Sermon Tone Analysis

If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to Psalm 30.

If you are able and willing, please stand for the reading of God’s Holy Word, as we read this uplifting psalm.

May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His Holy Word!

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David has written another song.

Another psalm.

According to the title, David wrote this Psalm for the dedication of the temple.

It’s right there in the heading: for the dedication of the temple/house.

David must have been looking forward to this moment, anticipating the temple being built and dedicated because David died before that moment.

He was a planner, perhaps.

Or, it’s possible that this was written for the dedication of David’s personal residence (the palace).

Or, long after David had passed, this psalm was used for the dedication of the “second” temple, and someone put the heading in then.

We’re not sure about the “when” but the “why” is clear.

This is a psalm of praise, a psalm of thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is my favorite.

I love the holiday; it’s the best there is if you ask me.

I love the action of thanksgiving, too.

To be thankful is among the best qualities there is.

Just ask yourself: would I rather invite over for dinner a thankful person or a nit-picky person?

Would I rather surround myself with thankful folk or with people who gripe about every little thing?

I can’t imagine anyone who would opt for time with the nit-picky, thankless person, unless you just love people who gripe and complain all the time (I have met a few of those over the years…)

Sadly, even where the LORD is concerned, there are people who are slow to thank Him. Thankfulness takes a back seat to entitlement (Why should I be thankful?

I deserve it).

Or worse, thankfulness isn’t even a consideration.

It drives me absolutely nuts when someone does something for another person and there’s no “thank you” given.

During my Covid quarantine, I watched several shows and I listened for the words “thank you.”

I didn’t hear those words spoken more than a handful of times across hours and hours of television.

When a boss asked his secretary for something, no “thank you” was given.

When a husband did something for his wife, no “thank you” was uttered.

When kids were served dinner, not one “thank you” was spoken.

Thanklessness is among the most heinous traits I see.

This is especially true where the LORD is concerned.

The Psalms often serve as a correction for us, for those of us who tend toward thanklessness.

David might be writing this particular psalm—Psalm 30—well in advance of something taking place.

He’s anticipating thanking the LORD for something that hasn’t yet happened.

I like to think that maybe David wrote this psalm of thanksgiving before he needed to be thankful for the particular occasion, knowing that thanksgiving is what we owe to the LORD.

The theme of the whole psalm is one of personal thanksgiving for God’s repeated care and deliverance over the course of a life.

Our lives and David’s life are different in any number of ways, and yet, we can liken our own experiences to his.

Over the course of our lives, God has cared for us.

Over the course of our lives, God has delivered us.

Over the course of our lives, God has been merciful to us.

Over the course of our lives, God has helped us.

Over the course of our lives, God has taken our sorrow and turned it to joy; He’s transformed our mourning into dancing.

Because the LORD has done all of this for us, for our brothers and sisters, for David and for the assembly of Israel, ours is to exalt Him.

Exalt means “to praise, to glorify, to honor.”

This is just what David sees fit to do.

I will exalt you, LORD...

Why?

The answer to this question is found in verses 1-3 specifically.

I will exalt you, LORD, for (or because): you lifted me out of the depths.

Lifted me is the word for pulling up a bucket from a well.

That well was as deep as death, and it seems the threat to David’s life had come from sickness.

The LORD lifted David from the depths.

The LORD pulled David up from the bottom of the well, as it were.

Why exalt the LORD?

Because He has lifted David from the pit.

Because when David called to Him for help, the LORD helped him and healed him.

If David had succumbed to sickness, his enemies would have rejoiced; they would have been thrilled.

The LORD prevented that and restored David to health.

I tend to think the healing is literal here, but it could be metaphorical—a spiritual healing.

The point is, the LORD restores and preserves.

It’s the LORD who brought David up and who keeps David, spares David from going down to the pit.

The LORD has kept David alive, and David recognizes this—what most people leave unspoken or unrealized.

David and Paul would have been good friends, I think.

Paul would write, centuries later:

Acts 17:28 (NIV)

28 ‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’

This is David’s testimony here.

Shouldn’t it be ours?

You may not have any amazing story about the LORD sparing your life (though some of you do) or a time when the LORD kept you breathing (though some of you do), but we who are here this morning, drawing breath, worshipping the LORD, owe all of this to the LORD.

This is why David exalts the LORD.

This is the reason for his praise.

So he sings: I will exalt you, LORD...

Who?

This is a personal commitment from David, but he also urges others to join him in the exaltation of the LORD.

Psalm 30:4 “Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people; praise his holy name.”

Who is to exalt the LORD?

Well, we are.

Those who, along with David, had placed their faith in the LORD.

The faithful, the saints, the people belonging to the LORD.

The psalmist actually refers to the LORD’s people as “those He loves.”

Hasid, he calls them, referring to those who are the objects of the LORD’s hesed, His unfailing, covenant love.

These people—the hasid—are those loved by the LORD and those who love Him back.

Those the LORD loves are here invited to praise His holy name.

David states his intention to exalt/praise the LORD for all the LORD has done for him.

And now he turns his fellow worshippers, gives them a nudge with his elbow, and encourages them to join him in singing praise and giving thanks.

One of the best parts of CIY is when everyone is gathered together for worship.

At our particular week of CIY, there were over 800 high school students and probably 200 adult sponsors and staff.

There were moments where I chose not to sing, simply to listen to the combined voices of those the LORD loves praising Him, exalting in Him.

Psalm 30:4 “Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people; praise his holy name.”

Now, no one who believes in the LORD, no one who has walked with Him for any length of time will tell you that this life is all joy and nothing else.

There is weeping in the lives of the faithful.

Sometimes this is the product of our own sinfulness; our misdeeds incur the anger of God.

Sometimes weeping is simply from suffering that comes from living in a fallen world.

There is weeping in the lives of the faithful, but it always comes to an end.

God’s anger, His chastening and discipline are but for a moment; His favor is lifelong.

Dale Ralph Davis writes: “weeping may be an overnight guest, but morning brings and shout of joy.”

We, the LORD’s people, can/should exalt the LORD even through weeping and times of sorrow.

Because we know that God can always turn a situation on its head.

What’s more, God works through our troubles in ways we can’t always understand, but in ways we must trust.

Weeping may tarry, but joy comes in the morning.