G. K. Chesterton once said, “I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” Psalm 30 is bookended with a double outburst of praise and gratitude. How did Israel’s King David come to be so animated by the wonders of YHWH? Join Pastor Jim for this study of Psalm 30 and see why David was so caught up in giving thanks to God!
(1) I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me.
(2) O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.
(3) O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.
(4) Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name.
(5) For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
(6) As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.”
(7) By your favor, O LORD, you made my mountain stand strong; you hid your face; I was dismayed.
(8) To you, O LORD, I cry, and to the Lord I plead for mercy:
(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!
“I used to think that God liked only certain people – those who lived up to his standards. But I’m increasingly surprised by his choice of friends. And even more surprised that his choice includes me.”
Steve Brown
What Was I Thinking?
“Salvation is not some felicitous state to which we can lift ourselves by our own bootstraps after the contemplation of sufficiently good examples. It is an utterly new creation into which we are brought by our death in Jesus’ death and our resurrection in his. It comes not out of our own best efforts, however well-inspired or successfully pursued, but out of the shipwreck of all human efforts whatsoever.”
Robert Farrer Capon
“Confession is when we quit all the deal making, the sidestepping, the mask wearing, the pretense and preening, and we get bone-deep honest before God.”
Mark Buchanan
Your God is Too Safe
“To rejoice in God is one thing; to rejoice in ourselves is another. Self-congratulation and the worship of God are mutually incompatible. Those who have a high view of themselves always have a correspondingly low view of God.”
John Stott
Authentic Christianity
“It’s time to quit making God seem dull because our insipid thanksgivings are.”
Calvin Miller
Into the Depths of God
“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”
G.K. Chesterton
A Short History of England
“I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment.”
C. S. Lewis
Reflections on the Psalms
“Nature simply praises God: redeemed humans understand why God ought to be praised.”
N. T. Wright
Small Faith-Great God
