6-30-24 Sermon "Praise for Blessings" - 18 Minutes

Psalm 30:1-12

This morning I'll be reading Psalm 30,,, all 12 verses. And I'll be reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible. Psalm 30:1-12 This psalm,,, written by David as a praise to God for saving him,,, will help us to see that praise to God is needed when "we" are helped through any situation! Psalm 30 (HCSB) — A psalm; a dedication song for the house. Davidic. 1 I will exalt You, Lord, because You have lifted me up and have not allowed my enemies to triumph over me. 2 Lord my God, I cried to You for help, and You healed me. 3 Lord, You brought me up from Sheol; You spared me from among those going down to the Pit. 4 Sing to Yahweh, you His faithful ones, and praise His holy name. 5 For His anger lasts only a moment, but His favor, a lifetime. Weeping may spend the night, but there is joy in the morning. 6 When I was secure, I said, “I will never be shaken.” 7 Lord, when You showed Your favor, You made me stand like a strong mountain; when You hid Your face, I was terrified. 8 Lord, I called to You; I sought favor from my Lord: 9 “What gain is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it proclaim Your truth? 10 Lord, listen and be gracious to me; Lord, be my helper.” 11 You turned my lament into dancing; You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, 12 so that I can sing to You and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise You forever. The word of God for the people of God,,, thanks be to God! God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning. Let us pray: Dear Lord,,, as we begin this morning,,, with everyone here today and all that are listening and watching by video,,, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen. ___________________________________ Last Sunday we looked at Mark 4:35-41,,, the story of Jesus calming the storm. We learned that Jesus' power and strength are available to us,,, just as it was available to the disciples that evening during that storm that came up. I reminded you that even though Jesus was in the boat with them,,, physically present with them during this storm,,, He didn't help them until they had exhausted all hope of escape by their power,,, until they had given up,,, thinking they could die at any minute! They had to turn to Jesus,,, give up their struggles,,, and then,,, Jesus calmed the storm,,, that they were facing! I asked you,,, Are you like the disciples in the boat,,, thinking that you know what you need to do to keep your head above water,,, but it's not working? When you have tried everything that you can,,, and almost ready to give up,,, If so,,, then you are in a position to allow God the chance to truly give you the help that you need! Remember the way that the disciples went to Jesus for help,,, and remember the feeling of helplessness that they must have felt at that time! Also remember the amazing,,, but scary way that they felt,,, when Jesus showed them His power over the wind and sea! That same power is available for us! We just have to turn to Jesus,,, let go of anything that is holding us back,,, and fully turn it over to Him,,, so that He can calm,,, whatever storm,,, we are facing today! This morning we will look at these verses in Psalm 30,,, and see how they help us in our walk with God this week. ___________________________________ Verses 1-3 said: 1 I will exalt You, Lord, because You have lifted me up and have not allowed my enemies to triumph over me. 2 Lord my God, I cried to You for help, and You healed me. 3 Lord, You brought me up from Sheol; You spared me from among those going down to the Pit. This psalm was written as a psalm of thanksgiving. Specifically,,, we will see David describe his thanksgiving for deliverance from many circumstances. This psalm thanks God for repeatedly bringing David through his difficulties. As we look at this psalm,,, we will notice a number of contrasts that David expresses to show where he was,,, and where God has placed him now. As you will see in many of the psalms that were written by David,,, he describes a terrible situation that he found himself in. By reading these first three verses,,, we are left with the impression that David was afflicted with a terrible sickness,,, and that he believed he was going to die. Verse 3 describes the feeling of being at the breaking point of death. David felt that he was right on the edge and was about to go down into the pit of death. Further,,, this illness had caused his enemies to rejoice. They were gloating,,, and rejoicing over what David was experiencing. It is hard to be kicked while we are down. We would like for others to be compassionate and concerned about us. However,,, we see that this illness has been used as an opportunity to David’s enemies to rejoice over what has happened. But David called to the Lord his God for help and God healed him. God lifted David up from depths of his illness and despair. David says that the Lord brought him up from the grave and was spared from going down into the pit. This tells us the severity of what David was experiencing. He seems to think that all was lost concerning his life and that there was no other hope,,, but what the Lord could do for help. Because God had spared David,,, he will exalt and praise the Lord for what has been done for him. This situation,,, if we are understanding David’s words correctly,,, remind us of the terrible disease that afflicted Hezekiah,,, king of Judah. After being told that he would die,,, Hezekiah prayed to God to heal him and wept bitterly,,, Isaiah comes back to Hezekiah and tells him that God has chosen to extend his life (2 Kings 20). This gives us an idea of what we can expect from God. We learn that we can go to God concerning our physical health and ask God to help us to overcome whatever our affliction may be. While our spiritual health and spiritual things are of greater importance than anything physical,,, we clearly learn that God will listen to our prayers concerning our physical health and well-being. We can pray directly to God to help us in our illness and let God work out the rest. Whether God heals us through His touch,,, or uses others,,, the important thing to remember is that God does care,,, and He does hear us when we pray. And God has all of the power that we need,,, to heal us from whatever is bothering us,,, because,,, He alone knows our bodies better than any man made machine or doctor today!

