I Will Give Thanks To You Forever

[0:00] In addition to being composed with such beautiful lyric, the Psalms have a fantastic way of bringing comfort to our hearts. They're prayerful in the way that they are written, of course, as prayers that are intended to be set to music.

[0:14] They help us to voice our prayers to the Lord. Perhaps you have a habit of praying through the Psalms. If you have never done that, I would encourage you to do that.

[0:25] Mark through, study through them. Mark the ones that would be helpful in different seasons of your life and come back to those and allow God to teach you through his word how to actually pray to him and how to lift your voice in worship to him.

[0:40] But the Psalms also have a way of unlocking doorways into deeper understandings of Bible doctrine. In fact, some would suggest that the Psalms are really a concise commentary on the Bible as a whole.

[0:58] That as you study through the Psalms, you'll find all the necessary doctrines there for us to understand, of course, in a veiled way, but you'll see the doctrines that are there to help teach us who God is.

[1:09] They teach us about creation. They teach us about our sin and our need for redemption. They teach us about a savior. They teach us that that savior is the Lord God.

[1:19] And they teach us how to lament. They teach us so many different things. And it's no surprise to us then that Jesus and the apostles quoted from them so often in the New Testament.

[1:33] In fact, as you study through the New Testament, you'll find that the authors there employ the Psalms often when preaching the gospel. You just read it a moment ago as we're going through Romans 15, at least four different times in Romans 15, maybe even more than that.

[1:50] Romans 15, Paul quotes the Psalms in order to encourage our hearts about the goodness of God in the gospel, that he has brought the Gentiles and the Jews together in the gospel of Christ.

[2:02] It wasn't to the gospel literature that Paul appealed to in that moment. Those weren't even written yet. It was actually to the Psalms that he appealed to in order to preach that gospel truth.

[2:12] The other apostles did the same thing. Jesus used them often. You'll remember even as in reading the narratives about his crucifixion, in the words that Jesus cried out from the cross itself, he was quoting the Psalms.

[2:29] Why? So that we would connect the covenant promises of God to his sacrifice and his atoning death on the cross for our sins. What was it that he used?

[2:40] What was the Psalms that he used? They're wonderfully doctrinal in that way. But they're actually very helpfully practical as well. They don't only teach us the truths of God, they teach us how we're to respond to the truths of God, don't they?

[2:56] They instruct our praise. Psalm 150, verse six, let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, David says, over and over and over.

[3:07] We see it again in Psalm 30, over and over. That's what the Psalms are telling us to do. Here's who God is. Here's what he has done. Now worship him, praise him, lift your voice with singing, lift your voice in the congregation of God's people and sing his praise.

[3:25] But they don't only teach us to praise. They teach us to confess. Psalm 51 comes to mind in particular, doesn't it? After David's sin with Bathsheba, God sends the prophet Nathan to call him out on his sin.

[3:42] And he goes through that season of suffering as a result of his sin. And at the conclusion of that, looking back on it, David writes Psalm 51 where he says, have mercy on me, oh God.

[3:55] According to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin.

[4:07] They teach us to praise. They also teach us to confess, confess. There's no excuses given in those confessions. The confession is, I'm a sinner. I need your mercy.

[4:19] The Psalms teach us that. They teach us to lament. That's something we don't often know how to do. In fact, we're so opposed to grief.

[4:30] We want to be shielded from death in so many different ways now in our culture that we have no idea how we're to respond to it when we actually go through a season of grief. But the Psalms teach us.

[4:42] They teach us how. Psalm 13. The whole Psalm, really. David cries out again. How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever?

[4:53] How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

[5:05] Consider and answer me, O Lord my God. Lift up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. Lest my enemy say I have prevailed over him. Lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

[5:19] That's an extreme lament. And the Psalm in Psalm 13 never actually gives a solution to it. It never gives a conclusion that anything had actually happened.

[5:30] But in the midst of this lament, the way David closes out his prayer is with praise. But I have trusted in your steadfast love. My heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

[5:42] I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me. And David pens that before the Lord had actually dealt bountifully with him in that particular scenario. They teach us to lament.

[5:53] How to grieve. Psalm 30 contains both doctrinal insight and this practical instruction. And it's bookended by two resolute statements of praise.

[6:08] Verse 1, David opens, I will extol you, O Lord. And then he closes on the other end of it in verse number 12. I will give thanks to you, O my God.

