Psalm 30: 1-12                                    (Psalm series no. 6 of 7)

Good morning.  We are back in the book of Psalms this morning, Psalm 30.

We’re thinking about why we meet together.  Why do we meet together as Christians?  At the start of another Psalm, David says ‘I was glad when they said unto me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord”.  NIV ‘I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.”  [Ps. 122].  And Psalm 30 has the title ‘For the dedication of the temple’.  It’s a psalm for the house of the LORD.

Do you remember those early days of lockdown?  … when we couldn’t meet together as church?  At that time a friend of mine told me that he’d recently met three people who quite liked not going to church.  That set me thinking. Why?   Why might someone quite like not going to church?  The obvious reasons; the building is too cold – or too hot.  I don’t like the music – or the preaching.  Or the coffee after the service is no good. 

Or more personal reasons why I might quite like not going to church.  I can spend all of Sunday in my pyjamas.  I can watch DVD boxsets all day.  Perhaps, most relevant of all to those early days of lockdown, I don’t have to remember which day of the week it is.

But all this would seem nonsense to David.  He says ‘I was glad when they said unto me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord”.  And Christians too are glad to meet together.  We meet in twos and threes, we meet in small groups, we meet in larger gatherings – a congregation like this.  We’re Christians, the people of God; we meet together, that’s what we do. 

And that can be difficult in this time of Covid.  We’re having to learn to make the most of the space we have within the official Covid guidelines.  For example, we know the guidelines say, ‘at the end of the service “leave promptly without mingling”.  We respect that.  But once we are outside on the pavement different rules apply:  no need for masks, rule of six, social distancing, and we can hang around for as long as we like.  So what are we rushing off for?  We’re Christians; we like to meet together.

Here’s how the book of Hebrews ch. 10: 24-25 puts it; ‘Let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together …  but encouraging one another.’  We meet to encourage each other.  How do we do that?  By telling each other of the goodness of our Lord God, and the goodness of his Son, Jesus Christ.  Here Psalm 30, David gives us an example of how to do that.

Not all Psalms are the same, of course.  They come in different types.  Two weeks ago, we had a reading from Psalm 22 READ Psalm 22: 1.  It’s a complaint READ Psalm 22: 2a. 

Psalm 30 is very different READ Psalm 30: 1-2.  This is thanksgiving.  David is praising God and thanking him.   Not just a general thanks – ‘thank you lord for this fine day’.  ‘Thank you for every new, good morning’.  No, no. This is a very specific thanks.  I was in deep trouble, LORD, and you rescued me. READ verse 3.

There are quite a lot of psalms of thanksgiving.  They seem to have a pattern to them; a pattern with five sections.  It’s a pattern you and I can use.  Something like this:-

Introduction: a summary ‘Thank you Lord for rescuing me!’

Distress: what trouble was the writer in?

Appeal:  what did the writer do about his trouble?

Deliverance:  How did God rescue him?

Testimony:  in public, praising God for his mercy

As we look closer at Psalm 30 we can see these five sections (though not in that order).   We’ve already read verses 1-3; that’s David’s Summary; ‘Look how the Lord rescued me!’

Then he goes into detail from verse 6.  In verses 6-7 he talks about his Distress READ v.6-7.  Here’s David.  The Lord had set him up as king of Israel; his kingdom was like a firm mountain.  But David forgot how he depended on the Lord. ‘I felt secure. I will never be shaken’.  He began to trust in himself.  And then the Lord hid his face.  He allowed David to become seriously ill, even near to death.  That’s the pit, the realm of the dead in verses 2,3.  David’s distress.

So, in verses 8-10 here’s David’s Appeal to the Lord. READ 8-10.  The bottom line of these verses is simply a cry for mercy.  Like the tax collector in Jesus’ parable, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner’.

Deliverance: And the Lord did deliver him.  He healed David READ v. 3.  The Lord gave David the joy and relief that comes when you’ve recovered from a serious illness READ v.11.

That brings us to the final section, David’s Testimony.  It’s there in verse 12, and even more so in verses 4 and 5.  But notice, this is not David on his own at home.  This is David in the middle of God’s people meeting together. ‘Sing to the Lord, you saints of his; praise his holy name.’  Why should we do that?  Two reasons: Because of what the Lord has done for David, yes.  And also because of what David has learned about who God is.  READ v.5a.  That’s what David learnt.  One writer calls this ‘the just but merciful anger of God’.  This time of illness shook David out of his self-confidence, and set him back to trusting and praising.

Let’s go back to where we started.  Why do we meet together as Christians?  – to encourage each other.  Not the only reason, but a very important one.  David in Psalm 30 helps us see how to do that. 

There are some churches where giving public testimony to what the Lord is doing in our lives is a vital part of life together.  I think especially of the Pentecostal tradition.  Well, we are Church of England, and public testimony isn’t so much a part of our DNA.

But what we do do when we meet is we remind each other the truth about God.  And we remind each other about how things are for us who live in God’s world.  Here, in the second half of verse 5, we see the truth that often joy comes after sorrow.  ‘Weeping may remain for a night’ – like an overnight visitor – ‘but rejoicing comes in the morning’.  The Apostle Paul goes even further, saying that in some sense sorrow produces joy.  He tells the Christians in Corinth, ‘our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all’ 2 Cor. 4:17.

So this is the message of Psalm 30.  When we come together our sister, our brother, who’s been rescued by the Lord, calls us all to sing his praises and praise his holy name.

Now I know there can be a problem with joy coming in the morning – when some of us feel we are still in the night of weeping.  … which is another reason why we meet together.  Paul tells the Roman Christians, ‘Rejoice with those who rejoice; – but also – mourn with those who mourn.’ (Romans 12:15).  In tough times we encourage one another with our empathy and our practical support.

But we can still follow the example of this psalm.  After a time of serious illness, God has brought David back to full health.  David is eternally grateful.  He wants us all to join with him and give God thanks.  That’s where many of us are this morning.  We’ve lived through this past week, we’ve called out to God for the many things on our minds.  The Lord has got us through the week.  We are trusting him for next week; and we’re here meeting together to give him our thanks. 

‘Sing to the Lord, you saints of his; praise his holy name.’ 

‘O LORD my God, I will give you thanks for ever.


Category: Prayers , Sermons , Services , The Bridge

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