April 22 - 26, 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
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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
In verse 5, David looks at his predicament from two different points of reference. One is the Divine level, and the other is the human level. First, from the divine, he sees the fatherly anger of God displayed in his trial. It is momentary, and in contrast, God’s favor rests on him throughout his lifetime. David had experienced the displeasure of God’s disciplining hand, but like a good father, it did not last. God’s favor, however, is lasting and lifegiving.
Psalms 30:5The word favor means an attitude of goodwill, of approval, of readiness to bless.(from UBS Old Testament Handbook Series. Copyright © 1978-2004 by United Bible Societies. All rights reserved.)
This is the perspective God’s repentant children should take. If we don’t, then we will live our lives in a state of doubt, despondency, and despair. Doubting the love of the Father for us. Living without hope and courage. Despairing and depressed and defeated.
The second part of verse five is metaphorical and hones in on the existential aspect of the Lord’s discipline. Tears may flow through the night, but with the morning light comes the ensuing joy as the Father embraces His repenting child.
The picture given by David is beautiful and powerful. It is a tale of two visitors coming to lodge.
Weeping ... - literally, 'in the evening, Weeping (turns in to) pass the night,' (cf. Jer 14:8, end). "Weeping" is personified as a lodger who, 'at evening,' turns in to 'tarry for the night' [yaaliyn].
The sorrow and grief experienced are a stranger sojourning for the night. However, joy is a welcome friend that comes to stay.
[But joy cometh in the morning] Margin: "singing." The margin expresses the force of the original word. There will be singing, shouting, exultation. That is, if we have the friendship of God, sorrow will always be temporary, and will always be followed by joy. The morning will come; a morning without clouds; a morning when the sources of sorrow will disappear.
(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997-2014 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
Weeping turns into singing—repentance into rejoicing. The dark night of the soul turns into the bright dawn of day and a renewed spirit refreshed by the forgiving embrace of God. Though the night may seem long because of sorrow, it will soon be forgotten when joy fills the heart with a song. The repentant saint experiences a new genesis in their life. There is an “evening and a morning” as a fresh new day begins. This grace from the Lord sustains us.
We have found his smiles very sweet; In his favour is life, that is, all good. The return of his favour to an afflicted soul is as life from the dead; nothing can be more reviving. Our happiness is bound up in God's favour; if we have that, we have enough, whatever else we want. It is the life of the soul, it is spiritual life, the earnest of life eternal.
(from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible, PC Study Bible Formatted Electronic Database Copyright © 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All Rights reserved.)
So erring child of God know that though His hand of discipline is for the moment unpleasant, His hug of forgiveness will strengthen and encourage you to go on. That is if you confess your sin and receive His mercy. We know with even greater assurance that affliction and pain – whether as a result of a transgression or a trial – are temporary and transient. Though they seem heavy at the moment, the joy of the Lord will be our strength. They will then seem light in comparison to the eternal glory that IS coming. This IS our hope and reason to rejoice.
2 Cor 4:17-18
17 For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. 18 So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen; for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.(from Holman Christian Standard Bible® Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005 by Holman Bible Publishers.)
* Note: Following Worship in Song,
I have included below some further insights from various commentaries.
Worship in Witness
I will confess that with my mind, I acknowledge the truth of
what I have said above. However, there is something that has become more
apparent to me as I write. Like so many others who have faced sorrow in their
life as a result of the Lord’s discipline, I believe I have held on too long to
the pain. Perhaps that is inevitable in this frail jar of clay. As the Lord
seeks to “mold me and make me after His way,” I often fail to yield to the
Potter’s hands. Daily I fight with the pain of loss and the accuser’s lies. I repeatedly
have to let go in order to let God do His work in me. I fight for faith and joy
daily. My “spirit is willing,” but my “flesh is weak” (Mt. 26:41). I want to wallow in the
depths of the darkness of my despair, rather than in the pleasure and peace
that comes from the Lord’s presence after His purging. Perhaps part of the
answer is found in the first part of Matthew 26:41, which says: “Watch and
pray.”
What led me to this revelation was a commentary on verse 5
by Alexander MacLaren. It is a long article titled “The Two Guests.” It is too
long to share in its entirety, and so I will share just a portion. I have the material
in one of my Bible software programs, but I found it online and will leave a
link to it below so you can read it in its entirety.
