The Pitfall of Prosperity

Series on the Psalms

Text: Psalm 30

Title: The Pitfall of Prosperity

Introduction

The Psalmist has been subjected to a profound experience of discipline. Was this a severe physical illness or a deep spiritual depression or both ? They are often intertwined. The extremity of the situation can only be adequately expressed as being on the verge of death. In verses 1-3 we see clearly that God brings temporal judgments upon his people as he did here upon David, I will exalt you, O LORD, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me. O LORD, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit. This is not exclusively an Old Testament phenomenon as the author of Hebrews says to Christians, Hebrews 12:5-11, And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. From such temporal judgments God’s children learn and they may pray to be delivered. This Psalm is an example of personal deliverance and gratitude, but every Jewish person looking at this Psalm saw the superscription, a Psalm of David written for the dedication of the house of David. There is in Scripture a parallel between the house of David and the temple. David wanted to build the temple, the house of God, in response to God’s grace but God said that David was not the one to do this. instead God promises that he would build David’s house. II Samuel 7:11-16, The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you.Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever. The House of David, or the tabernacle of David is a spiritual house for God. Solomon would build the physical temple but a greater son of David than Solomon would build a temple not made with hands. Jesus said, Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. Thus it is the seed of David who establishes a spiritual dwelling for God. In Acts 15 James demonstrates the difference between the Old and New administrations of the covenant of Grace in quoting from Amos. He says that Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise, After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen down. And I will set it up so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the gentiles who are called by my name Says the Lord who does all these things. So when David writes of his experience he is reflecting God’s covenant faithfulness to His people. This is what makes the Psalm relevant to the dedication of David’s house. What it says to us is epitomized in verses 4 and 5, Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name. 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. I ask you to consider the discipline, the destiny, and the deliverance.

I. The Discipline

We have here in verse 4 the acknowledgment that the Psalmist has felt the anger of God in his earthly pilgrimage. The reason appears in verses 6 and 7, When I felt secure, I said, “I will never be shaken.” O LORD, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed. It appears that David became presumptuous. Prosperity can do that to a man. God warns his people in Deuteronomy 8:11-14, Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. When God turns his face away or, in other words, He brings trouble, David cries out for mercy and God answers. What has happened is that the presumption has ended. There is a parallel to this in our experience. The Scripture warns us not to continue in sin that grace may abound. It says we must give diligence to make our calling and election sure. If we become self-satisfied and smug about being chosen by God, then we repeat the error of David. God disciplines his people so that they will not take comfort in the prosperity with which he blesses them but in Himself. Thus David is lead to the fountain of blessing and he perceives in a new way his unworthiness and His dependence upon the Lord. Hebrews 12:5-11 (above) describes this experience in the life of a Christian. In so doing it emphasizes our destiny. The author reminds us that we are true sons of God. It is the one the Lord loves that he chastens. He says the end is that we may be partakers of God’s holiness.

II. The Destiny

This is exactly the perspective of the Psalm. David addresses the saints of the Lord, that is, the holy ones who are the object of God’s covenant love, and in verses 11 and 12 he calls them to rejoice at the remembrance of God’s holy name or holiness because they are God’s children, You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever. For the children death becomes life, anger becomes favor, weeping becomes joy, mourning becomes dancing, and sackcloth becomes gladness. We are being taught that the covenant love of God will not be withdrawn. In David’s case this meant that God’s promises with regard to his house would remain. It is precisely God’s faithfulness in fulfilling his purpose with regard to David’s house that is the anchor of our assurance that we are the children of God through faith in Jesus Christ, because Jesus is the Son of Abraham and the Son of David. On the day of Pentecost, Peter says, David is dead, but the promise of God is alive. Acts 2:29-32, Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. In fact the point of earthly trials and sufferings is to redirect our vision to the ultimate blessing of life in Christ. Our destiny is Joy in the morning but there can never be a real morning until the night is over forever. This raises a question about the relevance of the Psalm because David is obviously referring to a temporal deliverance, so consider this deliverance.

III. The Deliverance

That the deliverance in David’s mind is an earthly deliverance is very clear in verses 8-10, You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever. So does the Psalm teach only earthly deliverance? Is it the point that we should pray for release from our trials? I think that is obvious. If we are learning through the discipline that God administers we are going to be praying for release because the fruit will be repentance and righteousness according to Hebrews 12. The real question is whether the Psalm is saying more than this. There surely are intimations in the Psalm that more is involved and we should not be too quick to limit David’s understanding. In verse 6 the Hebrew literally says “His favor, life!” Was the meaning of this restricted only to this life? And at the end of the Psalm David says I will give you thanks forever. Regardless of how much David understood our perception must be guided by the New Testament fulfillment. God’s promise concerning David’s house means that the Apostle Paul can say in Philippians 1:21-24, For me to live is Christ and to die is gain, I am torn between death and life. To depart and be with Christ is better by far, but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. He is convinced he will remain but he says, Whatever happens conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ. Every temporal deliverance is only a shadow of our ultimate deliverance. Every temporal resurrection is only a shadow of a better resurrection. So as we read this Psalm let us discern that God’s covenant faithfulness guarantees final deliverance and the trials of this life are meant to focus our attention on the promises of God which carry us beyond to a complete healing which we can never attain in this life.

Summary of Psalm 30

Have you ever taken God’s blessings for granted? In Psalm 30 David has made this mistake. In his prosperity he assumed that God’s grace would not bring correction. When God brought him to the door of death, then he cried out in penitence and God extended his earthly life so that he could continue to serve. The fact that this Psalm was composed to be sung at the dedication of David’s house reminds us that God’s promises to David and his descendants reached far beyond his earthly life to Jesus the Son of David. Jesus, who now sits upon David’s throne, has conquered death. So the temporal deliverance that David celebrates points to a better resurrection. We must be careful to remember that God’s discipline and correction in this life is the evidence of His love for His children. The purpose of such suffering is to remind us not to be presumptuous. We must give diligence to make our calling and election sure in our own hearts because as God kept his promise to David, so he will keep His promises to us until the last enemy is destroyed. Christ, Himself, is the assurance of this.