Giving Thanks for Deliverance Psalm 30:1-12
It was getting near the end for David. He had been a king for many years. He is tempted by Satan to number his fighting men of which David sends Joab to do. After this count David was convicted in his heart that he had displeased God. God gave David three choices on how he would be punished for this sin. He chooses to fall into the hands of what God would do. 70,000 men died from a plague God sent. David repented by saying it was he that had done a wicked thing. David built and altar and God stopped the plague. From this comes the writing of Psalm 30 which is a Thanksgiving Psalm.
”I will praise you, Lord of hosts, For You have lifted me up; since you have silenced Satan’s boasts, I will therefore boast in you. My sins had brought me near the grave, the grave of black despair; I looked, but there was none to save, Till I looked up in prayer. In answer to my distressing cries, from hell’s dark edge I am brought: My Jesus saw me from the skies, and swift salvation created. All through the night I wept painfully, but morning brought relief; that hand, which broke my bones before, then broke my bonds of grief. My mourning he to dancing turns, For sackcloth joy he gives, A moment, Lord, Your anger burns, But long your favor lives. Sing with me then, you favored men, who long have known his grace; with thanks recall the seasons when you also sought his face.” C. S.
We want to look at seven different ways our mind can work in this Psalm:
1. We find that David is in great torment and overwhelmed by his enemies including Satan. (A Mind overwhelmed) David who is said to be a man after God’s heart is nearing the end of his life and yet commits a sin that he needs to repent of because of the disgrace he brings to God and God’s people. It matters not where you are in life there is always a need to draw closer to God. You may have not sinned in the ay David has done but remember God is holy and do we ever get to the place where we can say I have reached the holiness I need? “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.
2. Our mind needs to be on the fact that God lifts us up over our distress and enemies and we need to praise Him. (A MIND FILLED WITH PRAISE)
I give you all the credit, God you got me out of that mess, you didn’t let my foes gloat. //I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me. You refused to let my enemies triumph over me. “O Lord my God, I cried out to you for help, and you restored my health. // God, my God, I yelled for help and you put me together. “God, you pulled me out of the grave, gave me another chance at life when I was down and out. // You brought me up from the grave, O Lord. You kept me from falling into the pit of death. You are the one who has lifted me up. I will take time to praise you for the benefits I have received.” It is grace that has lifted us from the cavity of hell, from the gully of sin, from the mire of Despondency, from the bed of disease, from the burden of uncertainties and fears. He lifted us up to be adopted into the family. Of the three things that God gave David a choice in the one most feared was that his enemies would defeat him. He said; let me fall into the hand of the Lord, and not into the hand of man. Terrible indeed were our lot if we were delivered over to the will of our enemies. Those friends, who thought that we would go back to our old sins, have been disappointed. Let us praise Him who has kept us! David did not cry to his friends, or to an arm of flesh. He knew for sure God had healed him. He had the evidence of spiritual health within him now! David is quite sure that God has done great things for him, whereof he is exceeding glad. Psalm 40:2 “He pulled me out of a horrible pit, out of the mud and clay. He set my feet on a rock and made my steps secure. “
3. God brings us into prosperity and we need to be careful not to forget Him. (A MINDWITH THOUGHTS ON GOD) “Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones! Praise his holy name.” //Make music to praise the Lord, you faithful people who belong to him. Remember his holiness by giving thanks. “His anger lasts only a moment. His favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may last for the night, but there is a song of joy in the morning. //His anger lasts for a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may go on all night, but joy comes with the morning. “When all was well with me, I said, "I will never be shaken."// When I was prosperous I said, "Nothing can stop me now!" David asks for a choir of holy people who could sing from their hearts. You who are God’s holy people let your holiness compel you to sing. Because sinners are wickedly silent, we need to shout and sing. How can people come to church and not sing? It is an exercise that brings delight to God. What God has done for us in the past should cause us to sing with great joy. If He does nothing else we have much to praise Him for even now. David was doing well and God had blessed him and he felt he could anything. When he thought he could do anything he said, “Nothing can stop me now!” He found that God does get angry if we go against His will. David had committed adultery, committed murder, trouble with his children, had counted his army when God told him not to. God is slow to anger and swift to end it. How the devil and those around us want us to believe that we can make it by ourselves and not need God. When we become proud we fall for our dependence on God is gone. I am glad David says his anger only lasts a short time. God founded the world upon the floods, to show us what a poor, inconstant world it is. Instead of picturing that we shall never be moved, we ought to remember that we will be gone sooner than we think. Because we happen to be well and have our needs met today, does not mean that even tomorrow all could be gone and we included. We cannot rely on this shifting sand. Hebrews 12:2 “We must focus on Jesus, the source and goal of our faith. He saw the joy ahead of him, so he endured death on the cross and ignored the disgrace it brought him. Then he received the highest position in heaven, the one next to the throne of God.” The Psalm is a song not a complaint.
