Psalm 30

Rev. Jerry Hoek

Introduction:

It was a Friday evening while we were in Iowa. I was preparing to go to the church to conduct the wedding rehearsal for a couple I was going to be marrying.  I had had some concerns about their relationship but nothing that I felt that they could work out as they got started.  I was about to go to the church when the phone rang.  It was the brother of the groom and he simply told me, “Bill is not going to be there tonight.”  I thought maybe he was sick or had an accident and then the brother explained that Bill had changed his mind.  He was not going to go through with the wedding.  He was leaving town.  It was up to me then to tell the bride of his decision.

I’ve never had to deliver the news of a death to someone, but I have to tell you that this is what it felt like.  I walked into the church and saw the flurry of activity, everyone busy but happy with the coming events.  I told the bride I needed to talk to her and her family.  She could see something was wrong, but I reassured her that Bill was not hurt.  I then broke the news to her and her family that there was not going to be a wedding.  A time of joy had turned into a time of embarrassment, pain, sadness and anger.

There are times when we can have what I sometimes call “whip-lash” emotions.  You go from happiness to sadness in a matter of minutes.  What we are going to be looking at today is the opposite.  David talks about going from mourning to joy and how God is the one who has done that for him.  Let’s read Psalm 30.

I. The Lord’s Healing Hand

II. Praise for the Lord’s Grace

III. Lessons from the Past

IV The Celebration of Praise

I. The Lord’s Healing Hand

The very first thing David does is in break out in praise in verse 1.  He writes, “I will exalt you, O LORD,…”  This is more than David just saying that he is very happy.  To “exalt” means to honor, glorify someone.

He gladly glorifies God for the joy and happiness that he has.  God is the one who has caused him to be so joyful.  He is not just happy, he is happy and joyful toward God.

There are several things mentioned in verse 1-3 which explain his joy.  First, God had answered David’s cry for help.  David writes, “for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me.”  God answered his cry when David prayed to Him.

More specifically, God healed his illness and saved him from almost certain death.  He writes, “O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me.  O LORD, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit.”  God reached down into the pit of death and brought him up from the grave.

Moreover, from verse one we see that God also rescued him from the mockery and scorn of his enemies.  While he was ill, his enemies mocked him or hoped to take advantage of him.  Since God has rescued him, his enemies will not have the opportunity to gloat over him.  God has answered his prayer and restored him fully.

David is now a very happy man for God has healed him and answered his cry for help.  We can understand David’s joy.  When I found out that my cancer was contained and most likely completely removed, I firmly believe that God had spared my life.  The joy I felt was, as I said a few weeks ago, inexpressible.

Perhaps you too have had situations where you knew God had saved your life.  Perhaps it was from a sickness or disease you faced.  Perhaps it was a car accident or some other accident that threatened your life.  Perhaps you were on the verge of financial collapse and God rescued you from that.  You know the beautiful joy that comes as a result of knowing that God has spared you.  What is striking is that David is so joyful that he must invite others to join with him.

II. Let’s look more specifically at David’s  Praise for the Lord’s Grace.

Verse 4 says, “Sing to the Lord, you saints of his; praise his holy name.”  Why is it important to sing?  Why are there so many exhortations to sing praise?  We are to make a joyful noise!  Singing is a very powerful expression of one’s emotions and thoughts.  It permeates our thoughts and fills our minds.  It is a very appropriate vehicle for our praise for it conveys our total being.

Now who are these “saints” David invites to sing with him?  The saints not only include what we might call the “super-holy” people who always obey God.  The saints are all God’s people who should see God’s healing hand as well.

The setting of this psalm is likely a public worship setting.  He shares with the people his answered prayers and then urges them to sing.  He invites all of his fellow people to come and praise God with him.

Why does David want them to join with praise and thanksgiving?  They have experienced God’s grace in similar ways in their own lives.  They have gone through trials and have felt God’s healing hand as well.  While the circumstances may not be identical, they are similar enough for them to remember how God has answered their prayers in the past.

Verse 5 says that they all have experienced the contrast between God’s anger and God’s grace.  God’s anger is not like our anger or when we lose our temper.  God’s anger is that holy or righteous anger that He has toward sin.

Even so, such anger lasts only a moment compared to God’s grace which lasts a lifetime.  The response of love and compassion, which we deserve the least, lasts our whole life.  What we do not expect and certainly do not deserve is in fact what we get.  They all have felt the pain of God’s anger and the joy of having it replaced with grace.

Moreover, they all have experienced God’s comforting presence as well.  Verse 5 says, “weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”  Literally this refers to one who stops overnight.  Weeping will be like an out of town guest just passing through, such as a distant little known cousin who just needs a place to spend the night and then is gone again.  Our time of weeping or sorrow is only temporary and will be very brief.

