Psalm 30 - Seeking God's Face in the pit
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Who’s in the pit?
Who’s in the pit?
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.
David is experiencing a time in his life when he feels just left out in the cold.
It’s fascinating to me that this psalm was written for the dedication of the temple.
The house of God is where comfort is. Warmth. Togetherness.
But when we get into the meat of this psalm, we see that David feels separated from God.
He uses the word terrified to describe his condition.
This Psalm is a prayer that we need today.
1-3 Praise for what God has done:
General thoughts on the Psalms
A little comment on the structure of this Psalm for you nerds in the room,
Psalm 30 is a Psalm of Thanksgiving, one of 8. These Psalms are a joyful expression of praise and thanks towards God, typically in response to a request made that God has answered.
A Psalm of thanksgiving is a Psalm that gives very intentional thought towards something that God has done, and less like “count your blessings” and more like “try and quantify how good God is.”
Psalm 30 is a Chiasm. 49 of the Psalms are.
“A chiasm is a literary device in which a sequence of ideas is presented and then repeated in reverse order.”
Thought A, Thought B, Thought B, Thought A
ABBA? Maybe think Dancing Queen to remember how this works.
Of course there can be more than 2 thoughts that are being taught and then retaught in reverse order.
Chiasm’s are all over Scripture
Luckily for us, this Psalm to me appears to only have two thoughts being used...
Praise, Salvation, Salvation, Praise
Let’s start with the first section: Praise
David starts this psalm by praising God
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.
What can we infer from this immediately?
David was down!
And here we go into application.
David was in a spot where he was having to cry out to God.
We’ll talk in a moment about some of the circumstances in David’s life where he would have been down and depressed.
But for now, just consider your own circumstances.
This imagery of the pit that David is employing :
I identify closely with the words David uses in this Psalm.
The pit.
David uses this word frequently, and he often links it with the idea of sheol.
which is the old testament Hebrew understanding of the land of the dead.
SLIDE PHOTO
Sheol was a physical place that one only reached through death.
It’s important to know that David viewed Sheol as a physical place, and he viewed himself as a physical being that could really go there.
That might seem like an odd distinction to draw out, but...
Talk about differences between Hebrew vs Western/Greek understanding of the person. Soul vs Flesh
David spoke of Sheol more than once, and we see through his prayers to God that through faith, David believed God would rescue and redeem Him from such a place.
So this language of pit and sheol is used together by David to describe a condition of utter helplessness, abandonment, loneliness, and even death.
For example
10 for you will not abandon my soul to Sheol; you will not give your faithful one to see the grave.
This same word for pit and sheol is used in Job, as Job pushes against his friends and uses this imagery of the pit as he asks, is my only hope death??
13 If I hope for Sheol as my house, if I make my bed in darkness, 14 if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’ 15 where then is my hope? Who will see my hope?
Unsurprisingly, we see Jonah using the same exact language as he’s writing poetry inside a giant fish.
5 The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head 6 at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God.
Have you ever felt like you’re in the pit?
PAUSE
I sure have.
This Psalm has been one that I return to regularly in times of feeling that I have strayed from God, or when I feel helpless, or when my friends are feeling helpless.
There’s a certain togetherness that we all have to acknowledge here.
We all were in the pit spiritually. Ephesians.
Grace is what draws us out of the pit.
But picture in your mind here what God is doing.
This pit is like a slippery well.
Have you ever been truly stuck?
When I was a kid I had another kid sit on my shoulders and hold me underwater in a pool.
This imagery makes me think of the Woman at the well irony. Water doesn’t draw itself up.
You can’t get out of it on your own.
God’s not pulling you up out of the well while he swears under his breath about how stupid you are.
And He’s not pulling you out the pit and saying, “try harder next time” or “I’ll give you something to cry about.”
No.
In fact,
He cries with us.
When Jesus is actively in the process of drawing one of his best friends out of the pit, a friend who had DIED, he’s weeping.
Jesus weeps with you in the pit.
“Jesus’s tears also suggest something about our need to “fix it.” There are a lot of people who are coming to New York to fix things. We are glad for them. They will try to fix the buildings. We need that. And eventually they will leave. But when Jesus weeps, we see that he doesn’t believe that the ministry of truth (telling people how they should believe and turn to God) or the ministry of fixing things is enough, does he? He also is a proponent of the ministry of tears. The ministry of truth and power without tears isn’t Jesus.” -Tim Keller
You have to have tears.
But he doesn’t stay there with you, or leave you there, he raises you up with him and seats you with him in the heavenly places.
But he’s with you in the pain...
