Psalm 30 New Living Translation (NLT)
A psalm of David. A song for the dedication of the Temple.
1 I will exalt You, Lord, for you rescued me.
You refused to let my enemies triumph over me.
2 O Lord my God, I cried to You for help,
and You restored my health.
3 You brought me up from the grave, O Lord.
You kept me from falling into the pit of death.
4 Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones!
Praise his holy name.
5 For His anger lasts only a moment,
but His favor lasts a lifetime!
Weeping may last through the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
6 When I was prosperous, I said,
“Nothing can stop me now!”
7 Your favor, O Lord, made me as secure as a mountain.
Then You turned away from me, and I was shattered.
8 I cried out to You, O Lord.
I begged the Lord for mercy, saying,
9 “What will You gain if I die,
if I sink into the grave?
Can my dust praise you?
Can it tell of your faithfulness?
10 Hear me, Lord, and have mercy on me.
Help me, O Lord.”
11 You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.
You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,
12 that I might sing praises to You and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give You thanks forever!
Introduction
Psalm 30, a Psalm of David, begins with a confession and ends with praise and thanksgiving. We are not positive about the setting of this Psalm. I believe David wrote this Psalm in connection with the census. You can find the history of this incident in 1 Chronicles 21.
For some strange reason, David decided to take a census. Actually the bible says in I Chronicles 21:1, “Now Satan, setting himself against Israel, incited David to make a census of the people.” The Hebrew word translated ‘incite’ means to incite, allure, instigate, or entice. Satan is the master of enticement. Based on what David says in verse 6; it was David’s pride that blinded him to Satan’s devices.
Long story short, 70,000 Israelites died due to David’s blunder and this explains why he cried all night. To my knowledge and only by the grace of God, I do not have a life on my conscious, that is a physical life. One of my fears is to cause the death of another person. The other night June and I were driving into Hartselle right after dark and I was in heavy traffic. June asked me, “Did you see that guy you almost hit, walking right beside the road?” In horror, I said, “No, I didn’t.” Had I hit him, it would have been a accident but my sensitive conscious would still be tormented. David had 70,000 innocent Israelites on his conscience.
Transition
There are three lesson we can learn from this Psalm and David’s experience: let’s look at them for a moment…
[1] PRIDE IS A PERPETUAL PEST
I have talked with the LORD about this many times and received no answer other than the one He gave Paul. Our pride is deeply rooted in our flesh and we will have to deal with this enemy from within until we draw our last breath.
YES, it is humiliating to confess but pride is my number one enemy. I worry about my pride more than any sin I see in others. Here is a verse we all need to memorize; it is Proverbs 16:8, Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Not all proverbs are laws but this one is an exception. Inspired by God, Solomon spoke the truth…PRIDE ALWAYS PROCEEDS A FALL. I have failed many times, too many to count but in every major failure, after the fact, God has shown me that PRIDE was the cause. Paul said, “Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” [I Corinthians 10:12] Just when you think you have it all together, look out!
Quote
Pride is like a sly dog that stays on your heels, the moment you take your eye off of him, he bits. Great men are not exceptions.
[2] GOD DISCIPLINES THOSE HE LOVES
5 And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said, “My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you.
6 For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.” [Proverbs 3:11-12]
7 As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father?
8 If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all.
Not only do GREAT MEN like David make mistakes, CHRISTIANS, Children of God make mistakes.
Quote
Being a Child of God does not mean that you cannot sin; it simply means you cannot enjoy sin.
David sinned but he got no pleasure from sin. His sin always produced sorrow. Adrian Rogers once said, “I can sin all I want but the truth is, I don’t want to sin.” This is exactly what Paul talks about in Romans 7… I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
I am not sinless but I would like to be!
[3] EVEN GREAT MEN FAIL
David was highly favored: it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out, God’s hand was on David. There is nothing ordinary about David. You cannot say that about me or the people I hang with. I have never been exceptional in anything. I was an average student, an average athlete and I became an average husband and preacher. June says that if there is an area were I am above average, it is at been a GRANDDADDY.
David was an extraordinary LEADER, MUSICIAN, POET, SONG WRITER, SCHOLAR, and THEOLOGIAN. He was less than average as a father. Moses, Joseph, and Job were outstanding men but there is actually no one like David when it comes to the variation of gifts. But great as He was, he did something stupid and it resulted in the loss of human life.
Quote
SUCCESS DOES NOT MAKE US IMMUNE TO FAILURE
Conclusion
Due to the fact that PRIDE is deeply rooted in our flesh: SUCCESS is more difficult to manage than failure. Chuck Swindoll says, “For every fifty who can handle adversity, only one can handle success.”
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