A Severe Mercy

April 21, 2020

Worship in WORD

4 Sing to the Lord, you saints of his; praise his holy name. 5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. NIV	4 Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones! Praise his holy name. 5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning. New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved_
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. KJV	4 Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name. 5 For his anger is but for moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. ESV

I. Personal/Public Purpose - Title

II. Personal Praise: vs. 1- 3

III. Public Exhortation & Encouragement: vs. 4 - 5

IV. Personal Plea: vs. 6 - 10

V. Personal/Public Praise: vs. 11 – 12

Verse 5 is precious and well-loved by believers down through the ages. So much so, that it can be found in framed art and on many a coffee cup in cupboards today. I wonder, though, if we thought about this verse in context, would we cling to it so affectionately?

This verse is seen as a promise of the transient nature of trials and tribulations. Without a doubt, there is some truth in this. However, we know that times of testing and troubles may seem to go on and on. Perhaps that is due to our sense of what constitutes a brief time. In relationship to our daily existence, it may seem like an eternity. Still, in light of eternity, it is a mere wisp, a vapor, a drop in the bucket.

That being said, this is not the meaning of this verse in its context. It is a beautiful application, but not the main one. We may praise God for His deliverance. We may endure with hope amid the trials. Amen, and so we should. However, we miss the life-shattering and humbling intent of verses 4-5.

Taken in context, many believers will balk at the reason for David’s affliction. Did God really bring David to the point of death in an act of discipline? Such a thought is repulsive to many who downplay the holiness of God while emphasizing an overly romantic view of God’s love. It is the spirit of the times and our paltry understanding of how holy and righteous our God is. It fails to see the length that love will go to reach their straying children. We are speaking of things on a cosmic level far above our level of fully understanding. Things that are not analogous to ways we as finite beings can or should act because we are not in control of the outcomes like God is.

In this context, the brief darkness of discipline and the light of a life of favor, stand in stark contrast. There are some translational issues found in the first part of verse 5. The NIV, NLT, and ESV see it as a contrast between “moment” and “lifetime.” The KJV obscures the contrast by translating “moment” and “life.” When translated as “lifetime,” the emphasis is on the duration of God’s “favor.” If translated as “life,” then the focus is on what God’s “favor” brings. However, it seems to break the pattern of contrasts that appear in this verse.

4–7 These verses are full of contrasts: anger and favor (v. 5a), moment and lifetime (v. 5a), weeping and rejoicing (v. 5b), night and morning (v. 5b), firm and dismayed (vv. 6–7). 

VanGemeren, W. A. (1991). Psalms. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs (Vol. 5, p. 260). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

For this reason, some have translated the word as “death” instead of “momentary.”

The psalmist also contrasts the judgment of God according to the extent of his expressions of love. His discipline is painful and may be likened to death, whereas his favor restores life (v. 4). Dahood (Psalms 1:182–3) proposes an antithetical rendering of “death” (instead of “moment,” v. 5) and “lifetime” (lit., “life”). This proposal results in a balanced parallelism:

 

anger—death

favor—life.

 

Compare these translations: “In his anger is disquiet, in his favor there is life” (NEB); “For in his anger is death, but in his favor is life” (Craigie, Psalms 1–50, p. 250). The Lord does not easily abandon his children who sin against him but renews them with his favor. 

VanGemeren, W. A. (1991). Psalms. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs (Vol. 5, pp. 260–261). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

  

Which one is correct? I don’t know, however, perhaps this quote from the New International Commentary on the Old Testament, may prove helpful.

The broader context of the psalm cannot solve the issue, since either translation makes sense in context. The contrasting of regaʿ (“a moment”) with ḥayyîm and the next phrase that compares the weeping of one evening with the rejoicing of the next morning weigh slightly in favor translating ḥayyîm as a lifetime. The important thing to note is that the psalmist is grounding the call for the congregation to praise in the confession that God’s favor is longer and stronger than God’s anger—God’s favor suffices both to give life and to last a lifetime. 

