Psalm 30

SLIDE 1 Turn to Psalm 30.

Michelangelo is considered by many to be the most skilled artist who ever lived. He excelled as a sculptor, designer, painter, and architect. To this day his statues of Moses and David, to name a few, are widely recognized and internationally acclaimed. On one occasion Michelangelo was asked how he was able to take a solid block of jagged Italian marble and carve from it a beautiful piece of art like his famous statue of David. “That was easy,” the great sculptor said. “I just chiseled away everything that did not look like David.”

In reality, this is what God is doing in the life of every Christian. He is chiseling away everything that does not look like Jesus. God delights in taking hardened, jagged blocks of humanity, those who have been flawed by sin, and chiseling away everything that does not conform to the Lord Jesus Christ. This can be a painful process, undergoing God’s chisel, as he carves away, cutting back all that does not resemble Jesus. But it is in loving discipline that God prunes us back, knowing that it will yield righteousness and holiness and enable us to grow into the image of his Son.

This was the experience of David in Psalm 30. This is a psalm of praise and thanksgiving that focuses on God’s loving discipline.

The superscription for the psalm reads:

A psalm. A song. For the dedication of the temple. Of David.

The KJV translates this as “the dedication of the house of David” and the NASB says “at the dedication of the house.” The Hebrew word for temple can also be translated as “house.” Therefore, this psalm could have been written after David’s palace had been completed in Jerusalem. We read about it in 2 Samuel 5. David led his men to take the city and made Jerusalem his capital city. He then set out to build himself a house.

However, I think it fits the story from 2 Samuel 24 much better. Near the end of his life, David ordered that all the men in Israel of fighting age be counted. God had commanded kings not to do that since it would them a king to trust in his army instead of God, but David did it anyway. When his advisors tried to talk him out of it, he would listen. As a result, God punished David, leaving the exact punishment up to David. He had the choice of:

Three years of famine in the land,

Three months of fleeing from his enemies while they pursued him, or

Three days of plague in the land

David didn’t want the second. He’d spent too many years being chased around the country side by Saul and then was run out of the city by Absalom, his own son. He definitely didn’t want to experience that again. However, he couldn’t chose between the other two and asked that God decide. God chose the third. A plague swept across the land killing seventy thousand people. As the plague was approaching Jerusalem, God relented.

David was then told to build an altar to God on the threshing floor of Araunah and offer a sacrifice. David went to Araunah and bought the threshing floor. David then dedicated the site for the tabernacle and later the temple.

This series of events seem to be a better explanation for the background for this psalm. So keep that story in mind as we go through this psalm. One old Scottish preacher wrote that the psalm describes “a series of new beginnings.” What that in mind we might outline the psalm this way:

A new victory: from death to life (1-3)

A new day: from night to morning (4-5)

A new heart: from pride to humility (6-10)

A new song: from mourning to rejoicing (11-12)

David has experienced a hardship as he was being disciplined, but had received God’s forgiveness and restoration.

SLIDE 3 First, David experienced a new victory: from death to life.

1 I will exalt you, Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. 2 Lord my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me. 3 You, Lord, brought me up from the realm of the dead; you spared me from going down to the pit. (Psalm 30:1-3)

This is primarily a psalm of praise. David has been through some kind of difficulty, possibly three days of a plague, but yet David offers praise to God. David begins by saying that he will exalt or as some older translations put it, he will extol the Lord. David is saying that he will praise God with great enthusiasm.

I understand that not everyone enjoys contemporary worship music. I don’t enjoy all of it. But there is one thing about contemporary worship that you can’t deny; they are enthusiastically worshiping or extolling God. When was the last time you extolled the Lord? When was the last you worshiped God with enthusiasm? Do you find that difficult to do? Psalm 100 tells us to: SLIDE 4

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. (Psalm 100:4)

I’ve personally never met a king or queen, but think about how you’ve seen people on TV or in movies come before royalty. They enter the room and bow. It’s a way of showing respect. When we enter God’s gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise it means we are coming into his presence. This psalm says that we are to come into God’s presence with thanksgiving and praise. Yet, there are some Christians who have difficulty praising God. Do you have difficulty? Another question we might ask is how often we offer praise to God. Not counting the times we meet together in this building, do you ever worship God during the week? Do you experience something good and thank God for it or see a beautiful sunset and offer God praise? Are you able to praise God and do you do it often? If you struggle with praising God, consider these benefits given a preacher in Oregon.

SLIDE 6 Praise gets our focus off ourselves and back on God. In order to praise God you have to take your focus off of yourself. The more we think about problems the more depressed we become. The more we praise God the more we are set free from that enslavement.

