Psalm 30: 1 – 12
Mourning into dancing
A Psalm. A Song at the dedication of the house of David.
1 I will extol You, O LORD, for You have lifted me up, and have not let my foes rejoice over me. 2 O LORD my God, I cried out to You, and You healed me. 3 O LORD, You brought my soul up from the grave; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. 4 Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name. 5 For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. 6 Now in my prosperity I said, “I shall never be moved.” 7 LORD, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong; You hid Your face, and I was troubled. 8 I cried out to You, O LORD; And to the LORD I made supplication: 9 “What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your truth? 10 Hear, O LORD, and have mercy on me; LORD, be my helper!” 11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, 12 To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever.
‘On behalf of the family of our dearly departed brother they would like to invite everyone to Michael’s Caterers for a luncheon followed by a time for dancing.’
Now when was the last time you ever heard that announcement after a memorial service?
Being a resident of Philadelphia I have witnessed this happen because of the rejoicing of the people that an evil man is finally dead. I like the song from the musical ‘A Christmas Carol’ when Ebenezer Scrooge’s coffin is carried out of his office building. Join with me in this song and join in a nice Irish dance if you like.
‘Ladies and gentlemen on behalf of all the people who have assembled here I would merely like to mention if I may That our unanimous attitude Is one of lasting gratitude For what our friend has done for us today And therefore I would simply like to say
Thank you very much! Thank you very much! That's the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for me I may sound Double-Dutch But my delight is such I feel as if a losing war's been won for me And if I had a flag I'd hang my flag out To add a sort of final victory touch But since I left my flag at home I'll simply have to say Thank you very, very, very much! Thank you very, very, very much!
Thank you very much! Thank you very much! That's the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for me It sounds a bit bizarre But things the way they are I feel as if another life's begun for me And if I had a cannon I would fire it To add a sort of celebration touch But since I left my cannon at home I'll simply have to say Thank you very, very, very much! Thank you very, very, very much!
For he's a jolly good fellow for he's a jolly good fellow for he's a jolly good fellow And so say all of us Thank you very much! Thank you very much! That's the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for me It isn't everyday Good fortune comes my way I never thought the future would be fun for me And if I had a bugle I would blow it To add a sort of 'ow's-your-father touch But since I left my bugle at home I'll simply have to say Thank you very, very, very much Thank you very, very, very much
No, my friends, it is I who should thank you Thank you very much Thank you very much That's the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for me The future looks all right In fact it looks so bright I feel as if they're polishing the sun for me And if I had a drum I'd have to bang it! To add a sort of rumty-tumty touch but since I left my drum at home I'll simply have to say Thank you very, very, very much! Thank you very, very, very much!
There was a time when many churches frowned upon dancing. That’s because they considered it too sensual.
Now, as for me and dancing, you probably won’t catch me out on the dance floor very often. It’s not a theological thing. But, as those who know me will attest, I can’t dance! My feet and my arms and my body will not move with the music in an appropriate fashion.
Although Psalm 30 speaks of God taking us from mourning to dancing, the Psalmist isn’t referring to a Social Evenings Dance. Instead, the Psalmist is calling for us to celebrate a movement from sadness to joy.
Ours is an embodied faith, as the Psalms so often declares. And the first great commandment as stated in Deuteronomy calls for us to love God with all our heart, soul, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:4). Scripture invites us to worship God in dance, and by kneeling, bowing, and lifting our hands before the LORD. Yes, ours is an embodied faith.
As God moves us from mourning to dancing, from sadness to joy, this movement involves our entire being. So, let us celebrate the God who reaches into our lives, pulls us up, even from the grave, so that we might live. Yes, as the Psalmist declares: “You changed my mourning into dancing.”
We will discuss this a little more when we come to this portion in today’s Psalm. For now, let’s begin our study.
