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P S A L M S
PSALM XXX.
This is a psalm of thanksgiving for the great deliverances which God
had wrought for David, penned upon occasion of the dedicating of his
house of cedar, and sung in that pious solemnity, though there is not
any thing in it that has particular reference to that occasion. Some
collect from divers passages in the psalm itself that it was penned
upon his recovery from a dangerous fit of sickness, which might happen
to be about the time of the dedication of his house.
I. He here praises God for the deliverances he had wrought for him,
II. He calls upon others to praise him too, and encourages them to
trust in him,
III. He blames himself for his former security,
IV. He recollects the prayers and complaints he had made in his
distress,
With them he stirs up himself to be very thankful to God for the
present comfortable change,
In singing this psalm we ought to remember with thankfulness any like
deliverances wrought for us, for which we must stir up our selves to
praise him and by which we must be engaged to depend upon him.
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A psalm and song at the dedication of the house of
David.
1 I will extol thee, O LORD; for thou hast lifted me up,
and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me.
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.
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.
It was the laudable practice of the pious Jews, and, though not
expressly appointed, yet allowed and accepted, when they had built a
new house, to dedicate it to God,
Deut. xx. 5.
David did so when his house was built, and he took possession of it
(2 Sam. v. 11);
for royal palaces do as much need God’s protection, and are as much
bound to be at his service, as ordinary houses. Note, The houses we
dwell in should, at our first entrance upon them, be dedicated to God,
as little sanctuaries. We must solemnly commit ourselves, our families,
and all our family affairs, to God’s guidance and care, must pray for
his presence and blessing, must devote ourselves and all ours to his
glory, and must resolve both that we put away iniquity far from our
tabernacles and that we and our houses will serve the Lord both in the
duties of family worship and in all instances of gospel obedience. Some
conjecture that this psalm was sung at the re-dedication of David’s
house, after he had been driven out of it by Absalom, who had defiled
it with his incest, and that it is a thanksgiving for the crushing of
that dangerous rebellion. In these verses,
I. David does himself give God thanks for the great deliverances he had
wrought for him
(v. 1):
“I will extol thee, O Lord! I will exalt thy name, will praise
thee as one high and lifted up, I will do what I can to advance the
interest of thy kingdom among men. I will extol thee, for thou hast
lifted me up, not only up out of the pit in which I was sinking, but up
to the throne of Israel.” He raiseth up the poor out of the
dust. In consideration of the great things God has done to exalt
us, both by his providence and by his grace, we are bound, in
gratitude, to do all we can to extol his name, though the most we can
do is but little. Three thing magnify David’s deliverance:–
1. That it was the defeat of his enemies. They were not suffered to
triumph over him, as they would have done (though it is a barbarous
thing) if he had died of this sickness or perished in this distress:
see
2. That it was an answer to his prayers
(v. 2):
I cried unto thee. All the expressions of the sense we have of
our troubles should be directed to God, and every cry be a cry to him;
and giving way, in this manner, to our grief, will ease a burdened
spirit. “I cried to thee, and thou hast not only heard me, but
healed me, healed the distempered body, healed the disturbed and
disquieted mind, healed the disordered distracted affairs of the
kingdom.” This is what God glories in, I am the Lord that healeth
thee
(Exod. xv. 26),
and we must give him the glory of it.
3. That it was the saving of his life; for he was brought to the last
extremity, dropping into the grave, and ready to go down into the
pit, and yet rescued and kept alive,
v. 3.
The more imminent our dangers have been, the more eminent our
deliverances have been, the more comfortable are they to ourselves and
the more illustrious proofs of the power and goodness of God. A life
from the dead ought to be spent in extolling the God of our life.
II. He calls upon others to join with him in praise, not only for the
particular favours God has bestowed upon him, but for the general
tokens of his good-will to all his saints
(v. 4):
Sing unto the Lord, O you saints of his! All that are truly
saints he owns for his. There is a remnant of such in this world, and
from them it is expected that they sing unto him; for they are created
and sanctified, made and made saints, that they may be to him for a
name and a praise. His saints in heaven sing to him; why should not
those on earth be doing the same work, as well as they can, in concert
with them?
1. They believe him to be a God of unspotted purity; and therefore let
them sing to him; “Let them give thanks at the remembrance of his
holiness; let them praise his holy name, for holiness is his
memorial throughout all generations.” God is a holy God; his holiness
is his glory; that is the attribute which the holy angels, in their
praises, fasten most upon,
We ought to be much in the mention and remembrance of God’s holiness.
It is a matter of joy to the saints that God is a holy God; for then
they hope he will make them holy, more holy. None of all God’s
perfections carries in it more terror to the wicked, nor more comfort
to the godly, than his holiness. It is a good sign that we are in some
measure partakers of his holiness if we can heartily rejoice and give
thanks at the remembrance of it.
2. 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. liv. 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.
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6 And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.
7 LORD, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand
strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.
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.
We have, in these verses, an account of three several states that David
was in successively, and of the workings of his heart towards God in
each of those states–what he said and did, and how his heart stood
affected; in the first of these we may see what we are too apt to be,
and in the other two what we should be.
