This week we’ve studied the parallel structure of Psalm 30. We’ve found matching points here, here, and here, and now we are left with verse 6, for which there is no match. It is the center of the structure. Because it doesn’t have a match, that means it is David’s most important point. What does he say in verse 6?
“When I felt secure, I said, ‘I will never be shaken.’”
David is expressing a wonderful confidence in God.
But might there be some bravado in that statement? I read verse 6 and wonder, “Really…never shaken? Even a little bit? Not once?” I say that because we humans know the experience of being shaken. In modern slang, we use the word “shook.” When we’re shook, we feeling an experience that rocks our world.
But David is reflecting on the confidence that we can have in God in the midst of our troubles. As we’ve already learned, our experience of sadness and The Depths feel like they are not just staying with us for a short one-night stay, that they are with us for weeks. Overstaying their welcome. In the middle of that frustration, confusion, and desperation, when we are on death’s door, we can know that God is with us and we can have confidence along with our shaky feelings.
It seems to me that it is best to view ourselves as complex, most often living with a mixture of emotions. For some of us the twinges of struggle and pain and depression might be with us for the rest of our lives, but we can still have confidence in God. We can still choose to praise him, be joyful in him, and dance. I see this in David’s “I will” statements. Those are statements of choice. David is declaring that he will choose to praise God. Yes, God has delivered him. And that has bolstered David’s heart and mind. He will choose to praise no matter what. He will choose to give thanks.
We can be confident, David reminds us in Psalm 30, that God hasn’t left us. He sees us. He is available for us. We can choose to remember his promises to us, and how he provided for us in the past. David is not talking about a confidence that the painful situation will be removed. While we can ask for that removal, like Jesus did, we also pray like Jesus prayed, “Not my will but yours be done.” We place our confidence in God, and we move forward by following his way of life, even in the middle of the pain.
If you are questioning and struggling, look to his provision in the past and praise him now in the present. Look to his people being his hands and feet supporting you in the past and present, and praise him. Praising him helps to center our confidence in God in the middle of our pain.
We can choose to praise him, be joyful in him, and dance. David isn’t saying that you can’t and won’t feel the pain. What he is saying is that in the midst of the pain, there is light. I see this in David’s “I will” statements. Those are statements of choice. David is declaring that he will choose to praise God. Yes, God has delivered him, which has bolstered David’s heart and mind. He will choose to praise no matter what. He will choose to give thanks.
I conclude this week of posts with a song that mixes a couple genres of psalms. 40 by U2 is mostly from Psalm 40, remembering God’s provision in the past, thanking him. But it also includes the classic line of the psalms of lament, “How long?” as we cry out to God in the middle of our pain.
Photo by Jordan Donaldson | @jordi.d on Unsplash
Engaging Scripture 