that he had done
for Israel. So just Look, 50 years, whatever, there was a
generation whose grandparents walked through the depth of the
Red Sea on dry land. They walked out of Egypt with
the pursuit of Pharaoh and his army, and they were safely brought,
and these grandchildren don’t know about it. That’s pretty,
remarkable’s not the word, sad. Shameful is what that is. But
God warned Israel. He said, you’ll get over in the
promised land, There’ll be a land flowing with milk and honey.
You’ll live in houses you didn’t build. You’ll be drinking from cisterns
you didn’t dig. You’ll be eating olives and grapes
from vineyards you didn’t plant. You’ll live in houses that are
fully furnished that you did not furnish. And he said, take
care lest you do not forget the Lord your God. And that is what
David is confessing here. David has risen to power. He’s one of the greatest men
the world has ever known. His kingdom’s gonna become greater
and greater, and his confession is this. As for me, I said in
my prosperity, I shall never be moved. And that is a bad place
to be, when you think you have built it, when you think you
have earned it, when you think you deserve it, when you think
nothing can happen, your fortress is impenetrable, and that everything’s
gonna be just right because you have made all the arrangements.
We know very well that God has a sense of humor. We know very
well that he can take away our health, he can take away our
wealth, he can take away our life. And David confesses that. I shall never be moved. What
an arrogant statement. What an arrogant statement that
is. I shall never be moved. And he recognizes though in verse
seven, by your favor, O Lord, you made my mountain stand strong.
But then he realizes when God withdraws, he has nothing. He’s
dismayed, he’s cast down. He’s down in the dumps. I’ve
learned personally from a period of time where you face unemployment and those
paychecks aren’t coming. And you go from life on autopilot
to what they call in the flying world, flying by the stick. And
you’re just hitting all the bumps and all the turbulence. The autopilot’s
off. And it helps you think. It helps
you think. about what God promises day to day, what he provides
day by day. And so here David is saying,
think about it, think hard about how you live and are you arrogant? Remember the prayers that we
pray each week, give us this day our daily bread. God gave
Israel manna by faith every day. He gives us our daily bread,
he gives us our life, our health and everything. That’s quite
a confession, that’s a confession in this little psalm that you
could just bounce right over. But it’s a good one for our day
and age when we think that we’re wealthy and that we’re healthy
and we’re strong because of our hard work and our diligence.
But take care lest we fall or be dismayed like David. In verses
8 through 10, there’s a supplication. There’s a prayer request. And
he says in verse 8, to you, O Lord, I cry. To the Lord, I plead for
mercy. It’s interesting what is his
appeal. What profit is there in my death? If you look at the
note in my blood, what profit is there in my death if I go
down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will
it tell of your faithfulness? Hear, O Lord, and be merciful
to me. O Lord, be my helper. I’ve got a little note. I don’t
know when I wrote this in my Bible, Has to be in the last
six or seven years, because that’s when I started using this one.
But it says, God doesn’t need us, but he does use us. God could put us in the grave.
He could put us on a shelf like he did Elijah. He could make
us irrelevant very quickly. But notice what the appeal is.
God, be a helper to me. Get me out of this mess I’m in.
And if you kill me, if you let me die, who will be there to
praise you? He’s sort of appealing to God on that shorter catechism.
You know, David knew his shorter catechism well, because they
had it back then, right? How can I glorify and enjoy you
forever if I’m dead? That’s kind of what he’s saying. Will the dust praise you? So
his appeal, his supplication to God is be merciful to me,
because if you are merciful to me, if you hear my prayer, if
you deliver me, I’m gonna be one to stand on the earth and
praise you. Now it’s important for that to happen with David,
because what is his position? He’s the king over Israel. And
so he is in a position of influence. That’s what he prays. Then he
ends the psalm with a little testimony. Verses 11 and 12. Apparently God has helped him.
And he says, you’ve turned for me my mourning into dancing.
And we know David was a little bit of a dancer. It’s the first
set of dance moves we read about. Remember the ark had been in
someone’s house and he decided it was time to bring it to Jerusalem.
Remember what happened the first go round? Remember it was starting
to slip off the ox cart, which it should have never been on,
it should have been on poles, right? With the Levites or whoever
it was to carry it. But it was on the ox cart and
Uzzah, remember he reached out to steady it and what happened
when he touched it? God struck him dead. And so David was upset. And for a time, the ark went
back to where it was. But there was a time when the
ark came, they did it right. And what did David do before
the ark as it entered Jerusalem? He danced. He was a dancing bunch. Now, some of you may dance jigs
in the privacy of your home and encourage you to keep it that
way. But you understand, he says, I was facedown. It speaks of sackcloth, of ashes. The Old Testament, the ancient
world way of mourning a long period of inactivity, of wearing
certain clothing and all of that. And it says, you’ve turned my
mourning into dancing. You have loosed my sackcloth
and you’ve clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise
and not be silent. Oh Lord, my God, I will give
thanks to you forever and ever. What a contrast we see in this
song. He goes from the anger of God
to the favor of God, from weeping to joy, periods of hardship that last
a moment to God’s favor which lasts a lifetime. From mourning
to dancing, from evening when he was in despair to morning
when he was full of joy. And then his change of clothing
from sackcloth to festal clothing. It’s good for us to remember
that there are miseries in this life because of sin, because
of wickedness, because of hardship, because of the brokenness that
has entered this world through sin. Life in this present age
or this present evil age, as the Apostle Paul calls it, is
hard. It’s full of hardships. It’s full of toil and full of
sweat, full of miseries. But it’s also full of graces.
It’s not as bad as it could be. It’s not as painful as it could
be because God restrains so much and he is so merciful to us. And we have to remember that
Our Savior Jesus also suffered. He’s been through the mourning.
He’s been through the sackcloth and ashes. He’s been through
the weeping. He’s experienced the anger of God. He’s experienced
the momentary afflictions. But he’s also, for us, experienced
the joy, the favor, the eternal bliss of heaven, the dancing
and the festal clothing. Have a bit of perspective when
hardship in life comes because we recognize that it’s all for
a moment and that there is eternal joy that will be forever ours
by faith in Jesus. Let’s pause and give thanks to
God. Our Lord, we thank you for the psalm and how it gives us
perspective. It helps us understand who we are in light of who you
are and all your grace, mercy, and blessings, we pray. that
you would help us to praise and to confess, to ask you for our
needs, but also to give testimony in the company of the saints
of your goodness to us. What a blessed life we have.
We thank you in Jesus’ name. Amen.