Hallelujah

That’s kind of the way we use God, isn’t it?

When sickness, bad luck, or tragedy shatters our life, we suddenly and humbly pray to God for a quick fix.

When we’re in the deepest pit of our sin, we cry out to God to help us find peace with ourselves.

It’s been my experience that God usually comes through for us in our times of great need, and then when the crisis is passed, we quickly return to our old way of life, with our Burger King theology and God is thrown back into the trunk, conveniently placed there until the next time we need Him.

It’s when we forget to praise Him that we have fallen into the pit!

We fall into the pit, God comes to our rescue, we fall into the pit, God comes to our rescue, we fall into the pit over and over again, and God comes to our rescue time and time again!

It’s a vicious cycle.

We can’t bring ourselves out of the pit by our own power because that would be works and deeds instead of faith; and because of the sin of pride, God is the last person we remember to call upon to help us out.

The pit is a place we may have made for ourselves because of sin.

A pit is a dark and gloomy place, that’s eternally deep and miserable.

The pit stands for whatever you’re facing now, or have faced in the past, that has been to some degree what you have considered to be your part of hell on earth.

Nobody likes a pit.

It’s cold, unpleasant, and down right miserable.

I think Psalm 30 was written for us today, so we could remember that we were made for the purpose of praising God.

If God has done something great for us, and certainly each one of us can claim that God has done something great and wonderful for us, then there should be in our hearts an expression which naturally flows out of our hearts back to God.

Some of us have probably received some healing from a serious illness or some great difficulty in life.

Certainly, we have all had our sins forgiven.

Then wouldn’t it be the normal and the right thing to do if we would have the wisdom to recognize that fact, and be thankful to God who has dealt with us in mercy and grace?

This week, I told the Lord the same thing David did.

I said to God, "...O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever” (verse 12b).

There is nothing I can say to improve this verse.

What David said, I said.

I hope and pray this is what you will say with me as we stand and repeat this verse together this morning for our Benediction:

“O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever” (print this verse in your church worship bulletin).

Heavenly Father, if there is one here today reading this sermon who has not yet entered into a personal saving relationship with You, I pray this miracle of salvation be present in his or her heart, and You, Dear God, will take up residence in the Holy Temple of his or her heart. Amen.

Rev. Jimmy Davis

Bayview Baptist Church

5300 Two Notch Road

Columbia, SC 29204

Email: BayviewBaptist@aol.com

Telephone: 8030754-8690