Sitting on Top of the World?
Or as Frank Sinatra sang: “I’ve got the world on a string, sittin’ on a rainbow, Got the string around my finger …”
How would serious illness change that outlook on life?
Have you ever been so sick that you feared that you would die?
David was deathly ill. In fact he was so sick that without God’s supernatural intervention he knew that he would die. Psalm 30 is a song that David wrote about his experience. The song was used by Israel’s National Choir and Orchestra at the dedication of the temple.
| Psalm 30: of David For the dedication of the temple. | Sitting on top of the World? Let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. I Corinthians 10:12 |
| 1 I will exalt you, O Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. 2 O Lord my God, I called to you for help and you healed me. 3 O Lord, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit. | I. Illness David begins the song by praising God for healing him, for bringing him back from the grave. Do you know anyone that would gloat over your illness or death? David had enemies that were hoping that he would die from his illness. |
| 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. | II. Discipline David has not yet told us why he was ill but here he reminds us that God disciplines his children that he loves, just as good parents discipline their children out of love. The discipline lasts only a moment because the love lasts a lifetime. |
| 6 When I felt secure, I said, “I will never be shaken.” 7 O Lord, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed. | III. Sin Why had God allowed David to become ill and almost die? David tells us that he had forgotten God and had put his trust in himself saying, “I will never be shaken.” “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling.” Proverbs 16:18 |
| 8 To you, O Lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy; 9 “What gain is there in my destruction, to my going down into the pit? Will dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? 10 Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me; O, Lord, be my help.” | IV. Mercy David acknowledged his sin and folly and repented, crying out to God for mercy. David argued that, having repented, God should have mercy and allow David to live so that he could publically praise God’s faithfulness. |
| 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. | V. Joy God answered David’s plea for mercy, saving him from death, turning his wailing into joyful dancing. David upheld his promise to publicly praise God’s faithfulness by having the National Choir sing Psalm 30 at the dedication of the temple. |
In Revelation 3:17 Jesus Christ warned the Christians in the Laodicean Church, “… you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing, you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked … Those I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.”
Like the Laodicean Christians, David had placed his confidence in himself. He believed that he would never be shaken, he thought that he had need of nothing.
Because God loved David, God disciplined him with an illness unto death to get his attention. Realizing his sin of forgetting God; relying upon himself; congratulating only himself for his success, David repented and cried to God for mercy.
Be careful here and understand that David was not saying that all illness is a result of sin. God never teaches such a false idea. David was acknowledging, however, that his particular illness was a wake-up call from God. God disciplined him with the illness until David understood where he had gone off the rails, where he had gone wrong.
If we think that we, because of our great wealth, have need of nothing, Christ reminds us that we have our priorities terribly confused. We may put our trust in the material things that we surround ourselves with, but we are really wretched and miserable and poor and blindto the things that will matter into eternity.
Again as Christ reminds us, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21
Where is your treasure? What do you value? Who are you trusting in?
Return to “The Psalms”