SLIDE 7 Praise brings us to a place of humility. Praising God reminds us that he is the one who is in control and not us. That’s why praise is especially important when we’re facing difficulties. We need to remember the power that God has.

SLIDE 8 Praise invites victory. There are some Old Testament stories that talk about victories God gave his people when they stopped to worship him. One example in from 2 Chronicles. SLIDE 9

As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. (2 Chronicles 20:22)

God gave them victory over their enemy the moment they stopped and began to give God praise. There is power in praise.

SLIDE 10 Praise edges out complaining and negativity. We tend to complain a lot, even when we pray. But it’s difficult to complain when we are offering praise to God. When we are offering praise to God we are not asking him for anything. Instead, we are telling God how important he is to us and how great he is. While we are doing that our complaining has to take a backseat.

SLIDE 11 Praise refreshes our spirits. Praise is for the benefit of God, but we benefit as well. We’ve already seen where David says: SLIDE 12

You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. (Psalm 16:11)

David says there is pleasure in God’s presence. When you’re having a difficult time and aren’t sleeping well we need a refreshing that comes from God. The best thing you can do is go alone, put on some worship music, and worship God. As I’ve already said, it takes our focus off ourselves and puts it on the power of God.

SLIDE 13 Praise opens the door for the supernatural works of God. In Acts 16, Paul and Silas were preaching in Philippi when they were wrongly arrested, beaten, and thrown in prison. In the middle of the night an earthquake stuck, opening the doors of the prison and unfastening everyone’s bonds. What were Paul and Silas doing when the earthquake hit? They were praying and singing praises to God. That doesn’t mean that every time we worship God something like that will happen, but worshiping God helps us put things in proper perspective and renews our faith in God and what he can do in our lives.

SLIDE 14 That was a detour from our psalm, but I wanted to remind us of the important of worship. David says that God has rescued him from the distress he was in and offered him healing. The word David uses for healing is also used to describe forgiveness and spiritual restoration. It was David’s sin that brought the plague upon the land. He felt the pain of the people and was convicted of his sin. God heard his cry and brought him from death to life. As a result, he is going to offer praise to God.

SLIDE 15 Second, David experienced a new day: from night to morning.

4 Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people; praise his holy name. 5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. (Psalm 30:4-5)

David is offering praise to God and he encourages the people to as well. As David will say in Psalm 34: SLIDE 16

Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together. (Psalm 34:3)

David wants them to praise God with him.

SLIDE 17 Notice the reason for David’s insistence that the worship God, it’s because of God’s forgiveness.

The people had experienced God’s anger or discipline because of David’s sin. Concerning difficulties we face in life, John MacArthur wrote:

God uses hardship and affliction as a means of discipline, a means of training his children, of helping them mature in their spiritual lives.

Remember that God’s discipline is not his way of saying that he’s through with you. Nor is it a sign of being abandoned by him. Rather, we should take it is evidence of God’s love. As Hebrews reminds us, God disciplines those he loves.

A little girl said to her teacher, ”Miss Hayes, I don’t want to scare you, but my dad said, If my grades don’t improve, someone’s going to get a spanking!”

In his discipline God acts for a believer’s good, bringing a straying child back to himself. As C. S. Lewis said,

God whispers to us in our pleasures; he speaks to us in our work; he shouts at us in our pain.

We all have times when we fail to listen to God and choose not to obey his commands. It is then that God uses his discipline to cause us to repent, return to him, and obey his instructions.

David assures us in verse 5 that God’s anger or discipline only lasts a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime! We might cry in the dark of night, but there will be joy in the morning.

David could write this because he had just gone through some painful discipline of God. He understood the lows, but he also knew the highs as he experienced God’s forgiveness. We’ll experience the lows and highs too. There will be sorrow when God must discipline us for unconfessed sin, but there will be rejoicing as God fills our hearts with the joy of his forgiveness. As James Montgomery Boice notes, God’s favor for his people always outweighs his disfavor. Therefore, as the darkest night turns to dawn, God’s discipline is temporary.

SLIDE 18 Third, David experienced a new heart: from pride to humility.

6 When I felt secure, I said, “I will never be shaken.” 7 Lord, when you favored me, you made my royal mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed. (Psalm 30:6-7)

David talks about a time in his life when he thought he’d never be moved. He was feeling pretty sure of himself. We don’t know what David was attributing that security to. Did he trust in himself and his army? Did he trust in God? He only says that he felt secure enough that he didn’t think his situation would change.

It’s easy for those who are well off to think they are in control. It’s easy to start taking things for granted. Things are great and they always will be. Isn’t that what happened in the rich man in the parable Jesus told? In the parable, found in Luke 12, Jesus tells about a rich man who had an abundant harvest. The harvest was so good that he didn’t have room to store his crops. The man decided to tear down his barns and build bigger ones. Then he could just sit back and take it easy the rest of his days. He planned to take life easy. He’d just eat, drink, and be merry. What he didn’t know is that would be his last day. He quickly learned that he was not in control of his life.

