Psalm 30

Psalm 30

A Psalm of David

NKJV

~ ~ ~

In this psalm,

David is writing about a difficulty

that he endured,

He gives praise to God for bringing him through it.

Verse 1

Verse 1 says...

I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up,
And have not let my foes rejoice over me.

David is beginning

with

thanksgiving and praise.

As

Psalm 100 KJV says,

Enter

into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts

with praise:

be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

Verses 2-3

It appears that

David had been sick and almost died. 

We get this idea

from

verses 2-3.

² O Lord my God, I cried out to You,
And You healed me.
³ O Lord, You brought my soul up from the grave;
You have kept me alive,
that I should not go down to the pit.

Verse 4

In verse 4

David's praise to God bubbles out again.

NKJV reads,

Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His,

And give thanks

at the remembrance of His holy name.**

*

Psalm 92:1 KJV reminds us,

It is a good thing

to give thanks unto the Lord,

and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High.

** Verse 4 - "His holy name" is "His holiness" in the KJV.

Verse 5 a

It also appears that

David had done something sinful

to bring on that illness.

Verse 5 a.

For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for life;

In this verse, David talks about God's anger.

Whatever mess he was in, 

it appears

that it was brought about by a sin

that David committed.

Sickness

Some illnesses are brought about by our sin.

There are a variety of things 

David could have done

to open the door to this sickness. 

Verse 5 a

tells us that

David is aware of that sin,

and he rejoices that God forgave him.

God is Merciful.

1 John 1:9 KJV

gives us this good news...

If

we confess our sins,

he is

faithful and just

to

forgive us our sins,

and to

cleanse us

from all unrighteousness.

Psalm 103:10 NAB

He [God] has not dealt with us

as our sins merit,

nor requited us as our wrongs deserve.

Verse 5 b

God healed David,

but first,

God disciplined him for the sin.

(Not all sicknesses are caused by sin.)

David had to endure

a lot of suffering

before the

joy of healing came.

Verse 5b says...

Weeping may endure for a night,

But joy comes in the morning.

Verse 6

⁶ Now in my prosperity I said,

“I shall never be moved.”

Before this illness,

David was feeling

invincible.

It appears to me:

David was feeling carefree, and taking God for granted.

 He wasn't listening carefully to God.

David slipped into pride.

When we grow careless,

we fall into sin.

Verse 7

Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong;

You hid Your face, and I was troubled.

At a certain point in the past,

David noticed that

things in his life

seemed to be going in the wrong direction.

He realized

how far

he had distanced himself from God. 

He no longer had

the intimacy with God that he loved.

God was silent toward him.

But Now,

God had his attention.

Verse 8

I cried out to You, O Lord;
And to the Lord I made supplication:

We all get serious with God

when we realize

that we are in a mess.
~

David cried out to God. 

Now that trouble was upon him,

David's attention became focused directly on God.

Verses 9-10

 “What profit is there in my blood,

When I go down to the pit?

Will the dust praise You?

Will it declare Your truth?

¹⁰ Hear, O Lord, and have mercy on me;

Lord, be my helper!”

All David's life,

he had praised God through songs.

Now he calls out to God

to heal him,

so he can continue to praise him on this earth. 

Verse 11 a

You have turned

for me

my mourning into dancing;

David enjoyed

dancing before the Lord.

Verse 11 b

You have

put off my sackcloth

and clothed me

with gladness.

Sackcloth

Those who mourned in Bible times,

often put on something

uncomfortable and scratchy

to physically show their emotional state.

For example,

Isaiah 37:1 TLB

When King Hezekiah heard the results of the meeting,

he tore his robes and

wound himself in coarse cloth

used for making sacks,

as a sign of humility an mourning,

and went over to the Temple to pray.

Sackcloth

Psalm 38:6 NKJV

I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly;

I go mourning all the day long.

Verse 12

To the end

that my glory may sing praise to You

and not be silent.

O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

David began and ended

this psalm with praise.

May we all

try to give God

the praise that he deserves.

NEXT

The first section of the following video
is for those who find that...
Praise doesn't roll off of their tongue.  

If you struggle

with how to praise the Lord,

this video

will probably be encouraging and helpful.

Praise section starts at 4 minutes.

Praise helps us in many ways.

Praise can help change our emotions.

Praise can fight back the darkness.

Praise brings us to a place of humility.

Praise invites victory. 

Praise gets our focus off ourselves and back on God.

At 31:27...

There are seasons to our sin. 

I (Beth) am giving an example

after listening to what the speaker taught.

An addiction example

In the Spring and Summer of an addiction,

people think,

"I don't need God. I am having a good time."

But seasons change...

In the Fall and Winter of an addiction,

people think,

"I am in deep trouble. I need help.

I need help from God."

In the Fall and Winter, it can feel like

God is hiding his face from us.

~

The speaker approximately said,

"Fall and winter is when people usually

come back to church.

They now realize they need the Lord."

Mercy

is

not getting what you deserve.

God delights to show mercy.

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Psalm 30 was posted in April 2023.