But then, man looks before and after, and has the terrible gift that by anticipation and by memory he can prolong the sadness... Memory and anticipation beat the metal thin, and make it cover an enormous space. And the misery is that, somehow, we have better memories for sad hours than for joyful ones... The rose's prickles are felt in the flesh longer than its fragrance lives in the nostrils, or its hue in the eye. Men have long memories for their pains... try not to magnify and prolong grief, nor to minimize and abbreviate gladness. We can make our lives, to our own thinking, very much what we will. We cannot directly regulate our emotions, but we can regulate them, because it is in our own power to determine which aspect of our life we shall by preference contemplate...We can choose, to a large extent, what we shall conceive our lives to be; and so we can very largely modify their real character.
There's nothing either good or bad
But thinking makes it so.'
They who will can surround themselves with persistent gladness, and they who will can gather about them the thick folds of an ever brooding and enveloping sorrow. Courage, cheerfulness, thankfulness, buoyancy, resolution, are all closely connected with a sane estimate of the relative proportions of the bright and the dark in a human life.(from Expositions of Holy Scripture, by Alexander MacLaren, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2012 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/maclaren/psalms/30.htm
Therefore, may my days increasingly reflect the ending in my
poem below.
Holding On / Letting Go
The storm’s fury has long
ceased
But I remain inside and hide
Refusing LIFE’s call to be
released
And to venture outside
The tempestuous turbulent pain
Has served its appointed use
But I would have the torrent
rain
And choose to be a recluse
Holding on to grief and sorrow
Beyond its allotted day
The joy that knocks on the
morrow
Is swiftly turned away
Suddenly came a beam of light
Piercing my chosen gloom
Glory sending darkness to
flight
SONSHINE filled the room
My frozen heart began to melt
I ran outside praising
In joy and peace, I now felt
A song to Him I’m raising
Worship in Song: Afflicted Saint, to Christ draw Near, by Sovereign Grace Music
VERSE 1
Afflicted saint, to Christ draw near,
Your Savior’s gracious promise hear;
His faithful Word you can believe:
That as your days your strength shall be.
VERSE 2
Your faith is weak, your foes are strong,
And if the conflict should be long,
The Lord will make the tempter flee
That as your days your strength shall be.
REFRAIN
So, sing with joy, afflicted one;
The battle’s fierce, but the victory’s won!
God shall supply all that you need;
Yes, as your days your strength shall be.
VERSE 3
Should persecution rage and flame,
Still trust in your Redeemer’s name.
In fiery trials, you shall see
That as your days your strength shall be.
VERSE 4
When called to bear your weighty cross
Or sore affliction, pain, or loss,
Or deep distress or poverty,
Still as your days your strength shall be.
Original words: John Fawcett (1782), additional words:
Constance Dever. Music: Constance Dever. © 2018 Praise Factory Music
(ASCAP)/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
*↓ For Further Study ↓
Psalms 30:4-5
30:4-5 Two attributes of God, His anger and His favor, stand
for what they produce: discipline and blessing. Believers always must keep
these in perspective, singing their praises to Him (34:1; 84:4; Eph 5:18-20). God’s
discipline is short compared to a lifetime of enjoying His blessing. That is
the point of the psalm.
(from The Apologetics Study Bible, Copyright © 2007 by
Holman Bible Publishers. All Rights Reserved. Study Notes edition arranged for
PC Study Bible, © Biblesoft, Inc.)
Psalms 30:4-5
The believer feels that a universal chorus should rise as
incense to the skies. Every heart should swell the hymn. All share the mercies,
all should return thanksgivings. Memory suggests abundant themes. In all His
dealings God is a God of holiness and truth. May we delight to sing,
"Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts." There are times when
lovingkindness is obscured by signs of displeasure. His seeming anger is as the
chill of death; but soon the cloud withdraws, and favor, which is life,
returns. The darkness passes, fears vanish. The joyful morning dawns, and all
is bright.
Here we see the resurrection-morn of Christ. There had been
darkness, but it soon vanished. There is now the brightness of eternal day. We
too have now a night of trouble, but the trouble is light; it lasts but for a
moment. It works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While
we weep still let us sing, "Joy comes in the morning."
