Psalms 30:4-5 NIVUK
[4] Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people; praise his holy name. [5] For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favour lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.
I’m at an age now where sleep usually comes easy, but waking up is hard – especially on a work day. Where I live sometimes helps and sometimes hinders with that process. Dawn is not a fixed time: it changes from day to day. In winter, my alarm wakes me in the dead of the night; in the summer, the sunlight streaming through my window gets there hours before my alarm does.
This Psalm is about the joy of waking up in the morning. But not just any morning. This Psalm is about waking up from the nightmare of suffering and realising that it’s gone.
It’s almost like waking up and realising that your cancer has gone into remission, or you have recovered from a serious injury, or your nearest and dearest has cone out of hospital.
It is a truly joyous experience.
The context around this Psalm has different explanations. The Hebrew word indicates a house or dwelling. It could mean, as the NIV translators have concluded, the Temple, where David wrote this Psalm to be used during the dedication. It could also mean his Palace – he was around for its dedication, but did not live to see the Temple’s.
Either way, what we are looking at here is a Psalm of joy, looking back at what God has done in his life and giving deep thanks for it all.
However, we must understand it correctly. This is not nostalgia. Nostalgia does weird things.
Nostalgia makes people long for a time when they recall being comfortable, even when all around them was anything but. Nostalgia makes people long for war times, when they were children, but bombs were raining down all around them; or for times when everyone had a job, because their country was ruled by heartless communist dictators and the entire nation was almost bankrupt; or when prices were cheap, because people were poorly paid and struggling to survive.
Nostalgia takes us back to a fantasy that did not exist.
No right-thinking Christian should ever indulge in nostalgia. Not when our best days are always ahead of us.
David is not escaping into nostalgia to escape an intolerable present and a lamentable future.
No, David is leaning on his past to gain a fresh, balanced perspective on his present and provide a springboard into his glorious future.
That perspective and that hope for the future are two things that our rootless, history denying, pretentious and whiney modern culture lacks completely.
And we can find them in this Psalm.
His past provides the foundation of a house built on the solid rock of his God.
There are three aspects of this wonderful perspective.
The first of these is What God Does.
Psalms 30:1-3 NIVUK
[1] I will exalt you, Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. [2] Lord my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me. [3] You, Lord, brought me up from the realm of the dead; you spared me from going down to the pit. https://bible.com/bible/113/psa.30.1-3.NIVUK
God did four wonderful things for David, and He does the same for us:
· He lifted David out of the depths
· He healed David of whatever ailed him
· He brought David up from the realms of the dead
· He spared David from going down to the pit
This is likely figurative, not literal, as David wasn’t literally at death’s door.
However, even a short skim through David’s history tells us that he often faced adversity, even from his youth. He stared down some pretty impressive threats that would have finished off lesser people (1 Samuel 17 contains three specific examples). He began by facing down sibling rivalry and a father who didn’t seem to value him highly, survived his own king try to kill him and even a rival to the throne.
But at this significant moment in his life, he has been crowned king and, at the highest point of his life so far, is inaugurating a major landmark.
He is like a walker who has reached the peak of a mountain and is gazing back in wonder at the way God has led him.
And that is just it. Often the mountain trail wearies us, wears us down and makes us wonder if it will all be worth it.
David’s reminds us that in the end it will all be worth it: that sooner or later we will reach the end of our journey, look back at the way God has led us and rejoice.
As well as what God did, David goes on to show us What God’s People Do – how they react to God’s mysterious work in their lives:
Psalms 30:4-5 NIVUK
[4] Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people; praise his holy name. [5] For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favour lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.
Now, before we move on any further, I feel it is important that we tackle a very important subject here, and that is how Christians should react to what is happening both around them and to them.
I am British. But I do not at all agree with the ‘stiff upper lip’ mentality, where we should Stoically endure whatever comes our way without cracking either a smile or a frown. That is nonsense, profoundly unhealthy and leads us to internalise our problems rather than deal with them.
But neither do I believe that churches should resemble a Latino or South-East Asian melodrama with so many tears and cries that you’d think the service was receiving product placement sponsorship from a tissue company. That is also nonsense. Our reward in heaven will not ever be based on our ability to over-act.
There has to be a happy medium.
And I believe David finds that happy medium here.
Firstly, he says that followers of God praise. That is, regardless of what is happening to them, they recognise God as Lord of their life and seek to live their lives in a way that brings honour and glory to Him.
Right away, this excludes having all the facial expressions of a clothing store mannequin or weeping at the drop of a hat as if you’ve just sliced a field of onions.
Neither of these reactions give glory to God.
Look at how Job reacted to his series of deeply painful tragedies:
Job 1:20-22 NIVUK
[20] At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship [21] and said: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.’ [22] In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. https://bible.com/bible/113/job.1.20-22.NIVUK
Or, to quote a rather excellent modern song:
Every blessing You pour out I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say,
‘Blessed be the Name of the Lord’
Do you see it? Both Job and Matt Redman give glory to God and don’t take from it by either over-reacting or under-reacting. They honour Him by recognising His sovereignty and His right to do with them what He so chooses.
But – and we can’t ignore this – God's people don’t just praise, they also weep.
This is not just an emotional reality. It is a fact.
Even Jesus wept.
He wept over the state of a city that refused to repent (Luke 19:41) because He knew what would happen to it.
He wept by the graveside of a departed friend (John 11:35).
As members of the same body, we, as Christians, are commanded go weep with those who weep and mourn with those who mourn (Romans 12:15). In fact, those who weep are blessed because their weeping will end one day (Luke 6:21).
