Psalm 30
Psalm 30
is another psalm of praise. Again I hear
a deep challenge within the psalm. As I
read the psalm, I hear three movements – each building the challenge from a
different perspective.
The first
movement is in the first three verses.
This is a personal confession and testimony from David. David cried out to the Lord and God was with
him. God sheltered him. God healed him. God did not let David’s enemies triumph over
him. The challenge is that we should
likewise remember to praise God for what God has done in our life. We should remember His victories daily.
The second
movement is a return to the announcement of God’s character. David ascribes certain things to God. David is mindful that God’s anger lasts a
moment but His love endures forever.
David reminds us that we may be sad for a night, but in the morning
we’ll have a new perspective from God that will be based on hope and joy. The challenge here is to remember that in God
there is eternal peace, joy, and love.
The world may close in on us, but the suffering of the world is at best
temporary. In God, we have a more
permanent position of peace in Him.
The third
movement is a combination of the two earlier themes. It is in this third movement of the psalm
that we find the greatest wisdom on earth.
Life – everything we treasure – comes at the hand of God. Our joy comes from God. Our delight comes from God. Our success comes from God. Our strength is only by His favor.
The reason
that the message of this psalm is so important is because the psalm really does
counter traditional human tendency.
Human beings come to God most often when we are in need. When life is going well, we have a tendency
to forget God. This psalm tells us the
opposite. When life is going well we
have all the reason in the world to celebrate.
We should be glorifying God’s name the loudest and boldest when life is
going well for us. We should be
testifying to God’s character the most when life is going well!
I’m not
saying that when life isn’t going well we have any reason to drift away from
God. I’m not saying that at all! Rather, what I am trying to do is to make the
point that we have no excuse for drifting away from God and getting sucked into
our own life when things are going well.
For good or bad we should praise God and remember that our life comes
from Him.
Psalm 31
Psalm 31
contains one of the most famous New Testament quotations from the psalms. If it isn’t the most famous, it should
be. Psalm 31:5 tells us, “Into Your
hands I commend my spirit.” These are
the words that Jesus utters as He dies upon the cross. At the moment of death – the moment of
salvation! – these are the words that God chose to speak. That’s powerful to me.
But let’s
back up for a second. Let’s go back and
make sure that we pick up the theology from Psalm 31:3, too. “For your name’s sake you lead me and guide
me.” The theology here is really
clear. Crystal clear. It is for His name and the sake of His name
that God is in our life. God doesn’t
lead us and guide us so that we can see how good we can become. He doesn’t lead us and guide us so that we
can swell up with pride with respect to how much good we can do. Our faith isn’t about us!
It is
about Him.
Life is
about God. If we believe the words of
the psalm here, our life is about God.
It has to be. If our life isn’t
about God and following God’s ways, then we don’t really believe the theology
of Psalm 31:3.
Now let’s
tie Psalm 31:3 together with Psalm 31:5.
Life is about God and for the sake of His name. This is precisely why Jesus can commend His
life in God’s hands upon the cross.
Jesus’ life has been completely about God’s agenda. When Jesus sat among people, He was teaching
them about God. When Jesus taught among
the crowds, He was instructing them about God.
When Jesus argued with the Pharisees and the scribes, Jesus was arguing
for the sake of God. Everything Jesus
did pointed back to God.
Everything.
That’s a
really high bar, I know. Jesus lived a
pretty flawless life. But it is the bar
to which we should desire to rise. We
should be living our life as though everything is for the glory of His
name. If at the end of our life we
desire to utter the same words as Christ – “Into Your hands I commend my
spirit” – then we really need to be about God’s ways before we get to the end
of our life.
<><
No comments:
Post a Comment