TLIC Psalms. February 24. By Your Favor.

Read Psalm 30:6-12. ⁶As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.” ⁷By your favor, O Lord, you made my mountain stand strong; you hid your face; I was dismayed. ⁸To you, O Lord, I cry, and to the Lord I plead for mercy: ⁹“What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? ¹⁰Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me! O Lord, be my helper!” ¹¹You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, ¹²that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

All of life is a test. Of course, we all know that our suffering is a test of our faithfulness, but what about our prosperity? David failed the test of prosperity at first. I shall never be moved he boasted. When things get easy we easily become complacent. Even his argument against his own demise (What profit is there in my death?) smacks of arrogance. Does God really need us alive in order to praise him? No. The dust will actually do a fine job of praising God without us.

Thankfully, David gets it right in the last three verses of the psalm. His pride is restrained by his cry for mercy and help. He finally sees his never-ending neediness. Neediness before a gracious God allows his mourning to become uninhibited dancing before God. Sorrow becomes gladness. And his prosperity, his glory, finds its proper response – singing the praises of God. Giving credit to God for all that he has done and will do forever.

In Christ, we can get it right like David does too. In him, our death is not a silencing in the pit, but a forever of praising, dancing, and thanking the Lord God. In him, our life on earth is full of both sorrows and successes, each demanding a proper response before the God who works ALL things into our conformity to Christ.

To live is Christ is to need it all and to have it all at the same time. To need all help by mercy and to have all prosperity by grace (favor). May our God-given glory never be silent, in this life or the next.

Prayer. Jesus, everything I have is from you and for you. May I praise you in the good and the bad. May my boasting be forever in you and never myself. Amen.

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