[6:19] Forever I will give thanks. And so it follows then that the main intention here, this Psalm, is to encourage us in a worshipful thanksgiving, which makes it fitting for our study today.

[6:33] But there's a secondary line of emphasis in the midst of this Psalm that cautions us against arrogance, reminds us of the necessity of confession when we fall into sin, specifically the sin of prideful ingratitude.

[6:54] So let's set the context here with the title and the superscription of the Psalm. Look with me just before verse number 1. A Psalm of David, a song at the dedication of the temple.

[7:06] That's the contextual clue that we have. And I believe that it's best to view these superscriptions in the Psalms as inspired scripture. Sure. It's unfortunate that the way that some of our Bibles are printed is perhaps, depending on what kind of Bible you have, these superscriptions may be set to the side or they may be diminished in their size or italicized or something like that.

[7:29] I think that's actually unfortunate because it leads us to think that the titles for these are not a part of the inspired scripture. And that since that's not a part of the entire inspired scripture, there's no reason for us to give any attention to it.

[7:42] But I don't think that that's true. I actually think that these superscriptions are given to us as contextual clues that are inspired by God. But of course, not everyone agrees with that.

[7:54] In fact, there's some dispute over this specific Psalm and its title. You'll notice it says that it's a Psalm of David and then immediately it follows it up and says that it was for the dedication of the temple.

[8:06] Some have argued that this must have been added at a later time in history because David wasn't alive at the dedication of the temple. But I don't think that there's a convincing reason to assume that this isn't actually original to him.

[8:21] And I think this will help us set the context here. Spurgeon was persuaded that David wrote this particular Psalm in reflection on his sin when he numbered the people.

[8:33] Do you remember that? Towards later on in David's life, we often think of David's sin, we think about maybe multiple wives or we especially will think about his sin with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah.

[8:45] We don't always think about his sin of pride in numbering the people though. And it was one of the most destructive as far as the consequences are concerned. David had numbered the people against God's will.

[8:57] He even had plenty of warnings not to do it. His own right-hand man, Joab, is saying, please don't do this. But David, in his pride, wanted to number the people and he moved forward with it. And God judged him severely because of that.

[9:09] In fact, 70,000 people lost their lives to a plague as a result of the consequences that came along with that. Well, Spurgeon was persuaded that when David wrote Psalm 30, it was a reflection on that particular event in his life.

[9:24] And I find that quite convincing actually when you think through these 12 verses. God had told David to purchase Ornan's threshing floor at the end of that. Remember, the angel of the Lord had stretched his sword out.

[9:36] He was headed toward Jerusalem to continue this plague. David was crying out for mercy. And God said, there's a man named Ornan. He's over here. He's threshing wheat. Go purchase his threshing floor.

[9:49] David does that. And then David says, the Lord stays his hand and he removes the plague in that moment. But then remember what David said. He dedicated that specific location then to then be the site of the temple that would come.

[10:04] Not that was coming in his lifetime, but that was coming after his lifetime. So when David writes this Psalm and he adds this, this is a Psalm for the dedication of the temple.

[10:16] This is not because David was there. It's because David was faithful in thinking of God's fulfillment of his promise. He knew God would be faithful. He trusted God explicitly with the promise that he had made to him that would ultimately be fulfilled in Solomon.

[10:33] So David not only expresses his personal praise here, but he anticipates that all of God's people then, all of Israel would remember God's mercy in staying the plague when they eventually come to the temple to lift up their voices in dedication of that temple to God's goodness and God's faithfulness.

[10:54] That's why it's here. It's within that context that I think we need to understand this Psalm and apply it to our own hearts today. The main drive here is that despite the many sorrows of our life, specifically the sorrows that come as a result of our own sin, the chastening hand of the Lord, that despite all of those things, God is faithful.

[11:20] He's faithful to hear us. He's faithful to forgive us and he's faithful to save us. And what this reality does is it produces in us praise and thanksgiving.

[11:36] And so my goal this morning in working through this is twofold. First, I wanna encourage you in the truth of God's faithfulness. As we look at David's own testimony here, I hope that you'll come from it and encourage to recognize that God is a faithful God.

[11:57] He is true to his promises. He will forgive and he will bless. And then I hope that as we study through this, it will give you perhaps some perspective as you gather with family and friends throughout this Thanksgiving holiday, okay?