There may be weeping at night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.  Before you realize it, the pain will be gone.  Because of God’s favor, rejoicing and happiness are soon here.

A couple of weeks ago, a co-worker of Claire was diagnosed with kidney cancer.  She had surgery to remove her cancerous kidney but there was still concern if the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes.  We didn’t know what to expect.  While we visited her, her doctor came in and told her that the cancer appeared to have been contained.  It was a moment of great joy as the good news sunk in.  It was one of those moments when you could see life, relief and hope come back into a person’s face.  She was reassured that she was going to be ok, at least for now.  The doctor did, however, say that there may be more battles coming down the road, but for now, her life was spared.

With God they all know that weeping will be there, but in the end joy will come.  They could remember all the times when God had caused their mourning to become rejoicing.

As a result of some of these basic similarities, they could all join in praise.  We are all called to empathize with each other when one experiences answered prayer.  God’s answer to our prayers are not just an occasion for us as individuals to praise God.  God’s healing is to be shared with all His people so that all may praise.  Paul says in Romans 12:15, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”  Let’s continue to share our individual joys and answers to prayer.

III.  Then in verses 6-10, David draws some Lessons from the Past.

He has learned a lesson about the source of his security.  As he looks back, he thought he was very secure.  Verse 6 says, “When I felt secure, I said, ‘I will never be shaken.’”  He was powerful and prosperous.

He felt that everything was under control and even boasted, “I will never be shaken!”  “I am in control of my life!  I’ve set my life’s goals and am on my way to attaining them!”  He would not be shaken.  But he became arrogant in that he forgot that it was God who had done such things for him.

Then God hid his face and he was dismayed.  He writes in verse 7, “O LORD, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed.”  Dismayed means that he was shaken down to his roots or deeply unsettled.  The world collapsed on him or he was completely uprooted.  It was at this point, as he was facing his serious illness, that he called to God.  The lesson he has learned is that God alone is his source of security.  Only God gives him strength and makes him stand.

When workmen began to renovate Theater London in London, Ontario, they were determined to save the theater’s greatest glory __ its splendid arch with its hand painted murals of nymphs.  During the project’s early stages they discovered that one side of the arch was supported by nothing more than a broken brick standing on loose sand.  A steel support was hastily erected before the arch collapsed.

This is a picture of David when he realizes how little he can rely on himself.  With God’s grace and favor, however, his mountain was strong and firm.  But God had to knock all the self-made props out from under him before he realized it was true.

David has learned a lesson about his place in God’s plan and kingdom in verses 8-10.  Here David almost sounds arrogant, but he is not.  He reflects back on his reasoning with God.  In Psalm 38, he reasoned that much would be lost if God allowed him to die.  David’s death would not be good for God nor for the greater good of God’s kingdom.

He is saying that if he had died, it wouldn’t really be what God wanted.  This means that David recognizes that he has a place in God’s plan and kingdom.  God didn’t create David just so he could kill him.  God created David so that he could praise him.  If David repents and obeys God, then he will praise God all his life.

To praise God and glorify Him throughout life is really what David wants.  He recognizes this now and is glad to be a part of God’s plan.  God’s purpose for him is to praise and glorify him and now David will gladly do this.

Have you learned similar lessons in the past?  Before I had my cancer surgery 5 years ago, I remember having this kind of conversation with God.  Now I’m not saying that I believe that I am indispensable by any means.  Yet I believe God had given me gifts to serve Him and serve His church.  How would it serve the church if I die at this point in my life?  From my perspective it made sense that God should spare my life.

Of course God uses all of us in all circumstances.  I have known people who are terminally ill who were extraordinarily gifted and yet God used them in their dying to glorify his name.  However, for the most part we glorify God’s name the most effectively if we are living.  That is what David has in mind here.  If we are being faithful in serving God, then we are glorifying God.

IV The Celebration of Praise

Notice how David describes the change.  In verse 11, he addresses God again and says, “You turned my wailing into dancing.”  Earlier he was wailing and mourning, crying aloud in uninhibited sorrow.  Think of the middle east custom of wailing and weeping to express sadness.  That has been changed to dancing for joy, displaying uninhibited joy.

Sackcloth has now been replaced with clothes of joy.  Sackcloth was the dress of mourning, often made of rough cloth or even dark goatskin .  I was a bag-like garment worn next to the skin.  Now he is wearing clothes of joy.

Then in verse 12, he describes the results of this change.  David will sing to God and not be silent.  His heart means his whole being.  He will praise God continually for he cannot be silent.  Just as prayer follows a need, so praise must follow deliverance.

He will give thanks forever.  This is something he will do throughout his whole life.  There should be no end to our gratitude to God and this is precisely what God wants from us.