This Psalm would appear to be an expression of thanksgiving for healing from what had appeared to be a fatal disease. His illness has reminded the Psalmist of his mortality, and has warned him against complacency, but now it re-echoes in praise. Now he is filled with gratitude and thanksgiving. It is such an individual psalm that we must surely see it as originating out of personal circumstances, even if it came to be used in wider ways
A Psalm. A Song at the dedication of the house of David.
The psalm is such an individual one that this heading pulls us up short. And it raises the question as to which ‘house’ is being spoken of. It is possible that we are intended to see it as referring to ‘the house of David’. It may be that this was written by a young descendant of David who had not as yet borne children but had been very ill and had expected to die. Thus, having been healed of what he had thought was a fatal illness, he may well by this psalm have been rededicating his ‘house’ to God.
Others have seen it as referring to the plague that swept Israel as a result of David’s sin ( 2 Samuel 24.15-17). It may then be David’s lament on behalf of his people as he identifies them with himself, and his resulting thanksgiving as a result of God’s mercy.
Still others, however, see the dedication as indicating a purpose to which the Psalm was later put, possibly at the rededication of the second Temple. It may then be having been taken over in order to reflect the deliverance of Israel from Babylon, a deliverance which had eventually resulted in the second Temple, for what happened to the king was regularly seen as reflecting what happened to the people. He was their very breath (Lamentations 4.20).
But in the end, everyone who sang it saw it as referring to himself, as one among the people of God, and saw it in the light of his own blessings.
We may see the Psalm as dividing up as follows;
1). An expression of gratitude to YHWH for his deliverance from death (30.1-3).
2). He calls for all the people to join with him in his gratitude (30.4-5).
3). He reminisces on the complacency that had been his when he was well and the shock that his illness had been to him (30.6-7).
4). He expresses his prayer for deliverance (30.8-10).
5). He offers up his final oraise and thanksgiving because he has been delivered (30.11-12).
1 I will extol You, O LORD, for You have lifted me up, and have not let my foes rejoice over me. 2 O LORD my God, I cried out to You, and You healed me. 3 O LORD, You brought my soul up from the grave; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
The Psalmist praises God for having raised him up (verse 1) and healed him (verse 2). He had been very conscious of two things while he was ill, first that his opponents had been waiting, hoping that he would die so that they could then rejoice over his coffin and pursue their own ends, and second of the gaping jaws of the grave that had been waiting to receive him and had been seeking to drag him in. But he recognized that God in His goodness had thwarted both and had spoiled their hopes. God had triumphed on his behalf. His soul had not, of course, been in Sheol, it was just that it had seemed to be so as he lay there in his fever, for God had ‘kept him alive’, and had not allowed him to go down into the Pit. The ideas of Sheol (the grave world) and the Pit are parallel. They are the places where the dead go.
For our own benefit see the point ‘I will exalt you’ because ‘you have raised me up’. He cannot raise up God, for it is God Who is the giver, but he can at least lift His Name in order that it might be exalted. And that he will do with all his heart.
4 Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name. 5 For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.
He is so grateful to God for his deliverance that he calls on all the people who are true to God (His holy ones) to give thanks with him. The ‘memorial of His holiness’ may well be the Ark which was the throne of YHWH and the place of reconciliation. But only because it was itself seen as drawing attention to the power and glory of YHWH. Or it may be the Most Holy Place itself, which could not be entered (except on the Day of Atonement) because the holiness of YHWH was represented there. In either case, however, he was looking beyond it to the heaven of heavens where God was enthroned in glory in His holiness.
His true people may ‘experience His chastising anger for a moment when they have sinned, but that in the end those who are ‘in His favour’ will enjoy life’. Here was a first foundation for the future promise of eternal life. And while the night time may bring weeping, the morning will undoubtedly bring joy. That is the lot of all who are truly His. He is giving praise for God’s continuing faithfulness and care for His own.
6 Now in my prosperity I said, “I shall never be moved.” 7 LORD, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong; You hid Your face, and I was troubled.