I. He had long enjoyed prosperity, and then he grew secure and
over-confident of the continuance of it
(v. 6, 7):
“In my prosperity, when I was in health of body and God had
given me rest from all my enemies, I said I shall never be
moved; I never thought either of having my body distempered or my
government disturbed, not had any apprehensions of danger upon any
account.” Such complete victories had he obtained over those that
opposed him, and such a confirmed interest had he in the hearts of his
people, such a firmness of mind and such a strong constitution of body,
that he thought his prosperity fixed like a mountain; yet this he
ascribes, not to his own wisdom or fortitude, but to the divine
goodness. Thou, through thy favour, hast made my mountain to stand
strong,
v. 7.
He does not look upon it as his heaven (as worldly people do,
who make their prosperity their felicity), only his mountain; it
is earth still, only raised a little higher than the common level.
This he thought, by the favour of God, would be perpetuated to him,
imagining perhaps that, having had so many troubles in the beginning of
his days, he had had his whole share and should have none in his latter
end, or that God, who had given him such tokens of his favour, would
never frown upon him. Note,
1. We are very apt to dream, when things are well with us, that they
will always be so, and never otherwise. To-morrow shall be as this
day. As if we should think, when the weather is once fair, that it
will be even fair; whereas nothing is more certain than that it will
change.
2. When we see ourselves deceived in our expectations, it becomes us to
reflect, with shame, upon our security, as our folly, as David does
here, that we may be wiser another time and may rejoice in our
prosperity as though we rejoiced not, because the fashion of it passes
away.
II. On a sudden he fell into trouble, and then he prayed to God, and
pleaded earnestly for relief and succour.
1. His mountain was shaken and he with it; it proved, when he grew
secure, that he was least safe: “Thou didst hide thy face and I was
troubled, in mind, body, or estate.” In every change of his
condition he still kept his eye upon God, and, as he ascribed his
prosperity to God’s favour, so in his adversity he observed the hiding
of God’s face, to be the cause of it. If God hide his face, a good man
is certainly troubled, though no other calamity befal him; when the sun
sets night certainly follows, and the moon and all the stars cannot
make day.
2. When his mountain was shaken he lifted up his eyes above the hills.
Prayer is a salve for every sore; he made use of it accordingly. Is
any afflicted? Is any troubled? Let him pray. Though God hid
his face from him, yet he prayed. If God, in wisdom and justice, turn
from us, yet it will be in us the greatest folly and injustice
imaginable if we turn from him. No; let us learn to pray in the dark
(v. 8):
I cried to thee, O Lord! It seems God’s withdrawings made his
prayers the more vehement. We are here told, for it seems he kept
account of it,
(1.) What he pleaded,
v. 9.
[1.] That God would be no gainer by his death: What profit is there
in my blood? implying that he would willingly die if he could
thereby do any real service to God or his country
(Phil. ii. 17),
but he saw not what good could be done by his dying in the bed of
sickness, as might be if he had died in the bed of honour. “Lord,” says
he, “wilt thou sell one of thy own people for nought and not
increase thy wealth by the price?”
Nay
[2.] That, in his honour, God would seem to be a loser by his death:
Shall the dust praise thee? The sanctified spirit, which returns
to God, shall praise him, shall be still praising him; but the dust,
which returns to the earth, shall not praise him, nor declare his
truth. The services of God’s house cannot be performed by the dust; it
cannot praise him; there is none of that device or working in the
grave, for it is the land of silence. The promises of God’s covenant
cannot be performed to the dust. “Lord,” says David, “if I die now,
what will become of the promise made to me? Who shall declare the truth
of that?” The best pleas in prayer are those that are taken from God’s
honour; and then we ask aright for life when we have that in view, that
we may live and praise him.
(2.) What he prayed for,
He prayed for mercy to pardon (Have mercy upon me), and for
grace to help in time of need–Lord, be thou my helper. On these
two errands we also may come boldly to the throne of grace,
III. In due time God delivered him out of his troubles and restored him
to his former prosperity. His prayers were answered and his mourning
was turned into dancing,
v. 11.
God’s anger now endured but for a moment, and David’s weeping but for a
night. The sackcloth with which, in a humble compliance with the divine
Providence, he had clad himself, was loosed; his griefs were balanced;
his fears were silenced; his comforts returned; and he was girded with
gladness: joy was made his ornament, was made his strength, and seemed
to cleave to him, as the girdle cleaves to the loins of a man. As
David’s plunge into trouble from the height of prosperity, and then
when he least expected it, teaches us to rejoice as though we rejoiced
not, because we know not how near trouble may be, so his sudden return
to a prosperous condition teaches us to weep as though we wept not,
because we know not how soon the storm may become a calm and the
formidable blast may become a favourable gale. But what temper of mind
was he in upon this happy change of the face of his affairs? What does
he say now? He tells us,
1. His complaints were turned into praises. He looked upon it that God
girded him with gladness to the end that he might be the sweet
psalmist of Israel
that his glory might sing praise to God, that is, his tongue
(for our tongue is our glory, and never more so than when it is
employed in praising God) or his soul, for that is our glory above the
beasts, that must be employed in blessing the Lord, and with that we
must make melody to him in singing psalms. Those that are kept from
being silent in the pit must not be silent in the land of the living,
but fervent, and constant, and public, in praising God.
2. These praises were likely to be everlasting: I will give thanks
unto thee for ever. This bespeaks a gracious resolution that he
would persevere to the end in praising God and a gracious hope that he
should never want fresh matter for praise and that he should shortly be
where this would be the everlasting work. Blessed are those that
dwell in God’s house; they will be still praising him. Thus must we
learn to accommodate ourselves to the various providences of God that
concern us, to want and to abound, to sing of mercy and judgment, and
to sing unto God for both.
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