Psalm 30: From Sackcloth to Joy
I will exalt you, LORD,
for you lifted me out of the depths
and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
LORD my God, I called to you for help,
and you healed me.
You, LORD, brought me up from the realm of the dead;
you spared me from going down to the pit.
Sing the praises of the LORD, you his faithful people;
praise his holy name.
For his anger lasts only a moment,
but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may remain for a night,
but rejoicing comes in the morning.
When I felt secure, I said,
“I will never be shaken.”
LORD, when you favored me,
you made my royal mountain stand firm;
but when you hid your face,
I was dismayed.
To you, LORD, I called;
to the Lord I cried for mercy:
“What is gained if I am silenced,
if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it proclaim your faithfulness?
Hear, LORD, and be merciful to me;
LORD, be my help.”
You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent.
LORD my God, I will praise you forever.
\o/ — Comments Psalm 30: You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy! — \o/
What is the basis of my happiness?
What is the basis of my esteem?
What is the basis of my health?
What is the basis of my security?
I am reminded as I read Psalm 30 that all of life is dependent upon my walk with the LORD and His presence and grace in my daily routines. His attentive care can turn the most desperate situation into a time of joy and dancing. His intervention in my life can turn sickness into health, defeat into victory, despair into confidence.
This realization challenges me to “hang in there” during times that are difficult knowing that they will pass and that the LORD will lead me to a better place. This realization reminds me to go to the Father in prayer with my every care and trust Him with my deepest concerns and most most obvious failures. Most of all, this realization drives me to praise God and celebrate His goodness, His involvement, His grace, His listening ear, His mercy, and His love for mere mortals like me. With the psalmist, I cry out with confidence:
You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent.
LORD my God, I will praise you forever.
I don’t know what it’s like for you where you are today, but as I look at this psalm again, with spring bursting forth and the promise of all of God’s goodness for a new day, I am reminded of a Chris Tomlin song we sang recently when gathered with God’s people. It goes somethings like this:
I will lift my eyes
In the darkest night
For I know my Savior lives
And I will walk with You
Knowing You see me through
And sing the songs You giveHow can I keep from singing Your praise?
How can I ever say enough?
How amazing is Your love?How can I keep from shouting Your name?
I know I am loved by the King
And it makes my heart want to sing
No wonder we can talk about a God who has turned our mourning into dancing!
I don’t think I’ve ever read this psalm the same way as today, and I’ve come back to it to read it again and again, for it’s comfort.
Reminds me too, of “Today is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.”
Why is it so difficult to do that sometimes?
Personally I needed this reminder: Today is the only today I will ever have; if I don’t praise God today, in whatever is going on, how can I possibly think I can praise Him and thank Him tomorrow, as though that will be a better time for it. Has He not seen us through to this point?
Thank you for taking our minds to this wonderful comfort, a comfort that can only come from God.
(I copied it, printed it, and put it in a place where I will have to see it regularly. This is a good reason to read God’s Word regularly for these reminders. But this one is valuable to me, personally, for frequent reading.)
a friend
3 Apr 08 at 1:58 pm
From Sackcloth to where is God?
Where is a comfort that can only come from God?
Why had most intellectuals and writers in Europe abandoned traditional Christianity by the end of the nineteenth century? Was it a result of industrial and scientific progress? Was it Charles Darwin and his insightful writing on evolution? As A.N. Wilson writes in his book *God’s Funeral, the sources of this skepticism and disbelief were many and varied.
Where God had once stood alone – at the center of knowledge, meaning and life – a cacophony of voices was now being heard and God was being pushed aside. For many, particularly those who might be counted among the cultural and intellectual elite, God was gone entirely.
And far from replacing God, that cacophony of voices merely created a void. They did not unite and they did not offer the same certainty and solace that God once managed to provide. This created not simply a crisis of faith, but also a crisis of culture. As science and philosophy and politics treated God as irrelevant, humanity once again became the measure of all things – but no one seemed prepared to accept the value of that sort of standard.
Glenn Waters
3 Apr 08 at 6:40 pm