Worship in
WORD
8 To you, O Lord, I called;
to the Lord I cried for mercy:
9 "What gain is there in my destruction,d
in my going down into the
pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it proclaim your
faithfulness?
10 Hear, O Lord,
and be merciful to me;
O Lord, be my help."
11 You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth
and clothed me with joy,
12 that my heart may sing to you and not be
silent.
O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.
NIV
|
8 I
cried out to you, O Lord.
I
begged the Lord for mercy, saying,
9 "What
will you gain if I die,
if I
sink into the grave?
Can
my dust praise you?
Can
it tell of your faithfulness?
10 Hear
me, Lord, and have mercy on me.
Help
me, O Lord ."
11 You
have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.
You
have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,
12 that
I might sing praises to you and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give you thanks
forever!
New
Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved_
|
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?
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.
KJV
|
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?
10 Hear, O Lord, and be
merciful to me! O Lord, be my helper!”
11 You have turned for me
my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with
gladness,
12 that my glory may sing
your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you
forever!
ESV
|
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
Have you ever been desperate to speak with someone on the
phone? You call and let it ring and ring and ring. Just when you are about to
give up, there is a click, and the voice you longed to hear brings relief to
your soul. This is a picture of David pleading with God for deliverance from
what looked like certain death. It is an example of importunate prayer, like
the widow and the unjust judge in Luke 18:1- 8. This may not be obvious at
first blush when we look at verses 8-10. However, a closer look at the Hebrew
grammar will reveal that this is not a single cry, followed by an immediate
answer.
The imperfect of the Hebrew verbs may be better translated as a frequentative action: “I keep on calling, … I keep on crying for mercy” (cf. 28:1; 142:2; Joel 1:19).
VanGemeren, W. A. (1991). Psalms. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs (Vol. 5, p. 261). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
The term “importunate prayer” is not used much anymore, so
it may be an unfamiliar phrase to some reading this. As such, it may be subject
to misunderstanding. For many who see
this word being employed when it comes to prayer, might understand “importunate”
in its most crass and off-putting sense.
Webster’s defines importunate as:
1: troublesomely urgent: overly persistent in request or demand
importunate creditors
2: TROUBLESOME
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/importunate
LEXICO, which is powered by Oxford, briefly defines it this
way:
ADJECTIVE
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/importunate
- Persistent, especially to the point of annoyance or intrusion.
The Oxford Advanced American Dictionary is even stricter in
its negative definition of this word:
asking for things many times in a way that is annoying
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/importunate
If we define “importunate prayer” with these negative attachments,
then we must surely reject the term as wrongheaded, dangerous, and irreverent.
However, those who coined this phrase did not have this in mind. Yes, they saw
the persistent and troublesome pestering of the widow in our Lord’s parable.
Still, they did not allow that to taint what they viewed as importunacy when
praying. The idea was that of persistent and persevering prayer. That is the
point of the parable.
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
Luke 18:1 NIV
David, having come under the disciplining hand of God,
continually pled for mercy in light of his dire predicament. He found to be true what our Lord taught,
though He said it about a millennium later:
7 "Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
Matt 7:7-8
Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
But why did David have to persist in asking for mercy? Is
God some sort of sadist, delighting in our pain until He tires of the sport?
mh\ ge/noito ! (m¢¡ génoito)
“May it never be!” NASB.
Or as the KJV translates it:
“God forbid.”
This thought must
be rejected entirely, though, in our flesh, we may find ourselves battling with
these thoughts. I am sure David did too. I believe some of his psalms reflected
those doubts, but not here in Psalm 30. No, in this psalm, he is concerned
about moving from punishment to pardon, from gloom to gladness, from pain to
praise, from death to dancing.
I cannot give a
complete answer to the “why” of the Lord’s delays. God reminds us in Isaiah:
8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord.
9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isa 55:8-9 NIV
We must settle on
the revealed and not the secret:
The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things
revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the
words of this law.
Deut 29:29 NIV
We must rest in
His wise sovereignty:
Our God is in heaven;he does whatever pleases him.
Ps 115:3 NIV
But we know He is
pleased to act in love and faithfulness for His glory sovereignly:
Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.
Ps 115:1 NIV
Someone may
object that when David asked for mercy, shouldn’t God have pardoned him
immediately? Isn’t God quick to forgive the repentant sinner? Yes, but that
doesn’t mean that the effects of the sin committed will be mitigated instantly.
God’s discipline is not punitive but pedagogic. It is intended to teach us
something. In David’s case, it taught him about pride. God forgave him when
he repented, but he purified him in the fire of affliction.