[12:17] So let's work through it together. If you wanna keep notes along, number one, the first thing that I have here is David's rescue. David's rescue. Look with me again at verses one through three.

[12:29] David says, I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me. O Lord, my God, I cried to you for help and you have healed me.

[12:42] O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol. You restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit. Right out of the gate here, David burst into praise.

[12:53] And he declares, not only his praise in that moment, he declares his intention to continue, to continue in extolling the Lord. Notice the future tense of the verb here, the very first phrase, I will extol you, O Lord.

[13:09] Now, is David's intention that he would write these things and that there would be a future event that he would actually come around to actually doing it? No, I don't think so. I think amid his present state of worship, he declares that there would be no end to his praise.

[13:25] Not only would he worship the Lord in that moment, but he would exalt the Lord forever and ever and ever. And before he says anything else in this psalm, the first thing he does is declare his never-ending praise to God.

[13:39] I will extol you, O Lord. But what was the reason for this commitment to praise? It was a response to God's faithfulness in rescuing him from certain death.

[13:53] If it's correct that this psalm refers to David's sin of numbering the people, then it's possible that the plague itself had touched David.

[14:06] And we don't know if that's the case for sure. There were other times in the psalms that we know David to have been sick, even sick to the point of death. But whatever the circumstances might have been, God had graciously rescued David from impending death, in this case, because of severe illness.

[14:27] And three times here in these three verses, he declares God's action in doing this. Look out with me again. Verse number one, you have drawn me up. Verse two, you have healed me.

[14:40] Verse three, you have brought up my soul from death. Three times he says, I will praise you, oh Lord, because what you have done, you have rescued me.

[14:51] You have drawn me up. You have healed me. You have rescued me from death. There's no question in David's mind here who was responsible for this salvation.

[15:03] He wasn't deluded into thinking that it was in his own power or will, nor was it in the wisdom of physicians. Like a bucket drawn up from a deep well, God had lifted David from the darkness of death, and this resulted in bursts of praise.

[15:23] I will extol you, oh Lord. Now some of you have experienced this before. You've experienced what it's like to be just a step from death because of some type of physical illness.

[15:35] And you know exactly how David feels in this moment. You know what it's like to cry out to the Lord. Save me, Lord. You know exactly what it's like to experience the comfort and the peace of God working a healing miracle in your life.

[15:52] Some of you know exactly what that's like. There's a specific application to you here in this song. But it's just not, it's not written only to those who have been rescued from physical illness.

[16:04] It's a deeper spiritual application here, isn't there? Has not Jesus rescued all of us from death as well? If you know him, it's exactly death that he has rescued you from.

[16:22] Spurgeon wrote this in relation to this psalm. Grace has lifted us up from the pit of hell, from the ditch of sin, from the slough of despond, from the bed of sickness, from the bondage of doubts and fears.

[16:37] Have we no song to offer for all this? How high has our Lord lifted us? Lifted us up into the children's place to be adopted into the family.

[16:47] Lifted us up into union with Christ to sit together with him in heavenly places. Lift high the name of our God, he writes, for he has lifted us above the stars. Is that not exactly what Christ has done for us in the gospel?

[17:02] Through his own sacrifice on the cross, as a result of his grace through our faith, has he not rescued us from death? Has he not saved us from the pit of despair, from the darkness of sin?

[17:18] So lift high your name and praise to him. That's why again and again and again, Sunday by Sunday, we continually come back to songs that specifically reflect on the gospel truth of what Christ has done.

[17:32] That's why we learn a song like, Oh, give thanks, because we give thanks to the Father, the Son, and the Spirit in that song. Why? Because what he has done for us in rescuing us from death and hell.

[17:45] But it's not just David and Spurgeon who think this is the case. Paul thought it was too. Ephesians chapter two. And you were dead.

[17:56] You were dead, not dying. You were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked. Following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work and the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

[18:23] And then he writes, But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

[18:37] By grace, you have been saved. We can sing with David, whether you've had a near-death experience as a relation to an illness or disease or not. It doesn't matter. If you're a believer, you can sing with David.

[18:49] I will extol you, O Lord, for you have lifted me up. You have healed me. You have brought me up from death because in Christ, that's exactly what he has done.

[19:00] He has rescued you from eternal hell, from the consequences of your sin. So the beginning and the end of our Thanksgiving this week should be in reflection of how Christ has rescued us from death.

