Psalm Chapter 30

A Psalm and Song at the dedication of the house of David.

Psalm 30:1 I will extol thee, O LORD; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me.

This is the end result of those that stay faithful to God through the trials and persecutions of this life. They will be exalted over the enemies of righteousness. Sometimes it may seem as if the enemies are winning but they will not. Our God will bring all to justice. Judgment will fall over all enemies of the gospel.

The gospel is the good news of the mercy and grace of God upon all. The gospel came by the Son of God, Jesus who is our (Messiah) Christ. He came to save all from sin, who would believe in Him. All of us have sinned and all of us need salvation from sin. If we reject this way God provided for us to be saved and receive life eternal, then of course Jesus' sacrifice on the cross will not count for those who reject this good way.

Enemies of the gospel are those who try to stop the spreading of the gospel to anyone. To keep someone from hearing the gospel that will save their eternal souls, is a dangerous sin against God. If you kill or persecute those bringing the gospel, judgment will be very severe if you don't repent and ask God to forgive your sins. If you try to stop the gospel, you are hindering the lost from hearing the gospel so that they can be saved.

God will take vengeance upon those that oppose the gospel and righteous living of those that have received the gospel. If you encourage those that live in holiness to return to sin, you will also face the danger of severe judgment if you don't repent or change.

The bible says that all who live godly will suffer persecution. Godly living stirs up anger in those that are living in sin. When they see someone living in godliness, they are convicted in their hearts and they know that their own deeds are evil. There are two reactions to this; they will either repent of sin and change or they will resist this and despise those that live godly. Some just ignore the godly but others persecute them. Yet there is exceptions to all this. I've seen those that respect and treat kindly those that live godly even though they haven't yet received the gospel themselves. They don't ignore, persecute or forbid the gospel but they don't actually have the faith to embrace it.

2Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

When I originally wrote this study, it was getting bad all over the world but even though we see remnants of those standing up for the truth of God's word, the present day we see violence increasing by those that resist the truth. We must remember that the increasing violence was the reason God destroyed the first earth with a flood.

Psalm 4:3 But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him.

Even though the godly suffer persecution and mockery, God sets apart godly people for Himself. The Lord will hear when they call Him. It is a great thing to be part of those that God sets apart for Himself. That is awesome to think about. Being set apart by God for Himself.

It is those that obey the Lord that enter into heaven, not just all who claim to know the Lord.

Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

That verse use to scare me but we don't have to be afraid. If we are willing in our innermost being to obey the Lord as soon as we know His will, then that is a good sign we are already doing so just by being willing. Thankfully, the Lord looks into our inner most being.

Psalm 30:2 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.

The soul is saved when one comes to Jesus Christ. Only the body dies at natural death. The body is the only thing that is resurrected at the Coming of Christ, the soul is already alive in either heaven or hell.

2Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

David here may be thanking the Lord for saving him from death by his enemies. We can thank the Lord when He saves us from the eternal death of the soul which is tormented night and day in hell. That is why Jesus Christ came and suffered such agony and took in His own body every sin that mankind ever committed. Our sins were paid for by Jesus Christ who didn't sin and didn't deserve to be punished but took the punishment for sins that we committed instead. He is so good.

Psalm 30:4 Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.

I'm glad God is holy. I'm glad God is not like man. I'm glad God is who He is. I'm glad the way is holiness. I don't want sin to continue forever. If sin continues, suffering continues. That is what most of us do not get. Many want to stay in our sins and reject God for what? For death, pain, sickness, murder, rape, suffering, hurt to continue forever. God is going to take all of that away. He is going to rid the world of sin. If we stay in sin, we will be destroyed with it. If we turn to God, we will be saved from sin and live eternally.

Psalm 30:5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

Sorrow and pain are in this life but for a believer, they have a hope of life eternal without any sorrow and even in this life they have the joy of the Lord abiding within their very soul. Joy also comes in eternity when we pass from this present life to life eternal. It is going to be everlasting joy.

Revelation 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

That will be, a happy day, when the clouds have passed away, from my cares, I've been set free, when the home gates swing open for me.

That is part of a song we use to sing but what a great day that will be when the tabernacle of God dwells with His creation forever.

Psalm 30:6 And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.

I repeat, the righteous shall abide forever and not die. The body may die but the soul and spirit abides forever.

Psalm 30:7 LORD, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.

In times of trials God may seem to be silent but He is there.

Psalm 30:8 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?

There is more profit for a holy man of God to remain upon the earth as a witness than that his body dies. That is why the apostle Paul said:

Philippians 1:23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:
24 Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.

Precious Paul was always thinking about those that needed to hear the gospel more than his own life or comfort.

Psalm 30:10 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.

This is a mystery that the world cannot understand. We can have joy even in the midst of trouble, persecution and sadness. One reason is that we know the end, but the real reason is that the presence of the Lord is with us continually.

Acts 16:22 And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.
23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:
24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.
25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

Paul and Silas were beaten for preaching the gospel, their feet were put in stocks, and they were thrown in jail. Their prisons were not like ours in the United States were you can have food, shelter, beds, a college education, TV and warmth. They were lucky to get water and food that was safe to eat and drink. Yet in all this they sang praises to God. If they sang to God in prison how much more should we sing to God and praise Him in our lives. He is worthy of all our praise. DC

Psalm 31

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