David acknowledged that his security came from God. He had nothing to do with it. It was all because of God’s favor. David was secure only because of the blessing of God. But it is in such times that we need to be careful not to become arrogant or complacent. As one commentator wrote:

We are never in greater danger than in the sunshine of prosperity. To be always indulged of God, and never to taste trouble, is rather a token of God’s neglect than of his tender love.

That may sound odd, but remember what we said about God’s discipline. It is God’s discipline that demonstrates his love. When God is finished with us he stops disciplining us and just gives us over to our desires.

David was secure, but one day his world was shaken. David ascribed it to when God hid his face from him. When God withheld his blessing everything changed. When God stopped listening to his cries for help he was shattered. There was nothing David could do. He was totally dependent on God. Without the constant, sustaining power of God, David was in trouble. It’s not that God was hiding from David, but to remind David how much he needed God.

David now cries out to God for help.

8 To you, Lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy: 9 “What is gained if I am silenced, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? 10 Hear, Lord, and be merciful to me; Lord, be my help.” (Psalm 30:8-10)

We need to remember that those in the Old Testament didn’t always have the same view of death that we do who are living under the new covenant. Paul said to die was gain because it meant going to be with God, but that had not been revealed in the Old Testament. Paul told Timothy: SLIDE 19

9 He has saved us and called us to a holy life – not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, SLIDE 20 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. (2 Timothy 1:9-10)

SLDIE 21 Our eternal destiny has now been revealed to us through Jesus. Now we can be certain of our eternal future. But because of the limited knowledge he had, David wasn’t as certain. Therefore, David says that he knew while he was alive he would praise God, but he wasn’t sure what would happen after he died. So, he calls on God to rescue him that he might continue to offer God praise. David asks God to be his helper even as we should. Spurgeon described this call for help – “Lord, be my help” – as:

. . . another compact, expressive, ever fitting prayer. It is suitable to hundreds of the cases of the Lord’s people; it is well becoming in the minister when he is going to preach, to the sufferer upon the bed of pain, to the believer under temptation, to the man of God under adversity; when God helps, difficulties vanish.

There is no time when we do not need God’s help. Simply pray, “Lord, be my help.”

SLIDE 22 And fourth, David experienced a new song: from mourning to rejoicing.

11 You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, 12 that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you forever. (Psalm 30:11-12)

The dedication of the threshing floor was a joyous time. However, they had just come through a sorrowful time. 2 Samuel 24 says that during the three days of plague seventy thousand people died. Can you imagine that many people in the United States dying in just three days? Israel’s population was about half that of Tennessee. Losing that many people would be devastating and the cause of great mourning. But now, the mourning had been turning to rejoicing. David used this dedication as a time to remember all the times of God’s deliverance. It was a happy day. One preacher wrote:

This might be true of David, delivered from his calamity; it was true of Christ, arising from the tomb, to die no more; it is true of the penitent, exchanging his sackcloth for the garments of salvation; and it will be verified in us all, at the last day, when we shall put off the dishonors of the grave, to shine in glory everlasting.

We need a faith that can celebrate the happy days and praise God for them. But we also need to remember that God is with us in the difficult days too and we should be ready to praise him then too.

David gave the reason for his deliverance in verse 12, that he might sing God’s praise. God delivered him and blessed him that David might worship him. God worked in David’s life as he does in ours in order to bring himself glory. God works in the lives of those will give him glory. In fact, it would be a sin to remain silent.

The religious leaders didn’t like the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. They didn’t like the people shouting his praises. They asked Jesus to tell them to stop. And how did Jesus reply? SLIDE 23

“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” (Luke 19:40)

God will be praised, if not by us then by nature, but it will happen. So, we should do so willingly. David begins the psalm praising God and he ends the psalm giving praise to God.

SLIDE 24 It’s not hard to find things to complain about, but can we find reasons to offer God praise? Someone put this spin on the difficulties they were facing.

I am thankful for the taxes I pay because it means I’m employed.

I am thankful for the clothes that fit a little too snug because it means I have enough to eat.

I am thankful for a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.

I am thankful for my huge heating bill because it means I am warm.

I am thankful for all the complaining I hear about our government because it means we have freedom of speech.

I am thankful for the lady behind me in church who sings off key because it means that I can hear.

I am thankful for the piles of laundry and ironing because it means my loved ones are nearby.

I am thankful for the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours because it means that I’m alive.

That is the art of thanks-living. It is gratitude in action. It is thanking and praising God for that he has done.