Keith Simons teaches on Psalm 30, emphasizing the themes of God's deliverance and the joy that follows sorrow. He explains how David praises God for lifting him from despair and how the psalm serves as a song of dedication for the temple. Simons highlights the importance of recognizing God's favor and mercy, especially during times of trouble, and encourages believers to rejoice in God's holiness. The sermon reflects on the transient nature of sorrow and the enduring promise of joy that comes with God's presence. Ultimately, it calls for continual gratitude and praise to God for His faithfulness.

Welcome. Our psalm for today says, Weeping may endure for a night, But joy cometh in the morning. Today we're looking at Psalm number 30. My name is Keith Symons. I'm a Bible teacher from England and each week I present these talks on how to understand the King James Version of the Bible using the psalms and looking at the psalms verse by verse and word by word. So please turn with me to Psalm 30 and the ancient heading of this psalm is A Psalm and Song at the Dedication of the House of David. A psalm and song. The Hebrew word for psalm is especially referring to instrumental music and the word for song of course refers mainly to music with your voice. So here was a song for to perform on the instruments and to sing with the voice. And where was it to be sung? At the dedication of the house. The dedication, the special ceremony when the house is built and all is ready and with the prayer that house is given over to God. But which house is this? Well, there's reasons in the psalm to think that the house means specifically the temple, God's house. The closing words of David, well of course David, although he did not build the temple, he gave money for it. He also drew up the plans which he handed his son Solomon who built the temple and so it would seem entirely appropriate if David also wrote a song for singing at that special ceremony when the temple would finally be ready for the worship of God. The final words there of David may not mean the house was the of David, in other words David's house. It may mean that by David we would say a psalm and song at the dedication of the house by David. It's the usual phrase which we see throughout many of the psalms to indicate that David was the writer of this psalm. So he begins in verse one with a word of praise to God. I will extol thee O God, sorry, I will extol thee O Lord. Lord is the sacred name of God, the name which the Jewish people do not pronounce, the most holy name of God and David declares I will extol thee, I will praise you, I will worship you, I want to lift up your name and give you the honour. And that phrase carries a feel of lifting up in the Hebrew language and David continues that idea in the second half of the verse for thou hast lifted me up. Yes God I'm going to lift up your name and give you all the honour because you've brought me out of a low place and given me a place of honour too. And David adds thou hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. Foes are enemies. Why would David's enemies rejoice? Well they would rejoice in his defeat. It will bring joy to them, those evil enemies, to hear of David's death, of him being driven far away from God. That would bring happiness to David's enemies but God hasn't allowed it. Even though David was in a difficult situation, as we'll find out later in the psalm, even though he was in a desperate situation, God acted on his behalf. God saved him from those troubles. Verse two, David speaks about that. O Lord my God, I cried unto thee. That means I prayed to you. I prayed to you desperately. I prayed to you because I was in desperate need and thou hast healed me. Whatever was wrong with David, God had put it right. God had cured him. God had rescued him. But what was wrong? David continues to explain his situation was very desperate. He prays in verse three. O Lord thou hast brought up my soul from the grave. Thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit. Okay, so David was in danger of the grave. He was in danger of death but there was something more than that. Thou hast brought up my soul from the grave. It wasn't just the death of David's body that he feared. He feared that his soul, his inner life was sinking down into the grave and he knew there was danger. A danger that affected not just his body but his entire relationship with God and so therefore God's action in bringing him up from what seemed to be certain death, in keeping him alive, was an action to save not just David's body but also his soul, his inner life. And it was in this that David was rejoicing with gladness and he asks others to rejoice with him. Verse four, sing unto the Lord. That's a good phrase for a psalm and song at the dedication of the house. Sing unto the Lord. O ye saints of his and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. That phrase, O ye saints of his. Who are the saints? Well the saints are God's holy people, the people whom God has separated for himself. Now sometimes people use that phrase today to mean people who are in some way very holy and much holier than others or else they use it to mean Christians in general, God's saints. The popular song When the Saints Go Marching In is referring to God's people when at last they reach heaven. And David's meaning here by saints is probably the people of Israel or the people of Israel because God had called the people of Israel to be his holy people, his special people. And so David tells Israel's people sing unto the Lord. They should not just sing but they should give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. Give thanks because they remember how pure and perfect God is. Give thanks not just that David has been rescued from death, not just that his temporary separation from God has ended and his his position in God's favour has been restored, but give thanks especially that God is a holy God and that they, Israel's people, are a holy people, that God is pure and perfect and that they belong to him. Yes, at one time David was in trouble, in great trouble. At one time he faced the anger of God and he was angry with God. But how brief that was. Verse five. For his anger endureth but a moment. In his favour is life. God is a God who loves life. He doesn't want to be angry. Least