Psalm 30

A Psalm and song,
at the dedication of the house of David.

1 I will extol thee, O LORD;
for thou hast lifted me up,
and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me.
2 O LORD my God, I cried unto thee,
and thou hast healed me.
3 O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave;
thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

4 Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his,
and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.
5 For his anger endureth but a moment;
in his favour is life;
weeping may endure for a night,
but joy cometh in the morning.

6 And in my prosperity I said,
"I shall never be moved."
7 LORD, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong;
thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.

8 I cried to thee, O LORD;
and unto the LORD I made supplication.
9 What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit?
Shall the dust praise thee?
Shall it declare thy truth?
10 Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me;
LORD, be thou my helper.

11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing;
thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;
12 To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent;
O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.

JW: He praises God for delivering him, and exhorts others to praise him, ver. 1-5; recollects his former security, and his prayer when in trouble, ver. 6-10; and stirs himself up to thankfulness, ver. 11-12.

5: 'Cometh' - Speedily and in due season.

7: 'Mountain' - My kingdom.

9: 'The dust' - Shall they that are dead celebrate thy goodness in the land of the living (or), shall my dust praise thee?

11: 'Sackcloth' - Given me occasion to put off that sackcloth, which they used to wear in times of mourning, Esther 4.1, Psalm 35.13, Isaiah 32.11, Joel 1.13. 'Girded' - With joy, as with a garment, surrounding me on every side.

12: 'My glory' - My tongue.

On the prescript, Wesley adds: At the dedication of David's house, which was built, 2 Samuel 5.11, and doubtless was dedicated, as God had commanded.

The passage from 2 Samuel is in the context of David being anointed king over Israel by the people (post-Saul, so this is a different situation than when Samuel came to anoint David in 1 Samuel 16). I'm drawn toward what the Scripture says in the verse before and after the one Wesley pointed to.

And David became greater and greater, for the LORD, the God of hosts, was with him. And Hiram the king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, also carpenters and masons who built David a house. And David knew that the LORD had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.

To be honest, I'm finding it difficult to write too much about this achieved prosperity, glory, and joy, being in the midst of Lenten season. Maybe I should be looking forward, anticipating the deliverance that is forthcoming...when mourning will turn to dancing...darkness, sorrow and death to Hallelujah. After all, Jesus endured the cross despising its shame all because of the joy that was set before him.

On the other hand, this Psalm displays a reflection upon past troubles and how God has responded, delivered, healed, etc. So in that reflection there is some resonance with this season of the life of the Church, esp. verses 7b-10.

Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled. Boy, this phrase doesn't feel very comfortable does it? My pastor said on a couple of occasions a while back that "There are times when God hides from us." I'm not sure he ever heard the criticism directly, but I certainly heard a lot of negative reactions to those statements and even I had difficulty swallowing the way he said it. After all, we Wesleyans believe that God relentlessly pursues EVERYONE, right? God doesn't hide; God always pursues! Okay, yes, but what did David mean here? I think it's central to point to God's wooing (prevenient & convincing) grace...God's cosmic and grand pursuit of fallen humanity. But what of our pursuit of God? I mean if all we need to stress is God's pursuit of us then why go through seasons like Lent? Why learn what it means to be a disciple when, if God pursues me, he can find me sitting still in the pew? I don't think that's what is meant by our affirmation of God's pursuit, but we need to be careful not to let that belief talk us into sitting still so he doesn't miss. Remember, from Psalm 26, that discipleship involves the whole body...except for your butt (as in don't just sit there).

Remember this is poetry, too. Don't take everything to their logical extremes. That goes for both statements Thou didst hide thy face and "God pursues us." Truth is there are times when at least it seems like God is nowhere to be found. What do we do then? Surrounded by ashes. Surrounded by flooding waters and tsunamis. Surrounded by loss and destruction and death. I cried to thee, O LORD! What profit is there in my/our blood/death? Shall the dust praise thee? Shall it tell of thy faithfulness? Hear, O LORD, and have mercy! Be our helper!

Sackcloth: a sign of grief...and of solidarity. Praying for mercy upon Japan in the wake of earthquakes and tsunamis is the first and appropriate step. May it be accompanied with true empathy, just as Christ empathized with the entire human plight of a drama of the creation groaning in pangs of childbirth. It took death to get to resurrection. Otherwise, would death really be defeated? Would we really have any hope?