The Ups and Downs of Life
Psalm 30:1–12 (ESV)
1 I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me.
2 O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,
and you have healed me.
3 O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;
you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.
4 Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints,
and give thanks to his holy name.
5 For his anger is but for a moment,
and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
6 As for me, I said in my prosperity,
“I shall never be moved.”
7 By your favor, O Lord,
you made my mountain stand strong;
you hid your face;
I was dismayed.
8 To you, O Lord, I cry,
and to the Lord I plead for mercy:
9 “What profit is there in my death,
if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it tell of your faithfulness?
10 Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me!
O Lord, be my helper!”
11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
you have loosed my sackcloth
and clothed me with gladness,
12 that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!
Most of us at one time or another have experienced what it is like to recover from a serious illness
We get sick, maybe have to have surgery…and then the recovery time…
Day by day we get better and then one day we are back to what we feel is a normal life
But even though we prayed and prayed during the illness and had others praying for us…when it’s all over do we forget to thank and praise God for our recovery?
As great as modern medicine is, God is the ultimate healer: Jesus is the Great Physician!
We can see in the Psalm we just read, that David didn’t forget
Many scholars believe that it is at this time that David is ready to dedicate the house of the Lord
The Ark of the Covenant that the people always equated with the presence of God had not been a part of the temple for some time
Now David is bringing the Ark back to the temple…time for celebration not only in the life of the Jewish people, but also a celebration in the life of David
Evidently, David had gone through some sort of serious illness
God had brought him through; time to praise God with genuine thanksgiving for the return of his good health!
Not sure what David’s illness was or how long it lasted, but it had caused him to sink low
His enemies were rejoicing that David was down and no doubt were hoping that he wouldn’t make it
He cried out to the Lord for help and the Lord delivered him
The Lord brought David back from the brink of death
The Lord restored him from among those who would go to the grave
One day David would die, but not today…he had another chance at life because the Lord reached down and lifted him up
David had a close call with death
What a perfect reason to praise God for his faithfulness!
Then in v4, David exhorts all of God’s people to join him in giving thanks
4 Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name.
That goes along with the proper function of a NT church
We are the family of God at First Lexington
When one of us is down, we all feel it
When one of us has been healed and restored by God, then all of us should rejoice with them
It’s how we roll…right?
Looking back over this low time in his life, David realized that it was only temporary
He may have felt like it was going to last a long time, but it got better
5 For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
If you’re going through some time of difficulty right now, can I encourage you and tell you that it’s only temporary
If you’ve committed your life to Jesus, then God’s favor is on you
The blood of Jesus has covered your sins, causing the favor of God to rest on you
When God is angry it is for a moment…but his favor is for a lifetime having trusted Jesus as your Savior
Knowing that because we have trusted Jesus as Savior and God’s favor is on us…Sorrow is just for a moment…just for a little while like the passing night
Joy comes in the morning!
There is light at the end of that long tunnel of grief and difficulty and despair!
Here’s another lesson David learned; not to trust in prosperity
Before David’s illness, he was like a mountain that could not be moved
He was prosperous and self-reliant
It seemed he had nothing to fear
Then suddenly, out of nowhere the flow of blessings stopped…
It seemed that God had hidden his face from David
It seemed that God was angry and had withdrawn his favor from David
Life became a nightmare
And then notice in v8, that David’s situation caused his prayers to become more intense
Before when he was prosperous…his prayers likely were dull and lifeless…but now that he is in trouble, his prayers became much more intense, much more sincere
He began to reason with God that if he died, it would be of no benefit to God!
The dead lifeless remains of David could not praise him, nor could his dust declare God’s faithfulness
9 “What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness?
Such an argument with God doesn’t seem reasonable to us…doesn’t hold much weight.
Why would you argue with God about such…but we shouldn’t be hard on David
We are much like David…
Back in v5, David had interpreted his illness as a sign of God’s anger
We have to remember: David was on the other side of the cross and maybe didn’t yet understand that God chastens those whom he loves
Hebrews 12:6 (ESV)
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
Illness doesn’t necessarily mean that God is mad at you…could be that you’re sick because he loves you
I don’t know why he would chose sickness…but maybe he needed to slow you down a bit to think
Put you on your back so you’ll look up to him!
If you feel like God is angry with you or that he is chastising you, consider it an honor…because it is a sign of God’s love for you!
Yet at times, we like David often slip into the flawed thinking that sickness and suffering are marks of God’s displeasure with us
Also, in v9 David is thinking that if he died, he would no longer be able to praise God
Yet on this side of the cross, we know that when we die, our spirit departs from our bodies and goes to be with the Lord
So, even after death we are praising the Lord forever more and praising him in a much grander and glorious way than we have ever praised him before!
But even though David had limited knowledge…it seems that his praise and worship far exceeds us
Knowing what we know, our praise and worship of God should be even greater than David
Our worship, our prayer life, our hunger and zeal for God should be greater, knowing that he sent his Son to the cross for us!
At this end of this psalm, we see David’s thankfulness and praise for his healing:
His recovery caused him to go from mourning to joy!
He traded his sackcloth of mourning for a suit of gladness
He now can praise God with his life and he would give thanks to God forever!
May you and I not to forget to give glory where glory is due
To be careful to thank God for his blessings and his faithfulness
God has given us the example of David to follow to help us do just that