___________________________________ Verses 4-5 said: 4 Sing to Yahweh, you His faithful ones, and praise His holy name. 5 For His anger lasts only a moment, but His favor, a lifetime. Weeping may spend the night, but there is joy in the morning. When you read this verse you can’t help but be amazed at the love God has for David. Remember the times that David has fallen short,,, the bad things that he has done,,, and yet,,, he states here,,, as he gives praise to God,,, For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Even though David had a warrior in God’s army killed so that he could marry Bathsheba to cover up his sin of adultery,,, God forgives him. David repented,,, as he always did when he made mistakes,,, that’s why,,, he was called,,, a man after God’s own heart. Anger for a moment,,, favor for a lifetime. ___________________________________ Verses 6-7 said: 6 When I was secure, I said, “I will never be shaken.” 7 Lord, when You showed Your favor, You made me stand like a strong mountain; when You hid Your face, I was terrified. David,,, had began to think to highly of himself,,, his pride was causing him trouble. When we are without any problems,,, things are going smoothly,,, we may do exactly like David,,, and allow pride to get in the way. At the least,,, we tend to put thoughts of God to the backs of our mind,,, and fail to praise Him through the good times,,, like we should! And we see here,,, that God disciplined David,,, and he needed to seek God’s deliverance,,, as we see in the next verses. ___________________________________ Verses 8-10 said: 8 Lord, I called to You; I sought favor from my Lord: 9 “What gain is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it proclaim Your truth? 10 Lord, listen and be gracious to me; Lord, be my helper.” David cried out to God once he realized that God had hid His face from him,,, and he boldly declared that he needed God’s mercy,,, so that he could continue to praise God! ___________________________________ Verse 11 said: 11 You turned my lament into dancing; You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, If God is gracious enough to forgive and heal us,,, the sinner,,, then we should be big enough to give God our thanks and praise. That’s what David is doing here,,, beginning his praise of God for what He has done for him. ___________________________________ Verse 12 said: 12 so that I can sing to You and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise You forever. In this verse,,, David continues in his praise of God,,,

while we saw from verse 6 that his pride caused his downfall,,, and could have ended his life,,, and continued his separation from God forever,,,

here we see that David is thankful,,, for God restoring him,,, healing him,,,

and he promises,,, Lord my God, I will praise You forever,,, as it says at the end of this psalm. ___________________________________ As I've asked a lot lately,,, or it seems that way to me,,, are we giving God praise for the blessings that we receive?

David wrote this psalm to remind us that this is very important.

We can see from these words that he wrote,,, that this should be very important to us.

Most of us,,, at one time or another,,, have either experienced it ourselves,,, or know someone personally,,, that has experienced the blessing of a recovery from a serious illness.

Where we have said goodbye to the sterile world of surgery,,, anesthesia,,, intensive care,,, intravenous feedings,,, hypodermic injections,,, and the seemingly endless pill parade!

It is too easy to think that our recovery was “thanks to modern medicine!”

We forget to sing a psalm of thanksgiving to the One who is ultimately responsible for all our healing.

But David did not forget.

It may be that he had just gotten over a critical illness when it came time to dedicate his house.

In any case, the dedication was the occasion for this hymn of praise to Jehovah, his Healer.

___________________________________ I don’t know what this Psalm does to you,,, but it makes me feel ashamed.

I think of all the times I’ve been hurt,,, and of the urgent, desperate prayers I prayed,,, and of how the Lord graciously answered.

But then I forgot to come before Him with a thankful offering of praise.

I took the healing too much for granted.

I neglected to express my thanks the way that I should have.

God has given us David’s example,,, not only for us to admire,,, but to follow as well!

___________________________________ And this time of praise should not just be for healing.

It should be for other blessings that we receive as well,,, no matter how small!

God goes above and beyond in any blessings that we receive,,, and we need to be thankful in our praise!

We need to learn from David,,, "a man after God's own heart" according to 1 Samuel 13:14; and Acts 13:22.

Follow his example,,, use his life as a guide to show us how to act!

In the days ahead,,, we need to remember these words,,, remember where our blessings come from,,, and who is responsible for them,,, and praise God,,, for our many blessings,,, each and every,,, day!

___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Hymn: 337 - Oakdale Hymn: 337 - Seminary Benediction -----------------------------------------------------------