[19:16] How? Through his own death and through his resurrection. So as you gather at the table on Thursday, sing this song with David.

[19:27] I will extol you, O Lord, for you have brought me up from death. So we see David's rescue. That's his personal praise. Secondly, we see David's invitation.

[19:39] David's invitation. Look at verse four. Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name. Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name.

[19:54] So after declaring his personal praise, David issued a call for all of us to join him in this worship. It's a reminder that there are both private and public dimensions to our worship, isn't there?

[20:08] It's not enough only to express praise in the privacy of your prayer closet, but we are to lift our voices together in the congregation of the saints as we joyfully exalt the goodness of God.

[20:23] But notice here in this verse, David specifies a particular attribute for which he intends for us to sing the praise of God.

[20:34] We're accustomed to giving thanks to God for his grace, for his love, for his compassion, and we should. David here tells us, give thanks to the Lord for his holy name, his holiness.

[20:50] It's unique, isn't it? Why such an emphasis on holiness? I would suggest that it's because all of the attributes of God flow freely from his holiness.

[21:01] He is high and holy above all of his creation. We offer praise and thanks to him because of that. He's gracious because he's holy.

[21:14] He's just because he's holy. He's merciful because he's holy. But John Phillips helps to narrow our perspective of this in relation to this psalm.

[21:28] He writes, it's God's holiness that is the basis of all punishment. For God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. But God's holiness is also the basis of all pardon.

[21:44] God does not say, you're sorry you've sinned, I'm sorry you've sinned, so let's just forget the whole thing. Such a policy, Phillips writes, would erode the very foundations of his throne.

[21:57] But God had to find a righteous way to pardon men. The way of the cross. Isn't that why we thank him for his holiness?

[22:08] When we really begin to narrow it down? It's because of God's holiness that we are condemned to eternal hell. It's also because of God's holiness that his own son was worthy to pay the price for our sin.

[22:22] And it is out of that holiness that then he provides the pardon. He judges Christ, the perfect, the righteous one, on behalf of sinners in order that we might be made righteous in Christ.

[22:38] That's all the overflow of the holiness of God. The perfection of God. The righteousness of God. And it's because of this holiness that we give voice to our song.

[22:51] But then look at verse five. For his anger is but for a moment, David continues, and his favor is for a lifetime. Then he restates that in an illustrative way.

[23:03] Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. So in the first three verses, David grounds his personal praise in God's salvation.

[23:15] But he anchors his invitation to the saints here in a different perspective of God's faithfulness. Remember, to apply verse five correctly, we have to recognize that it was written specifically to those who belong to God.

[23:31] That is, in verse four, O you his saints. That's the application here. The reason is because the promise for a temporary form of God's anger is never given in the scriptures for sinners.

[23:46] It's not for those who don't follow Christ. There's nothing temporary about God's anger against unrepentant sinners. What David has in mind here is the reality of God's chastening when believers sin.

[24:03] It's interesting, isn't it? In verse four, he says, lift up your voices, O you saints, saints, for God's anger is but for a moment. Now, if he's dealing with saints, why in the world would he reference God's anger?

[24:20] Because our place in God's family as saints does not preclude our ability to commit sin. And just because we belong to God doesn't mean that he just lets our sins slide.

[24:34] There are consequences to our sin. God judges, but he judges differently those who belong to him than those who do not.

[24:47] This promise proclaims that though it may be necessary for us to endure God's correction for a season, that correction is only for a moment.

[24:59] We never actually lose his favor. That's encouraging. This is a wonderful truth here. Our place as saints doesn't preclude our sin.

[25:11] And though we often sin against him, his loving grace is set on us for all of eternity. He will never abandon you. That's what's amazing about this.

[25:21] Why is he telling us to sing of this? Why is he telling us to give thanks for God's anger? Because God's anger is for a moment, but his favor for those who belong to him never ends.

[25:31] It's forever and ever. He may take us through a night of weeping, but his promise is that morning will come. And with the morning will be a renewed joy in his salvation.

[25:48] So as you gather with your family and friends this Thursday, give thanks to God for his eternal favor. Don't despair.

[25:59] Don't despair if you're in the dark night of his chastening. Joy will come. Morning will come for all who will with penitent hearts rest in his loving care.

