Thursday, December 5, 2013

Reflections on Psalms 30

 Psalms 30(Contemporary English Version)
  1. (A psalm by David for the dedication of the temple.) I will praise you, LORD! You saved me from the grave and kept my enemies from celebrating my death.
  2. I prayed to you, LORD God, and you healed me,
  3. saving me from death and the grave.
  4. Your faithful people, LORD, will praise you with songs and honor your holy name.
  5. Your anger lasts a little while, but your kindness lasts for a lifetime. At night we may cry, but when morning comes we will celebrate.
  6. I was carefree and thought, "I'll never be shaken!"
  7. You, LORD, were my friend, and you made me strong as a mighty mountain. But when you hid your face, I was crushed.
  8. I prayed to you, LORD, and in my prayer I said,
  9. "What good will it do you if I am in the grave? Once I have turned to dust, how can I praise you or tell how loyal you are?
  10. Have pity, LORD! Help!"
  11. You have turned my sorrow into joyful dancing. No longer am I sad and wearing sackcloth.
  12. I thank you from my heart, and I will never stop singing your praises, my LORD and my God.

Psalm 30 apparently came from a time of severe illness for David, or perhaps a time of great emotional distress in which he felt ill. How this setting relates with the opening note that the psalm was used as "a dedication song for the house" is not clear.

Unlike many of the previous psalms, David had already witnessed God's answer to his prayer when writing this psalm and so it does not open with words of concern that God might not hear his prayer. Instead, he begins with the words, "I will exalt You, LORD, because You have lifted me up." And in the next verse he says, "LORD my God, I cried to You for help, and You healed me."

Verse 5 is a key verse in at least a couple of ways. First, it adds to our understanding of David's situation behind the psalm. His illness, or whatever the circumstance, was due to God's anger - or at least David felt that to be the cause. Whether real or imagined, it feels the same. Some have suggested this psalm came from an event found in 1 Chronicles 21 in which David's pride and disobedience caused the Lord to send a plague that killed 70,000 people and now the Lord's anger was turned on David causing him to be ill which is the setting for this psalm. That is only conjecture, though it is possible. But verse 5 lets us know that David had felt God's anger.

Another reason verse 5 is key is its powerful message to us about God's anger. It tells us that God's anger is not His primary emotion toward us. His favor toward us is His primary emotion we experience: "His anger lasts only a moment, but His favor, a lifetime." We need to hang onto this truth (and this verse) and allow it to encourage us when we feel God is angry with us. But the second part of the verse is just as powerful. Though we may go through a time (a night) of weeping, as David had with this experience, the morning will come and the weeping will pass and there will be joy. This truth we also need to hold onto tenaciously to help us through the time of weeping. Though the time of weeping feels it will never end, this is not the reality. Reality is that moring will come when the suffering is past and there will be joy once again. How it will come and how long it will be in coming is in God's hands as is the joy that will come.

Next, David points to another misconception we have. As when times are bad and we feel they will never end, we also feel that when times are good they will never end. David said in verse 6: "When I was secure, I said, 'I will never be shaken.'" When he was secure and all was good he thought it would never change. What was the basis of this confidence? Was it in himself or in God? The longer our time of being secure and all is good continues the more we are prone to take credit for this state. We occasionally need a little "shaking up" to remind us who is in control. The truth for David was that when he was secure it was because of God's favor, which "made me stand like a strong mountain." But then, God hid His face and David "was terrified." But remember, this lasted only for a moment compared to the time in which David experienced His favor.

When morning came and the weeping was past for David, the Lord, "turned my lament into dancing." Joy had returned. Therefore, David says, "I will praise You forever."

No comments:

Post a Comment