In a few short words the Psalmist brings out his own, and man’s complacency. When all is going well men think that nothing can affect them, especially if they are prospering wealthwise. And yet he acknowledges that he had overlooked the fact that it was God Who in His favour and compassion had made his mountain stand strong. This may reflect the strength of Jerusalem, which was David’s city, and that he was secure because God had made him so. He had grown complacent, had forgotten what he owed to God, and had begun to see himself as invulnerable.
But then God had hidden His face from him, and all his troubles had begun. What a shock it had been to his system. Suddenly he had realised that he was mortal. What an important lesson that is for us all to learn.
8 I cried out to You, O LORD; And to the LORD I made supplication: 9 “What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your truth? 10 Hear, O LORD, and have mercy on me; LORD, be my helper!”
So, the Psalmist’s cry reaches up to God. It is possible that we should see the initial verb as a historic present, making the picture vivid. ‘I am crying to you, O YHWH’. But the main point is that his plea is to YHWH.
In the depths of his illness his argument is simply that if he dies he will be able to praise YHWH no more. It is the prayer of someone very ill who has at this moment little time for theology. He is down to the basic practicalities. ‘In my blood’ simply means ‘in my death’. The point is that in the grave he will not be able to praise YHWH, nor will he be able to testify of Him.
11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,
But then all had changed. The sickness had left him, and he was conscious of a new beginning. His mourning had been turned into dancing, which was certainly not the behavior of a sickly man. He had been restored to strength. And God had removed his sackcloth, the sign of his mourning, and had instead girded him with gladness. Isaiah 61.1-3 where the coming of the Anointed Prophet would also introduce such joy and gladness. The Good News of God always brings gladness.
God reaches out to us when we find ourselves overwhelmed by darkness. God reaches out to us when it seems as if we’re in the depths of despair. I know that some of you have known deep grief and even despair. They are so deeply embedded in despair that they can’t even imagine ever experiencing joy again. They go to their doctor for depression and even when they are on prescribed medication they cannot rise above the sadness.
And yet, it is amid this darkness that God Is at work changing our mourning into dancing and exchanging our funeral clothes for ones that reflects joy.
We can’t manufacture this joy on our own. It will take God’s active presence to change our situation. This is an important word for us to hear, but I also know that we must stop and recognize that moving from sadness to joy isn’t as easy as saying – Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Just saying you love Jesus doesn’t mean everything is going to be okay. Prayer is essential, but just praying harder may not always make things better. God heals, but healing may come in forms that are different from we might want or expect.
The answer, according to the Psalmist, is that God will pull us up and God won’t let the enemy rejoice over us. We can give thanks to God because God is faithful.
There is, however, a danger to be avoided. We can, so the Psalmist suggests, grow so comfortable with life that we begin to think we’ll never stumble. When the good times roll, we begin to think they’ll never end. When that happens, we tend to rely on our own strength and forget to entrust our lives to God. After all, who needs God when things are good?
But what happens when you begin to stumble? What happens when you begin to feel that God is hiding from you? Do you feel, as the Psalmist suggests, not just dismay, but you’re terrified?
But, of course, when we find ourselves in such a situation, then we begin to cry out to the LORD and beg for mercy. Maybe we will join the Psalmist in reminding God that God has nothing to gain from our spilled blood or from our taking up residence in Sheol. And so we cry out: Rescue me, LORD. Restore me to your presence.
As we cry out to God, we begin to feel the healing hands of God lift us up. And as God lifts us up we begin to dance with joy.
The one who loves, and leads Is God, and we can’t dance or can leap unless God Is the one who leads us and lifts us up.
So, are you ready to dance? Are you ready to exchange your funeral clothes for ones that are appropriate for a party? But if you’re ready to dance, are you also ready to invite others to experience God’s healing presence, which breaks down barriers and enables them to experience the joy of the LORD forever?!
12 To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever.
And the resulting end of his experience will be that in his own glory as the king, which was the result of God’s goodness to him, he will sing praises to YHWH, and will not be silent. As far as he is now concerned YHWH is his God, and he will give thanks to Him forever.
