To listen to the entire program, CLICK HERE (39 minutes)
Or…To listen to individual segments of the program, click the links below
Sermon: Joy (19 minutes)
Song: Wake, Awake, For Night Is Flying
Song: I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light
Bible Study behind the Sermon: A Careful Look at Psalm 30
The Obvious
The writer is happy. After going through an unspecified “hard time,” the writer has now been “drawn up,” “healed,” “brought up from Sheol,” and “restored to life.” Those metaphors could refer to a variety of happy reversals in the human experience. The wording in the Psalm remains just vague enough to turn our imaginations loose and prompt us to fill in the blanks with our own happy pivots of plot.
The Psalmist has clearly been in trouble—and is now delivered from such calamity. This poem is a big WHEW! And all the credit for this good news belongs to God.
The key theme is “divine reversal.” “His anger is but for a moment—his favor for a lifetime.” “Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” “You have turned my mourning into dancing.” “You have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.”
Some of the phrases of this Psalm are so beautiful they are worthy of committing to memory.
The Less Obvious
There is a mismatch between the ascription—”Psalm of David at the dedication of the temple”—and the rest of the Psalm. The Psalm itself never mentions the temple.
Perhaps the ascription is a hint as to what should go on in the temple. After all, over time the temple was known for harboring corruption, idolatry, immorality, and greed. Both the Old and New Testaments feature a temple that had lost its main purpose, provoking the anger of God. (e.g. II Kings 23: 4-7) Jesus displayed divine anger at the temple going astray and announced its destruction. (Luke 19: 45-46; Luke 21: 5-6)
Another odd thing in the ascription is that David was not alive when the temple was built, either the first time a few years after his death, or the second time, nearly 5 centuries after his death. Perhaps David wrote a Psalm to dedicate the temple before he died. More likely, in my opinion, this Psalm was composed centuries later—along with the rebuilding of the temple around 516 B.C. Perhaps this Psalm was composed after the long history of religious unfaithfulness, evil, corruption, destruction, and ruin. It was composed in the spirit of David as a way of giving thanks for the restoration of the temple and making a commitment to make it a house of prayer and praise to God. We might call this a Psalm of thanksgiving for second chances.
When we are given a second chance—whether through healing, rescue, serendipity, twist of fate, mercy, victory, or a new alliance—it is worth pondering how to be a steward of that second chance. Psalm 30 is just such a pondering.
There is a subtle reminder that God can punish us. “His anger is but for a moment.” And God’s absence, silence, or punishment can leave us weeping in the night. “You hid your face and I was dismayed.” Sackcloth is a costume worn when we are trying to get God’s attention so we can apologize. Sometimes we have triggered our own downfall by our foolishness and faithlessness. While God’s punishment is strategic and not the end of the story, it nevertheless may seem so when we find ourselves suffering the consequences of our own selfishness or stupidity.
Even though the mood of the Psalm is jubilant, the writer slips an argument into all the praise and thanksgiving—an argument with God. (Sounds like something King David would do.) The logic goes like this: If I am dead, or exiled to Sheol, or too depressed by my troubles to function—then how can that benefit you, O God? The dust lying around isn’t going to sing your glory or tell stories of your love and might! If you’ll be gracious and help me out of this mess, you’ll get everything you want—all my praise, testimony, and love. While most of us have been taught to never argue with God, there are numerous biblical anecdotes to the contrary—such as this one. If human relationships are all the richer for having good arguments with one another, why not our relationship with God?
Verses 6 and 7 can be read a couple different ways. Does v. 6 imply that the author grew arrogant and un-relational consequent a spell of good luck? Did the good luck—“you had established me as a strong mountain”—result in the writer becoming inflexible—“I shall never be moved.” Did victory and success for the people go to their head? Perhaps God had to bring the person or people back to reality—“you hid your face, I was dismayed.”
Or perhaps vv. 6 and 7 can be read as a post-restoration pledge, a verification that the lesson of the past has been learned. Perhaps the writer will never be moved away from this new life of praise and thanksgiving. Perhaps the remembrance alone that God provides—and God can take away—will be enough to keep the good times rolling.
Psalms are often put into three categories:
Psalms of innocent joy and happiness, without any experience or hint of sadness, brokenness, trouble, or danger
Psalms of deep yearning, reaching out to God because someone is trapped in tragedy, depression, terror, or loneliness
Psalms of rejoicing that the story has taken a turn for the better, the night of weeping is over, and a new day of rejoicing has begun.
Psalm 30 falls into category “c.”
Of course, life is more complicated than “I have my good days and I have my bad ones.” Most days are a mix of good and bad. Because of our moods or defense mechanisms we may not see the good in some days—or the shadows in other days. But on any given day, we have elements in our lives where we can honestly say to God, “You hid your face and I am dismayed.” And yet on that very same day, we can celebrate our victories by saying “You have drawn me up and did not let my foes (personal or impersonal) triumph over me.”
Because Psalm 30 is overwhelmingly celebratory, it nudges us to count our blessings (even in the face of our troubles) and rejoice through song and storytelling. Such praising, recitation of blessings, and rituals of gratitude will improve our perception of reality, strengthen our relationship with God, and heal our moods.
Repertoire 