So yes, God’s people weep. We weep because Jesus wept. We weep for a fallen world. We weep because it is the right and fitting thing to do, because we are sad.
If you want a life where you will pass through everything with a rictus grin on your face and never be sad, don’t be a Christian.
Not a real one, anyway.
Because real Christians weep.
But they don’t weep to attract attention to themselves. They don’t weep for money or on demand or because it's required. They weep because they genuinely care.
And there is something distinctive about Christian weeping:
It stops.
It stops because, as well as praising and weeping, God’s people rejoice.
And this is a beautiful sentence.
So beautiful, in fact, that I was once in a charismatic church that simple sung this line over and over and over again. At the time, I must admit that I thought it was excessive. But now I understand. I really do understand.
Because this verse teaches us a precious truth that sustains us through any kind of suffering, no matter how deep.
It’s as if our life were a hotel – one of those huge, fancy hotels with a penthouse suit on the top floor. It’s as if weeping and sorrow were temporary guests that hired a cheap room on a lower floor, stayed for the night and then fled at first light.
But joy – ah! Joy! – joy arrives in the morning, checks into the penthouse suite and never leaves.
The picture is of pain and suffering as a nightmare that disappears when you open your eyes. Or as a mist that is burned off at sunrise.
In other words, pain and suffering may be deep, but they are short – gloriously short.
But joy – ah! Joy! – joy is eternal. For all of God’s people.
Do I hear a Hallelujah?
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NIVUK
[16] Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. [17] For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. [18] So we fix our eyes not
on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
That is the meaning of this verse.
So yes, God’s people feel pain. And yes, it hurts.
But it is not chronic, in the sense that it is not forever.
One day we will be free of it. And for all eternity we will not miss it.
That is why, even though we weep, we also rejoice and praise God, because our suffering is not eternal, but – praise God! – our joy is everlasting.
Apart from what God does and what His people do, we also see What God’s People Feel.
Psalms 30:7-12 NIVUK
[7] Lord, when you favoured me, you made my royal mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed. [8] To you, Lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy: [9] ‘What is gained if I am silenced, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? [10] Hear, Lord, and be merciful to me; Lord, be my help.’ [11] You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, [12] that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you for ever. https://bible.com/bible/113/psa.30.7-12.NIVUK
Christians feel emotions. Christians are people too. Unlike the sometimes robotic behaviour we see from certain groups of people, we must accept that Christians feel the ups and downs of life as much as anyone else.
But it’s what we do with them that makes the difference.
Have you ever ridden on a vehicle with broken suspension or shock absorbers? You get jolted around like crazy and wonder if your spine will be shaken through your skull. It’s far from a pleasant experience.
That is what it is like when you go through hard times with someone who doesn’t have the resources to cope with them. Even the smallest shock or test is exaggerated to the nth degree. They become like someone who spends every day stressing about whether
the dead will rise and haunt them, or what they would survive a zombie apocalypse or an alien invasion.
It sounds utterly ridiculous, but if we end up catastrophising about things that are downright unlikely to happen, we are doing the same thing as those who spend their lives fretting about some bizarre comic book/horror/sci fi fantasy.
We are spending our precious time and energy fending off threats that have no power because they will not happen.
This is how the Bible tells us to deal with stress and anxiety:
Psalms 55:22 NIVUK
[22] Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.
Isaiah 41:10 NIVUK
[10] So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. https://bible.com/bible/113/isa.41.10.NIVUK
Matthew 6:34 NIVUK
[34] Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
John 14:1 NIVUK
[1] ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God ; believe also in me. https://bible.com/bible/113/jhn.14.1.NIVUK
Philippians 4:6-7 NIVUK
[6] Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. [7] And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. https://bible.com/bible/113/php.4.6-7.NIVUK
1 Peter 5:6-7 NIVUK
[6] Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. [7] Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. https://bible.com/bible/113/1pe.5.6-7.NIVUK
There is no doubt that Christians feel pain and stress and sadness. Of course we do. These feelings remind us that we are alive.
But Christians know how to keep their emotions in check. And the way they do it is by pouring them out to God in the quiet place of prayer, thus preventing them from spilling out on other people.
So what do Christians feel?
· Secure – knowing that in God they have the means and resources to face any challenge
· Dismay – realising that they need God to triumph over any situation, and so when He seems to hide His face, they are dismayed, and this dismay turns into prayer
· Joy – the joy of God’s favour, when He comes through for then and delivers them from all their fears
This Psalm is very special. It is special because when he wrote it David stood at a special moment in his life. And yet there can be no doubt that he sees this as God’s achievement and not his own.
Contrast this with what happened to Herod when he got a little too boastful (Acts 12:21-24).
The crux of this Psalm – through all David’s talk of what God does, what His people do and how they feel – is that weeping only remains for a night and joy comes in the morning not because of David and his strength and his resilience and his power, but because of God.
Only God. No-one else.
I don’t know what position you are in while you are reading these words, or how this message of short suffering but long joy is being received by you.
But what I want you to understand is that it is true. Absolutely one hundred percent true.
And it is only true because of God.
So if you can’t see a way out of your dark night, all I can say is this: put your faith in God and He will bring you joy in the morning, and joy everlasting.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank You for this very special message. I am completely dependent on You to bring me through this dark night to the joy on the morning. I have no other hope. Draw close to me, I pray, and guide me through this darkness. Amen.
Questions
1. What perspective does David have on his own past sufferings in this Psalm? How can we gain this perspective?
2. What wonderful promise is in this Psalm? What does that mean to you?
3. Do Christians feel pain when they suffer? What does this Psalm, and the Bible, teach us about how we should deal with it?
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