What are some lessons that we can learn from this?  First, let’s get some perspective here.  Perhaps you don’t feel like you have been rescued by God from your trial.  The disease, the trial or the hardship remains stronger than ever.  Let’s not forget that regardless of our trials here, we have been rescued through Christ.

We should never forget that God’s greatest healing miracle was done in Jesus Christ.  In Christ, we are saved from the depths of hell.  Our sins are forgiven and the just punishment of eternal death has been removed.  Even if you still face difficult trials, do you have full joy in our hearts because of that greatest of all healings?

Third, this Psalm is an excellent reminder of our only source of strength and confidence.  If we want to be strong in ourselves, we will be dismayed and shaken down to our very roots.  God is our only strength and our only firm mountain.

Fourth, this is a good reminder of our place in this world.  We are here, God has put us here so that we can praise Him.  We are not to live for ourselves but we are to live for God.

Finally, we should learn to share our praise and thanksgiving with others.  In our prayer time in the morning service, in our small groups and with our families, we should share what God has done.  We should all join with each other in verbally praising God for His answers to all our needs.

In the Sierra Nevada mountains of Northern California are the largest trees in the world.  The huge sequoias tower almost 300 feet into the sky. The largest tree has a circumference at its base of 101 feet.  Some of the biggest sequoias are almost 4,000 years old __ which means that at the time of Christ, they were already more than 100 feet tall!  But even these giants wouldn’t be able to stand against the California winds without a strong root system. Not only do their roots sink into the soil, they intertwine around the roots of other trees.

We must sink our roots deeply into God so that we can stand securely.  However, we are all part of the body of Christ and we all need each other.  We have all experienced God’s loving hand and based on that, we can all joyfully join in praising God. (END)  Questions or comments to Pastor Jerry (jhoeknash(~at)Comcast(~dot)net

Snapshots from Kenya – Nairobi

This month I continue with some of our reflections from our recent trip to Kenya.

For our first Sunday morning in Kenya, Rev. Murupus told us that we were going to be worshiping in a church in the middle of one of the slums of Nairobi. As we drove there, we took in the sites of the barely standing markets and stores. There were butcheries, hairdressers, seamstress shops, as well as the ever-present cell phone card booths. The main road into the slum area was almost clogged with people walking.

When we arrived at the site of the church, we heard the worship service of a Pentecostal church blaring through a small loudspeaker. We drove a bit further down the narrow side road, dodging goats and chickens and then pulled into what appeared to be a vacant lot. In front of what looked like a run down picnic shelter was a large colorful banner that said, “Reformed Church of East Africa – Kawangware.” This was the church building.

The worship service itself was lively, unbelievably lively! We sang mostly songs in Swahili with a few familiar English songs thrown in as well. There was dancing (and yes, Claire and I danced in front of the church but we have no photographic evidence of that). The preaching was loud, enthusiastic and nothing at all like what we have been accustomed to. It was at that point, I knew that my prepared sermon that I was supposed to preach the following Sunday was going to need a lot of reworking.

But what also struck us was the diversity of the people. There was a business man who held a very good job in Nairobi. He was the president of the church. There was a smartly dressed young woman who had an important position in the local television station. And there were the people who lived in the slums as well. There was a wide range of people in that worship service, but all held together by the common belief in Christ.

However what impressed me the most was their determination to make a difference in that slum. They had purchased and then torn down a set of old buildings where gangs and thieves had operated. They were planning to build a new building that would serve as a focal point in that community. It would be a place where the neighbors would see that having faith in Christ makes a difference in the lives of the people who attended that church. They had put their footprint down in that slum and they were saying that they were there to stay. It is a beautiful example of a local church making a difference in a community.

As I thought of that congregation, I thought of Faith Church. One of our key distinctions is that God has gathered together a very diverse group of people to form this congregation. We have a wide range from all socio-economic groups, as well as different backgrounds both racially and ethnically. We are a powerful example of what the Kingdom of God is supposed to be like. One people from every tribe, language and nation.

The question I find myself asking is if we are making such an impact on our community. Have we made a statement of we are here to stay? Are we seeking to make a difference in our community? I think we have done this in various ways in the past. We have offered art classes with a Christian emphasis for children in our community. We are using our building more and more as a place where community based events can be held. We host a Coffeehouse event that is for the enrichment and benefit of those in our community.

But we can and should be always conscious of how we can continue to do this. We need to be asking God how He would use us, this special group of believers, to make a difference. I think we are making a difference in the lives of the women in the By Faith Recovery House. We have made a difference in the lives of some Hispanics in the past. But we must always be seeking to ask the question: “What does God want us to be doing here?”

This is a question the Council will be asking yet again this month at our monthly meeting. If you have input, please let me know. Please be praying for this meeting. I am convinced that God has a special plan for us here. It’s exciting to think and dream of what that may be, even if we aren’t in the slums of Nairobi.

Pastor Jerry  

July 2007