Psalm 30 – Be thankful but not prideful

In Psalm 30, David expressed his thanks to God for the deliverance he had received from His hand. God had rescued him from many perilous situations, and most of all He had snatched him from the jaws of death. Being a grateful man, David expressed his gratitude. Like him, we too must develop a life of thanksgiving. Better still, we ought to cultivate a life of thanks-living.

In verses 1-3, David recalled how God had answered his call for help and rescued him from the grave. More than that, God had prevented his enemies from rejoicing over his death. So he now respond to God in praise. We are reminded to always be grateful and respond to the Lord in praise, when he had answered our call for help. Notice that David was not just contented to praise God himself, he also wants others to join him in praise. So in verses 4-5 we see his invitation to other people of God to join him in praise. He assured us that God’s anger may be experienced for a moment, but it will be replaced with joy forever. We cannot deny that God’s dealing with us may bring pain, but the impact it will make on our life will far outweigh the pain. It will bring us everlasting joy because of the positive outcome it will make in our life.   

David wants us to know that pride will always be a stumbling block to God’s continual blessing. It was not a theory as far as he was concerned. He had experienced it in life.  So he described it for us in verses 6-7. God actually removed His presence from David. And he felt the emptiness and misery of God’s absence and was truly humbled. That emptiness then drove him back to God in prayer. He begged for mercy and urged God to spare him. He reminded God that in death he would not be able to declare his praise to Him. He was virtually asking to be delivered from death. In verses 11-12, he then gave his word to always praise God. He had determined not to remain silent concerning the goodness of God and would always gratefully give thanks to Him.   

From this Psalm we learn that no matter how godly we are, we will be tempted to be prideful in life. And should we give in to the temptation to entertain pride, the dealing of God will be a sure experience. Why? Because God will never allow our pride to destroy us. He will allow adversity so as to bring about our humility and willingness to draw near to Him. And when we humble ourselves, we will definitely experience His deliverance. And when that happens, we must remember to be thankful and to give Him praise forever.