David acknowledges this now as he turns his attention to the congregation.
for people singing this Psalm, the leader would shout out in a loud voice,
“Sing to Yahweh, you his faithful ones.”
this could fall under the category of what Rod was talking about last week when he said that our job is to “irritate each other”.
We have a duty to remind each other of the wonderful works that God has done for us, and to encourage each other to praise God.
Why do we remind each other?
Because it’s hard to remember when we’re in the pit.
4-5 A plea for salvation:
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.
This is reminiscent of the covenant curse and covenant blessing that we see promised in the 10 commandments.
8 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 9 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 10 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Love greatly outpaces punishment.
David knows this.
He would have grown up hearing his teachers call out the decalogue, or the 10 commandments
“Shema Yisrael.”
Hear O Israel the decrees and laws I set before you today.
I AM YHWH your Elohim who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
David’s reasons for sorrow:
Intense sorrow is the lot of a son of Adam.
We live in a broken, crippled world. David had reasons for sorrow.
He dealt with a previously anointed king who was intimidated by him and hated him, losing his best friend to death young, marital unfaithfulness and murder that drew him away from God, violent murderous nephews who constantly caused him problems, sexual assault and murder amongst his own sons and daughters, a son who tears the hearts of the people away from him and starts a rebellion that results in the death of said son, a desire to build the temple but God wouldn’t let him, and finally a prideful, ill-advised, and satanically incited census that resulted in the plague death of 70,000 men in Israel.
Totality of Psalms is indicative of David’s life.
A lot of spazzing out, but a whole lot more trust.
Psalm 1 as entrance into the Psalms and David
1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. 3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers. 4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
It’s really key for us to note, when we’re talking about a verse that says
“Weeping may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning”
There’s a beautiful truth in that.
But we need to be understanding of each other and care for each other by discerning when it is still nighttime.
2 things to consider:
Job’s friends
and
“Don’t wake up your neighbors early in the morning with a shout of “Good morning!” They will treat it like a curse, not a blessing.”Prov 27:14
Sometimes in life we end up working the spiritual equivalent of the night shift.
Don’t bust in and throw the curtains back just because there’s sunshine outside.
David’s pride:
6-7
As we move into verse 6 of this psalm, David starts to tell a story.
He’s been in distress, and now he’s going to tell us why.
David truly was an incredible man with a long list of accomplishments.
The underdog beheading of Goliath followed by a routing of the Philistines. Unification of Israel. Conquering Jerusalem. The Ark. Davidic Line.
Even one of these accomplishments would be enough to stroke the pride of any man ever.
In fact, after David killed Goliath, the people of Israel already viewed him as a celebrity.
“Saul has killed his thousands but David tens of thousands”
There is another king in scripture that experienced this same fatal mistake.
28 All this happened to Nebuchadnezzar the king. 29 At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon. 30 And the king answered and said, “Is this not the great Babylon which I have built as a royal palace by the strength of my own power, and for the glory of my own majesty?” 31 While the words were still in the mouth of the king, a voice from heaven came, saying, ‘To you, King Nebuchadnezzar, it is declared that the kingdom has departed from you, 32 and you will be driven away from human society and your dwelling will be with the animals of the field and they will cause you to graze the grass like oxen, and seven times will pass over you, until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdom of humankind and that he gives it to whom he wills.’ 33 Immediately the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar, and he was expelled from human society and he ate grass like oxen, and his body was bathed with the dew of heaven until his hair was like the hair of an eagle and his nails grew like a bird’s claws.
My all-time favorite jerky was called Divine Bovine.
That’s what he became...
Both David and Nebuchadnezzar made the same fatal mistake of looking at all God had given them and then glorifying themselves.
Branch analogy pointing at the tree saying it’s not there...
David is letting us know that he struggled with this!
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.
Reasons why God should save:
8-10
David’s questions to God:
David cries out to God when he realizes God’s face has turned away from him.
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.”
There’s an interesting question posed to God here by David...
Will the dust praise you?
What’s the answer?
YES
But God doesn’t want the rocks to praise Him.
If He did He would have made a universe of rocks.
But instead He did something that defies our understanding.
He made creatures in His own image.
Creatures with choice
A choice to love Him or reject Him.
Many times when we fall into despair because of our sin, we tend to think the way we are feeling is because we are condemned or we can’t measure up, when in actuality we are simply feeling terrible because we are focusing on our sin and not on God’s face!
God created us to be sitting in His lap, praising Him, and when we aren’t there we feel terrible.
Praise for God’s Salvation:
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.
That MY glory may sing your praise and not be silent.
What’s the difference between David’s glory and God’s glory?