Jacobson, R. A., & Tanner, B. (2014). Book One of the Psalter: Psalms 1–41. In E. J. Young, R. K. Harrison, & R. L. Hubbard Jr. (Eds.), The Book of Psalms (p. 294). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

A Severe Mercy *

Father, I have felt the pain of Your anger

The steely sting of Your disciplining hand

Yet administered in love without rancor

As one of Your children, and not the damned

With a severe mercy, You have chastened me

Brought me back from the edge of my ruin

With an ever-clearer vision, I now can see

You did it for my good, to rescue me from my sin

Worship in Witness:

Do not take the large leap of logic, and infer that all our pain and suffering is as a result of our Father’s discipline for every sin we commit. That is not what I am trying to convey from Psalm 30:5. I am merely pointing out what the primary meaning of this text is in this particular set of circumstances. Our Father disciplines as he sees fit for our good. Sometimes it is by a severe mercy as in David’s case (and mine).

However, the word discipline does not only refer to the correction a parent gives to an erring child.

noun

1.     training to act in accordance with rules; drill:

            military discipline.

2.     activity, exercise, or a regimen that develops or improves a skill; training:

            A daily stint at the typewriter is excellent discipline for a writer.

3.     punishment inflicted by way of correction and training.

4.     the rigor or training effect of experience, adversity, etc.:

            the harsh discipline of poverty. 

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/discipline

We understand that discipline can also refer to something along the lines of 1,2 or 4 in the definition given above. Our Father always designs our troubles for our good. God’s trials are tests that serve to train us. The goal is maturity:

² Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴ Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 

James 1:2-4 NIV

This is a truth we all know but often recoil from and fail to “let it have its perfect work (v. 4a NKJV).” As my pastor reminded us this weekend, “There is purpose in our pain.” Something I have said in the past, as I am sure others have said as well. It is something we need to remind ourselves of every day. The apostle James speaks of one of those purposes. We may discern a particular reason for our circumstances, but James gives us the perfect end in mind.

The Apostle Paul also tells us what maturity looks like in the life of a believer. Note what he says in this familiar passage:

¹⁸ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us... ²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. 

Rom 8: 18, 28-30 TNIV

What does maturity look like for the children of God according to this God-breathed word? The Apostle would agree that it looks like:

Jesus Christ, our Lord!

Since it is so, I have a long way to go. We all do. It is a lifelong process that will only be finished when we enter eternity. But we have this declaration, promise, and hope revealed to us in 1 John 3:1-3.

An Incredible Declaration:

1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

A Corresponding Promise:

2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

A Cleansing Hope:

3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

 NIV (’84)

https://insightsfromtom.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/2-corinthians-7_1.jpg?w=584

Worship in Song:  A Christian's Daily Prayer by Sovereign Grace Music

VERSE 1

As morning dawns and day awakes,

To You, I bring my need

O gracious God, my source of strength,

In You, I live and breathe

Each hour is Yours by wisdom planned,

Each deed empowered by sovereign hands

Renew my spirit, help me stand;

Be glorified today

VERSE 2

As day unfolds, I seek Your will

In all of life’s demands

And though the tempter tries me still,

I cling to Your commands

Let every effort of my life

Display the matchless worth of Christ

Make me a living sacrifice;

Be glorified today

VERSE 3

As sun gives way to darkest night

Your Spirit still is here

And though my strength fades like the light

New mercies will appear

I rest in You; abide with me

Until our trials and suffering

Give way to final victory

Be glorified, today; be glorified, I pray

Music and Words by Matt Merker, Jordan Kauflin, and Dave Fournier © 2017 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI)/Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP) Sovereign Grace Music, a division of Sovereign Grace Churches. All rights reserved. Administrated worldwide at www.CapitolCMGPublishing.com, excluding the UK which is adm. by Integrity Music, part of the David C Cook family. www.SovereignGraceMusic.org

Lyrics:  https://sovereigngracemusic.org/music/songs/christians-daily-prayer/

Video:  https://youtu.be/vAaFfoQy6s0

* A Severe Mercy is the title of a book by  Sheldon Vanauken. I have linked the title to an article that will not only acquaint you with what the book is all about but also give you a taste of what the title means and its source. I highly recommend you read it. One line in the article brought tears to my eyes. It is my testimony, one I shared at the very outset of my blog back in 2016. That line is based on a letter from C. S. Lewis.

“Lewis wrote that he believed Vanauken’s struggles had their root in the fact that he had made an idol of love, and it was killing his faith.”

For me, it was that I had made an idol of my wife and my desire for her.