See, I have refined you, though not as silver;I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
Isa 48:10 NIV
The author of
Psalm 66 declares:
10 For you, O God, tested us;you refined us like silver.
11 You brought us into prisonand laid burdens on our backs.
12 You let men ride over our heads;we went through fire and water,but you brought us to a place of abundance.
Ps 66:10-12 NIV
Henry Law has
this insightful commentary on this passage:
Psalms 66:10-12The dealings of God are all mercy and truth to His chosen heritage, but these dealings often show a dark and trying aspect. A scourge is used, and grievous troubles multiply. But such discipline is needful. Without it we would slumber in our nests, and indolently indulge sloth. Our feet would go astray, and we would not ripen for the heavenly home. The vine will not be fruitful unless pruned; the silver will not be purged from dross unless the furnace be again and again employed. It is our wisdom thus to see the hand of love in all our seasons of affliction. The Psalmist recognizes God's hand in bringing him into his many difficulties. The afflictions which oppress are the burdens which the Lord imposes. Afflictions do not arise from the dust; they are all designed to humble, to excite watchfulness, to purify, to sanctify, to bless, to produce conformity to our Elder Brother's image. For a season our adversaries are permitted to trample on us with insulting feet. This is a grievous passage in our pilgrimage; but it has its end, and proves to be the entrance of enlarged prosperities.
(from Commentary on the Psalms, by Henry Law, Biblesoft formatted electronic database Copyright © 2014 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
David’s pride
would not have been purged had God not held him accountable for his actions and
attitude. A parent who constantly lets their child off the hook when they say
they are sorry will probably have to deal with a narcissistic brat all their
life. God’s discipline humbles, heals, leads to holiness, and prepares us for
heaven.
So persist in
pleading that the “mercy drops” of God’s discipline will turn into His “showers
of blessing.” Pray for patience and discernment to learn from His fatherly
discipline. Stand under the umbrella of His promises and sing His praises as
the rain falls.
Text Source: My words superimposed on
the image
Worship
in Witness:
June 18th has
passed. It was our 43rd wedding anniversary, but there was no dancing or celebration. I
sent an e-card I designed myself. Hallmark doesn’t seem to have a card for
people in my situation. In it, I wrote a poem as I have in the past on this
day. Some may not appreciate its message. They may see it as harsh or preachy.
Some might even criticize the structure of the poem because they might find it hard to read with a
consistent rhythm.
Nevertheless, I will share it
here. Some may criticize me for sharing such intimate communication with my
wife that should have been left private. But perhaps it may help someone who
may be considering divorcing their spouse, to persevere and work toward
reconciliation.
His Strong and Loving Arms
Forty and three years ago we
pledged our troth
Before people on earth,
And before Heaven where there
is no rust or moth
We said that the only things
that would estrange,
Would be if one should die
Or if Christ should return and
bring us change
We are still alive, and we are
still in this garden
Pledged for better or for worse
One heart is soft, but one has
become hardened
We walked hand in hand as
husband and wife
Through many trials and tears
Then suddenly you let go and
walked out of my life
The serpent slithered around
with his crafty lies
Promised you a better life
So you took a bite, and your
love slowly dies
Dark clouds gather with
lightning and peals of thunder
A Voice echoing across time
Declaring, “What I have joined,
do not split asunder.”
Your work is not done, though
for a moment stilled
Give ear to what I have
commanded
Though pain fills your soul,
and your love has chilled
Whatever you do, do not listen
to the serpent’s charms
For I am the LORD who loves you
I will tenderly carry you with
My strong and loving arms
Many would probably have sought
divorce by now. I do not want to get into an explanation as to why I haven’t.
Suffice it to say that I made a promise 43 years ago to be faithful until death
or the second coming brought change to our relationship. I plan to keep that
promise on my part, for better or worse.
In the meantime, I continue to
plead and praise.
Worship in Song: My Tribute by Andre Crouch
How can I say thanks
for the things You have done for me
Things so undeserved
Yet You give to prove your love for me
The voices of a million angels
Could not express my gratitude
All that I am and ever hope to be
I owe it all to Thee
(Chorus)
To God be the glory
To God be the glory
To God be the glory
For the things He has done
With His blood, He has saved me
With His power, He has raised me.
To God be the glory
For the things He has done
(Bridge)
Just let me live my life
Let it be pleasing, Lord to Thee
Should I gain any praise,
Let it go to Calvary.
With His blood, He has saved me
With His power, He has raised me.
To God be the glory
For the things He has done.
Lyrics
(pronouns corrected): https://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/andrae_crouch/to_god_be_the_glory-lyrics-986954.html