David’s glory is derivative and reflective of God’s Glory
“The glory of God is the infinite beauty and greatness of God’s manifold perfections.” - John Piper
So David’s glory is God given, and is a microscopic glimpse of God’s perfections.
Nebuchadnezzar figured this out in a big way. The completion of his story goes like this...
34 “But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and then my reason returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and the one who lives forever I praised and I honored. “For his sovereignty is an everlasting sovereignty, and his kingdom continues from generation to generation. 35 And all the dwellers of the earth are regarded as nothing, and he does according to his desire in the host of heaven and among the dwellers of earth, and there is not one who can hold back his hand, or ask him, ‘What are you doing?’ 36 “At that time my reason returned to me, and also the glory of my kingdom and my majesty and splendor returned to me, and my advisers and my lords searched me out, and I was established over my kingdom and abundant greatness was added to me. 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and honor the king of heaven, for all his works are truth, and his ways are justice and that he is able to humble those who walk in pride.”
Nebuchadnezzar got reformed!!
Recap for the two groups. Those in the pit and those in pride.
There are those in this room who are experiencing intense suffering today.
I can’t tell you that today is the day your circumstances change,
but I can tell you that for David, in his moments of need, gazing on God’s face brought him to joy.
I want to tell you that suffering does not equal punishment.
Suffering is where we meet Jesus in the most intimate ways we ever will.
And there are those who are feeling prideful in the blessings that God has given them.
Watch Out!
Glorifying oneself feels good, but not being able to see God’s face may be devastating for you.
Where is Jesus in this Psalm?
Jesus is Yahweh
This psalm is addressed to YHWH. Many translations would use the word Lord here, but I picked this version this week so that we would use the personal name that God has given us to address him with.
David is using his name in a very personal way.
He’s addressing YHWH literally to his face as he seeks his face.
There’s a book Ransom has been reading called the God Contest.
Describe book.
YHWH is God!
Jesus is YHWH!
Chosen - Shema
YHWH ELOHIM
2. The face of God is the glory of God in the face of Christ.
6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
The dark night of the soul.
God will allow a season of spiritual darkness to cause us to seek him.
3. Jesus is the one who goes into the pit for us.
7 Now grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of the Messiah’s gift. 8 For it says: When He ascended on high, He took prisoners into captivity; He gave gifts to people. 9 But what does “He ascended” mean except that He descended to the lower parts of the earth?
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to hell. (Sheol)
Jesus descended into Sheol to beat up on the powers that oppress you. He turned your captors into the captives.
Jesus really actually died for you.
Jesus really actually died to set the prisoners free.
I mentioned Job and his friends...
14 For God speaks time and again, but a person may not notice it. 15 In a dream, a vision in the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber on their beds, 16 He uncovers their ears at that time and terrifies them with warnings, 17 in order to turn a person from his actions and suppress his pride. 18 God spares his soul from the Pit, his life from crossing the river of death. 19 A person may be disciplined on his bed with pain and constant distress in his bones, 20 so that he detests bread, and his soul despises his favorite food. 21 His flesh wastes away to nothing, and his unseen bones stick out. 22 He draws near to the Pit, and his life to the executioners. 23 If there is an angel on his side, one mediator out of a thousand, to tell a person what is right for him 24 and to be gracious to him and say, “Spare him from going down to the Pit; I have found a ransom,” 25 then his flesh will be healthier than in his youth, and he will return to the days of his youthful vigor. 26 He will pray to God, and God will delight in him. That man will see His face with a shout of joy, and God will restore his righteousness to him. 27 He will look at men and say, “I have sinned and perverted what was right; yet I did not get what I deserved. 28 He redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit, and I will continue to see the light.” 29 God certainly does all these things two or three times to a man 30 in order to turn him back from the Pit, so he may shine with the light of life.
Christ is this mediator promised here.
He is the one who says “Spare him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.”
He has set you free.
If you will have him as your king.
“At the end of The Lord of the Rings, the hobbit Sam, who thought everything was going wrong, wakes up and the sun is out. He sees Gandalf, the great wizard. To me, this is the quintessence of Jesus’s promise. Sam says, “Gandalf! I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue?” The answer of Jesus is, “Yes.” Someday will be the great morning, the morning, not m-o-u-r-n-i-n-g, but m-o-r-n-i-n-g, the great morning that won’t just console us. Jesus will take all of those horrible memories, everything bad that has ever happened, and they will actually be brought back in and become untrue. They will only enrich the new world in which everything is put right—everything.”
Communion
Hear O Table Church what Christ says to you as he invites you to dine with him.
I am YHWH your Elohim who brought you out of your spiritual Egypt.
I brought you out of the pit.
I am leading you on a New Exodus.
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.