4. When the Lord hides His face from us it gives great distress. (A MIND THAT BELIEVES GOD IS GOD) Your favor, O Lord, made me as secure as a mountain. Then you turned away from me, and I was shattered.// O Lord, by your favor you have made my mountain stand firm. When you hid your face, I was terrified.” When it seems things were well for David it says “God hid His face from him and then the devil troubled him.” Enjoyments cause confidence; confidence can bring carelessness; carelessness separates us from God and gives opportunity to Satan to work unseen.
If God be your portion, then there is no loss in the entire world that lies so hard and so heavy upon you as the loss of thy God. There is no loss under heaven that affects and afflicts a person as the loss of his God. David met with many a loss, but no loss made him so sad as the loss of the face of God, the loss of the favor of God. This proves, first, that David was a genuine saint, for no hiding of God’s face on earth would trouble a sinner; and, secondly, that the joy of the saint is dependent upon the presence of his Lord.
5. When the loss is felt we turn to earnest prayer. (A MIND CONSTANT IN PRAYER)“I cried out to you, O Lord. I begged the Lord for mercy, saying, // I will cry out to you, O Lord. I will plead to the Lord for mercy: "What will you gain if I die, if I sink down into the grave? Can my dust praise you from the grave? Can it tell the world of your faithfulness? // "How will you profit if my blood is shed, if I go into the pit? Will the dust {of my body} give thanks to you? Will it tell about your truth?" Hear me, Lord, and have mercy on me. Help me, O Lord."// Hear, O Lord, and have pity on me! O Lord, be my helper! Prayer is the unfailing resource of God’s people. If they are driven to their wit’s end, they may still go to the mercy seat. When an earthquake makes our mountain tremble, the throne of grace still stands firm, and we may come to it. Let us never forget to pray, and let us never doubt the success of prayer. The hand which wounds can heal: let us turn to him who smites us, and he will be entreated of us. What profit is there if I die? You will lose a singer from your choir, and one who loves to magnify thee? The grave does not praise you. If I be gone you will loose a witness of your trophy of grace. When the Lord helps us there is no duty we cannot perform, there is no foe we cannot overcome and no difficulty we can not conquer.
6. God is the one who restores us and then we have great joy. ( A MIND FULL OF JOY) You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, // You have changed my sobbing into dancing. You have removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.
God will take away the mourning of His people and replace it with a joyous expression of praise of which this says is dancing. This is due to the sound of His name JESUS. The sackcloth of despair is taken off and replaced with gladness. If this be true of David, delivered from his calamity just think of how it was true of Christ, arising from the tomb, to die no more. It is true of the one who repents and believes. I have some thing to sing about, “The world didn’t give it to me and world can’t take it away.”
7. Our purpose is to bring glory to God alone and always trust in Him. (A MIND THAT COMPETELY TRUSTS) That I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever! // so that my soul may praise you with music and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever. To the end --namely, with this view and intent--that my glory--that is, my tongue or my soul--may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. It would be a shameful crime, if, after receiving God’s mercies, we should forget to praise him. God would not have our tongues lie idle while so many themes for gratitude are spread on every hand. We are all to sing in heaven, and therefore we should all sing on earth. Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths smooth.