[26:15] But there is a word of warning here. If God's anger towards the sins of his own people is so severe that it need be short, how terrifying must be his eternal judgment against those who reject his salvation.

[26:35] So come to Jesus today. Receive his eternal favor today. Because weeping may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

[26:53] His anger is but for a moment. You'll never lose his favor. And so we're encouraged to gather with David in that sense and sing our praise as his saints to the Lord.

[27:06] Then we see finally David's experience. David's experience. Verses 6-12 are a personal illustration. They are illustrating the point that David has just made in verses 4-5.

[27:20] That God's anger toward his saints is but for a moment, but that his favor is for a lifetime. So his thankfulness for God's continuing favor was not based on theory, but it was actually based on his own experience of receiving God's mercy again and again and again.

[27:37] Look at verse 6. First thing we see is his sin. As for me, David says, this is himself he's talking about. I said in my prosperity, I shall never be moved.

[27:49] By your favor, O Lord, you have made my mountain stand, but you hid your face. I was dismayed. David recalls a time when he became self-assured and conceited.

[28:03] Instead of recognizing God's gracious favor in prospering him, instead of offering thanksgiving to God, David actually became guilty of a prideful arrogance.

[28:16] This only served to produce more sin in his life so that what ended up happening was God removed his hand of blessing. again, Spurgeon says, no temptation is so bad as tranquility.

[28:30] No temptation is so bad as tranquility. We're guilty of this from time to time, aren't we? We pray for God's help. We pray for his prosperity.

[28:43] He provides it. And then we think that we've done something to achieve it. David says, there was a time in my life it was actually God, he says, in verse 7.

[28:53] It was actually by the favor of God that my mountain was made to stand strong. But as for me, I said in my prosperity, I shall never be moved. And then he found out that God hid his face.

[29:06] He became dismayed because the hand of God's blessing was removed. And so, again, it's easy to see how this could be connected to David's sin of numbering the people.

[29:18] It was pride that led David to issue the census. And the consequences were severe. The Lord hid his face, removed his hand, and afflicted the king.

[29:34] And there's a warning here for us of the dangers of ingratitude and pride. Don't take the weak for granted. Don't waste your opportunity. Why? Because it will always lead to prideful arrogance and sinfulness.

[29:48] So David sinned and he lost the blessing of God. Secondly, we see his confession. So in his experience, we see his sin and we see his confession. Look at verse 8. To you, O Lord, I cry.

[30:01] To the Lord, I plead for mercy. And here was his plea. What profit is there in my death if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you?

[30:13] Will it tell of your faithfulness? Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me. O Lord, be my helper. Similar situation to this took place with King Asa in 2 Chronicles 16.

[30:32] Asa was otherwise a great king. The scriptures say that he did what was right just as his father David had done, King David had done. But in the midst of his prosperity, he got arrogant and prideful.

[30:48] He started to rule in his own power. He started to ignore God's blessing. He stopped seeking God's blessing and thought that it was within his own power to lead the kingdom.

[31:01] So God judged him. He became diseased in his feet. But this only hardened Asa's heart further. Instead of turning to the Lord, he actually continued turning away from the Lord.

[31:14] 2 Chronicles 16. 12. In the 39th year of his reign, Asa was diseased in his feet. And in his disease, he became severe. Yet even in his disease, he did not seek the Lord, but sought help from physicians.

[31:33] I don't think the scriptures intention there is to say that you shouldn't find doctors when you're sick. the emphasis is on the fact that Asa had hardened his heart to the Lord as a result of this chastening of God's hand.

[31:47] So we see in Asa's story an example of what not to do when responding to the consequences of our sin. But we have in David's life actually a model for exactly what we are to do.

[32:01] He's a model here of godly repentance. He didn't harden his heart. He cried to the Lord for mercy. His statements here actually reflect the fact that he had learned the lesson from the experience.

[32:17] Should God choose to restore his life, David was committed to the remainder of his days praising the Lord. And then his humility is seen at the end of his confession, isn't it?

[32:29] He doesn't appeal to his own righteousness. He doesn't appeal to all of the good things that he had done before this sin. No, he cast himself wholly on the mercy of God.

[32:42] Look at verse 10. Hear, O Lord, be merciful to me. O Lord, be my helper. He didn't say, God, remember all of the times that I was faithful. Remember all the times that I did all the good things.

