Week 18: Psalm 30
It's easy to fall into the mindset that if only we had “insert x-y-z”, our lives would be perfect. What could go wrong with getting everything we want? Wouldn't we truly be at rest? Finally satisfied? We may feel even more certain of this if the things that we want aren't particularly exorbitant. What could go wrong with external securities?
David held a similar perspective in Psalm 30. He says in verse 6, “When I was secure, I said, I will never be shaken.” After much upheaval and danger in his life, David had finally reached a place where he felt utterly secure, untouchable even! However, in expressing this sentiment, David didn't realize he had lost touch with reality. Trials are hard, and while we certainly don't go out of our way to seek them, they are unique in that they give us a grasp of reality that temporal security can cause us to lose. As Christians, a firm grasp of reality reminds us that while we rejoice in seasons of prosperity, praising God for them, and even asking that they remain, our ultimate hope and our final security do not rest in those circumstances. In other words, our ability to be shaken—or not—should not lie in our feelings of external stability.
Psalm 119:71 (CSB) says, “It was good for me to be afflicted that I might learn your statutes.” Have you ever come to the other side of a hard season or trial, and though you would never wish to go through it again, you simultaneously know that you never would have learned certain lessons (about God, or yourself) if you hadn't gone through it? It's a strange tension, isn't it? Consider this thought from theologian Charles H. Spurgeon: “When God's children prosper one way, they are generally tried another, for few of us can bear unmingled prosperity. Even the joys of hope need to be mixed with the pains of experience, and more surely so when comfort breeds carnal security and self confidence.”
Thankfully, David did not stay in this state of “carnal security and self confidence.” When trials once again brought him down to earth and back to reality, he cried out to God, seeking favor from the only One in whom he could find true security. He called upon the faithful character of God as reason for his desire for relief: “LORD, I called to you; I sought favor from my Lord: 'What gain is there in my death, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your truth? LORD, listen and be gracious to me; LORD, be my helper.'”
Aren't you glad to serve a God who delights to answer these kinds of prayers? There is nothing like the relief and unending praise that fills our hearts when God responds favorably to our requests. David's desperation turned to dancing; his graveness shifted to gratitude. David's experience gave him sobriety for the future. Though God continued to cause him to flourish in the future, he knew where his true refuge and stability rested—not in how he felt about his circumstances, but in how he was positioned within the care of his Provider. From both David's experience and our own, we can say without a doubt that whether we are feeling secure or not, we will never be shaken, because our ultimate resting place is in Christ.
-Ashley
