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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
They teach us how.
Psalm 13.
The whole Psalm, really.
David cries out again.
How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
How to grieve.
Psalm 30 contains both doctrinal insight and this practical instruction.
And it's bookended by two resolute statements of praise.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
How?
Through his own death
and through his resurrection.
So as you gather at the table on Thursday,
sing this song with David.
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.
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.
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?
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.
But notice here in this verse,
David specifies a particular attribute
for which he intends for us
to sing the praise of God.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
There are consequences
to our sin.
God judges,
but he judges differently
those who belong to him
than those who do not.
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.
We never actually lose
his favor.
That's encouraging.
This is a wonderful truth here.
Our place as saints
doesn't preclude our sin.
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.
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.
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.
So as you gather
with your family
and friends this Thursday,
give thanks to God
for his eternal favor.
Don't despair.
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.
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.
So come to Jesus today.
Receive his eternal favor
today.
Because weeping
may last for a night,
but joy comes
in the morning.
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.
Then we see finally
David's experience.
Verses 6-12
are a personal illustration.
They are illustrating
the point that David
has just made
in verses 4-5.
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.
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.
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.
Instead of recognizing
God's gracious favor
in prospering him,
instead of offering
thanksgiving to God,
David actually became
guilty of a prideful
arrogance.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Proverbs 28,
whoever conceals
his transgressions
will not prosper,
but he who confesses
and forsakes them
will obtain mercy.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
And David experienced
the reality of that mercy.
And he responds by saying,
you, Lord,
have made my mourning a dance.
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.
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.
I will give thanks
to you forever.
As he reflected
on the faithfulness of God,
he resolved to offer
this thanksgiving
and never stop.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Weeping may last for a night.
Joy comes in the morning.
His anger is only for a moment.
You haven't lost his favor.
So come to him.
Cast yourself all over
again on his goodness
and his mercy
and his grace
because he delights
in forgiveness.
He wants to give it.
He wants to restore
your gladness of heart.