[32:54] Reward me now for this. Turn your eye away from this sin based on all the good things I had done. No, that's not what David does. He cries out to the Lord and he says, have mercy on me.

[33:05] He cries out the publican's prayer that Jesus mentioned in Luke's gospel where he smote his breast with his face to the ground. He said, have mercy on me, a sinner, O God.

[33:17] All of the elements of true repentance are here in these verses. David recognized and confessed his sin. He showed the desire for real and lasting change, repentance, turning away from that sin and he pleaded for God's mercy.

[33:33] And if you find yourself today in the dark night of God's anger, the solution is repentance and confession. The morning will come and blessing will return when you cry out to God for his mercy.

[33:53] Proverbs 28, whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

[34:06] So how can David say, give thanks to the Lord because his anger is but for a moment because in his own experience he had sinned against the Lord and then he had confessed his sin to the Lord and that resulted thirdly in his forgiveness, his forgiveness.

[34:21] Verse 11, you have turned for me my mourning into dancing. You have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.

[34:37] This is how we know David wasn't a Baptist because he was so willing to admit an eagerness to dance before the Lord, right? His heart was full of joy.

[34:50] He was glad. Why? He had received the forgiveness and mercy that he had asked for. Notice, however, that it was God who turned his mourning into dancing.

[35:05] Look again. Verse 11, you have turned for me my mourning into dancing. You have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness. It was God who removed his grief and replaced it with gladness of heart.

[35:20] David didn't have to convince himself somehow. He didn't have to look deep within, inside of him and say, I really hope I'm just gonna, I'm gonna be positive and hope this forgiveness into place. No, the Lord did this work in him.

[35:33] He went to the Lord in confession. He cast himself holy on the mercy of God. And when we cast ourselves holy on the mercy of God, we don't have to convince ourselves we're forgiven.

[35:43] God is the one that assures our hearts. And God assured the heart of King David in this moment. And by the way, God delights himself in showing mercy and forgiving our sin.

[35:57] He loves to do it. When you confess, he always forgives. And the purpose is that mercy, in that mercy, is that he might loose our tongues to sing his praise.

[36:09] verse 12. Why did God do this? That my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. He was so overwhelmed by God's mercy that he determined to praise the Lord with his whole being.

[36:26] That's what he means when he says, my glory will sing. He means everything within me. Not only am I gonna praise your name from now on, but I'm gonna do it with my whole life, with my whole heart, with everything within me. I will live my life to praise the Lord.

[36:39] Why? Because of the great mercy and forgiveness that I have received from him, that he delights in giving for all who will come to him and confess their sin. Micah 7.

[36:50] Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression? He does not retain his anger forever, Micah wrote, because he delights in mercy.

[37:03] And David experienced the reality of that mercy. And he responds by saying, you, Lord, have made my mourning a dance.

[37:15] You have removed the sackcloth and ashes and replaced it with gladness of heart. Therefore, I will with my whole life offer my praise and my thanks to you.

[37:28] And then he concludes in the same way that he began. with a resolve to praise the Lord. Look at the last phrase. Oh, Lord, my God, I will give thanks to you forever.

[37:44] I will give thanks to you forever. As he reflected on the faithfulness of God, he resolved to offer this thanksgiving and never stop.

[37:55] Never stop. It brings the right perspective to what we are setting aside this holiday to do. As we take time off of work and we go through all the stresses of cooking the meals and gathering with people that maybe don't even really like that much and you get together.

[38:15] What's the purpose of all of that? What it's supposed to be for is that with David, we would sing out, because you're good, because of your great mercy, I will give thanks to you forever.

[38:38] You might be here and you say, it's really hard to give thanks for me at this point in my life. Things just aren't that good. Maybe you've got a particular hardship going on with your health or maybe relationships are eroding around you.

[38:54] Maybe you're just cranky for some reason right now. Maybe it's with your job. Maybe you're going through some kind of life change and it's just hard for you to find reason to actually truly be thankful.

[39:08] What Psalm 30 does for us is it turns our minds or our attention off of our circumstance for a moment and it just reminds us of the faithfulness of God.

[39:21] Weeping may last for a night. Joy comes in the morning. His anger is only for a moment. You haven't lost his favor.

[39:34] So come to him. Cast yourself all over again on his goodness and his mercy and his grace because he delights in forgiveness.

[39:47] He wants to give it. He wants to restore your gladness of heart.