4 Questions from Psalm 30

— History:

This Psalm was written when David conquered Jerusalem and made it his capital. It had been a long journey to where he had gotten. He was promised the throne but had been running for his life from Saul ever since that time. When he finally got the throne, he was met by more opposition. If it would have been anyone else, they may have wondered why God was doing what He was doing. They may have started relying on their own strength because it seemed as if God wasn’t there. But David knew something about God that others didn’t…

— Theology:

• God desires to lift us up (Ps 30:10)

David starts off this Psalm by saying; “I will lift the Lord up because He has lifted me up.” (Ps 30:1) The Lord took David as a mere shepherd boy. When we are first introduced to David, his own father doesn’t think he is worth bringing before Samuel. (1 Sam 16) In that time, a shepherd was the lowest job anyone could have. David may have thought he couldn’t get any lower, but then Samuel anoints him king over Israel.

He may have thought it could only get better from there and the only place left to go was up, but David would have been wrong. Just a few chapters later, we find him hiding for his life in a land of the Philistines (his enemies). (1 Sam 30) How low do you have to be that you can’t hide in your own country because everyone wants you dead? But the Lord was with David and lifted him up. He took David when he was lower than low and raised him to be the highest in Israel.

David remembers the times when God kept him alive as he hid from his enemies. (Ps 30:2-3) Maybe David’s mind drifted to the time when he stood before a giant with only a sling in his hand and won. (1 Sam 17) Or maybe the reminder of God saving him from being speared through by Saul entered his mind. (1 Sam 19:10) No matter what exact thought it was, we clearly see that David gave all the glory to God for keeping him alive.

Then David says “give thanks at the remembrance of God holiness.” (Ps 30:4) This word holiness should draw our minds stickily to God. How He is Creator and the giver of life. But not only is the Giver of life, but He also is a God of anger. His anger toward sin brings destruction.

Israel was warned by Samuel that having a king like the rest of the world would only bring heartache and pain but they didn’t listen. When Saul was kings, the first few years were not so bad, but then Saul started living for himself and not for the Lord. Not only did it not go over so well for Isreal, but Saul died a very horrible death too. David is saying, though, that the thought of God’s holiness should cause us to give thanks! Because God is the Creator and the giver of life, we should be thankful and praise His Name, but the thought of God being holy and punishing sin should terrify us.

Our enemy, just as David’s enemy, wants us dead. It wants to rejoice over our failure and bring us low even unto death. That enemy is SIN.

— How is it fulfilled in Christ.

• Christ is the One Who lifts us up.

David could rejoice and be thankful to the holiness of God because He knew God favored him and brought life. (Vs 5) Because of Jesus Christ, we can be forgiven from our sin. The sin that drags us down and brings our souls to Hell was concord by Christ’s death on the cross. Jesus was made low as He took on the form of a man and a servant so that we could be lifted from death up to the Father (Heb 2:9). It is Christ’s death that gives us the life and pureness we need to stand before God.

Because of God’s wonderful mercy, He became our helper when there was no hope for us. Christ became my foundation so I could stand strong and not fear what the enemy could do to me. (Vs 7)

–Application.

There are times when I feel worthless and like everything else seems to be beating me down. I am nowhere close to Davids’s pain and trials. But for me personally, during this time of virus and meeting being canceled all the time, thoughts of failing to get on the field come flooding my mind. I tell myself I am worthless and that maybe I won’t make it to the field because I’m a failure. “I mean, who do I think I am telling everyone I’m going to Taiwan to start churches? I have never started a church here and I can’t even speak the langue yet!!”

I need to remember when these thoughts come to my mind that Christ came to lift me up. It was my sin that dragged me low but He saw me at my lowest and lifted me from sin and raised me with Him. In the eyes of my Heavenly Father, I can not be any higher. This should cause me to give thanks to Him! To praise His Name and declare His truth! (Vs 9) He has turned my mourning into dancing and my pain to gladness. I will ever give thanks unto my God.