(from Commentary on the Psalms, by Henry Law, Biblesoft
formatted electronic database Copyright © 2014 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights
reserved.)
Psalms 30:4-5
David called God's
people to praise Him because His punishments are short-lived, but His blessings
are perennial... David used the night as a figure for a time of distress. He
had experienced no understanding, comfort, joy, or fellowship because of God's
chastening. Release from these conditions is like the dawning of a new day with
all its prospects for blessing.
(from Thomas Constable's Notes on the Bible. Copyright ©
March 4, 2014, by Thomas L. Constable. All rights reserved. Used by
permission.)
Psalms 30:5
His anger ... God's 'holy memorial,' or ever-memorable holy
name, (Ps 30:4), in its forgiving mercy, is here set forth-literally, 'for
(there is but) a moment in His anger.' Compare God's description of His
everlasting kindness to Israel, after His momentary anger (Isa 54:7-10).
Life - after the sorrowful "moment," through
"His anger," there comes again "life through His favour" -
life in its fullest sense, salvation, joy, and blessedness (cf. Ps 30:3, last clause; Ps 16:11; 34:12; 36:9).
Weeping ... - literally, 'in the evening, Weeping (turns in
to) pass the night,' (cf. Jer 14:8, end). "Weeping" is personified as a lodger who,
'at evening,' turns in to 'tarry for the night' [yaaliyn].
Joy (cometh) ... "Weeping" gives place to
"joy," a new and better guest. So the chastisement inflicted by God
on David for his pride in numbering the people lasted only from morning until
evening (2 Sam 24:15).
(from Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, Electronic
Database. Copyright © 1997-2014 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
Psalms 30:1-5
They have experienced him to be a God gracious and merciful;
and therefore let them sing to him. (1.) We have found his frowns very short.
Though we have deserved that they should be everlasting, and that he should be
angry with us till he had consumed us, and should never be reconciled, yet his
anger endureth but for a moment, v. 5. When we offend him he is angry; but, as
he is slow to anger and not soon provoked, so when he is angry, upon our
repentance and humiliation his anger is soon turned away and he is willing to
be at peace with us. If he hide his face from his own children, and suspend the
wonted tokens of his favour, it is but in a little wrath, and for a small
moment; but he will gather them with everlasting kindness, Isa 54:7,8. If
weeping endureth for a night, and it be a wearisome night, yet as sure as the
light of the morning returns after the darkness of the night, so sure will joy
and comfort return in a short time, in due time, to the people of God; for the
covenant of grace is as firm as the covenant of the day. This word has often
been fulfilled to us in the letter. Weeping has endured for a night, but the
grief has been soon over and the grievance gone. Observe, As long as God's
anger continues so long the saints' weeping continues; but, if that be but for
a moment, the affliction is but for a moment, and when the light of God's
countenance is restored the affliction is easily pronounced light and momentary.
(2.) We have found his smiles very sweet; In his favour
is life, that is, all good. The return of his favour to an afflicted soul is as
life from the dead; nothing can be more reviving. Our happiness is bound up in
God's favour; if we have that, we have enough, whatever else we want. It is the
life of the soul, it is spiritual life, the earnest of life eternal.
(from Matthew Henry's
Commentary on the Whole Bible, PC Study Bible Formatted Electronic Database
Copyright © 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All Rights reserved.)
Psalms 30:5
[Weeping may endure for a night] Margin: "in the
evening." So the Hebrew. The word here rendered "endure" means
properly "to lodge, to sojourn," as one does for a little time. The
idea is, that weeping is like a stranger-a wayfaring person—who lodges for a
night only. In other words, sorrow will soon pass away to be succeeded by joy.
[But joy cometh in the morning] Margin: "singing."
The margin expresses the force of the original word. There will be singing,
shouting, exultation. That is, if we have the friendship of God, sorrow will
always be temporary, and will always be followed by joy. The morning will come;
a morning without clouds; a morning when the sources of sorrow will disappear.
This often occurs in the present life; it will always occur to the righteous in
the life to come. The sorrows of this life are but for a moment, and they will
be succeeded by the light and the joy of heaven. Then, if not before, all the
sorrows of the present life, however long they may appear to be, will seem to
have been but for a moment; weeping, though it MAY have made life here but one
unbroken night, will be followed by one eternal day without a sigh or a tear.
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