of all does he want to be angry with his people, the people who he's chosen for himself. God didn't want to be angry with David who was God's king. But when he was angry, God's anger was brief against them. God much preferred to restore them to his favour, to a right relationship with himself. And that favour brought life to David. Remember in verse three how he talked about his soul going down into the grave, his inner life being lost in death. But in his favour, in God's favour, David found life. Weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning. Yes, in that time of trouble David knew weeping and great sorrow. He was desperate and that sorrow seemed to last as it were for a night. But God had planned that a day should follow night and so the day came and with the morning light came joy, came freedom from all that suffering and pain and trouble that David and Israel's people had suffered. So we start to look at the history of King David now. When is he referring to? When was this rescue that's being talked about? I said at the beginning that the dedication of the house probably means God's house, the temple. And we have an account in 2 Samuel chapter 24 of what happened when God's anger was kindled against Israel. And in 2 Samuel chapter 24 we read that or we discover that Israel's people were at peace and David having suffered from many enemies and many difficulties and many struggles in his life, he was living comfortably in his home in Jerusalem and he became too comfortable. He became too comfortable about his power as king and he commanded Joab, the leader of his army, to go through Israel and to number God's people, to count the number of men who could fight for David in war. But these people were God's holy people, they were his saints, they were Israel's people. They didn't belong to David, they belonged to God. There is a proper procedure in the laws of Moses for when the king chooses to count Israel's people, it says that a tax must be paid to God for the lives of those people. There's no record that David paid that tax. No, he ordered the numbering of the people because he wanted to know how powerful and how great a king he had become. And after David had numbered the people, God sent him a prophet by the name of Gad and Gad said to David, you know, you're guilty, what you've done is wrong and the Lord is going to make a judgment against Israel. You've got a choice, seven years of famine, seven years when there's not enough food in the country, or choose three months when your enemies would chase after you to destroy you, or three days of a terrible illness in the land. What should we do? And David says, I don't know what to choose of those. I place myself in the hands of the Lord. I look to God to send mercy. And so an illness came, a pestilence, the King James Version calls it, against Israel, 70,000 people died. And David turned to God. He said to God, lo, I have sinned and done wickedly. And he prayed for the people and for the end of that terrible illness that was spreading across Israel. And God directed David to offer sacrifices at the threshing floor of Arunah, the Jebusite. And God revealed to David that that place where he'd offered those sacrifices was to be the place of God's house, the temple. And there God's people would pray to God. And from there, God would rescue them and defend them against their enemies and help them. And there they would offer sacrifices, animals to him. So that was the significance of the temple. Now, let's turn back to the psalm, Psalm 60, and we're up to verse six and see what David says about his own experiences. Verse six. And in my prosperity, I said, I shall never be moved. Ah. So this psalm is not just a psalm of joy and of celebration of God rescuing David. It's also a confession. It's a confession about the time of David's prosperity, when David thought he was doing so well. And instead of relying upon God, he depended on himself. Instead of trusting God to defend him from his enemies, he started trusting in the strength of his great army. In my prosperity, I said, I shall never be moved. Not in my prosperity, I said, God, I must turn to you. I must depend on you. As when I was a poor man, as when I was a desperate man, because my favour with you and Israel's favour with you depends entirely on you and not on ourselves. No, David said in that prosperity, in that situation of power, I shall never be moved. I have become truly powerful. And that was wrong. He shouldn't have done that. Verse seven, David adds, Lord, by thy favour, thou hast made my mountain to stand strong. In other words, David now recognises, he understands it. It was God's favour, God's kindness that made his mountain, probably a reference to Mount Zion, in other words, Jerusalem, a city which was built on a hill. And God had made David the capital, David to establish Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. And Jerusalem stood strong because of God's favour, not because of David's power, not because David was a successful king, but because of what God had done. And David saw that when God showed his kindness, Jerusalem was strong. But when God took that kindness away, verse seven again, thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled. In other words, the way David describes this terrible illness sweeping across Israel with 70,000 people dying and with the whole nation believing that they were on the point of being destroyed, David describes it simply as God hid his face, as if God just turned his face away. That's how dependent Israel and David were upon God, that the simple turning of God's face away from them brought the most terrible troubles against them. Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled. And that is what caused David, verse eight, to cry to God. I cried unto thee, O Lord, and unto the Lord I made supplication. He cried, he cried his desperate prayer to God and he made supplication, he continued in prayer, he asked God to act because God's promises to Israel and to David were in danger by that. Verse nine, what profit is there in my blood when I go down to the pit? If I go down to the pit, to a hole in the ground, to my grave, and yet you haven't completed your promise to me and yet my family ends with me. God, you promised me, King David, that from me would come the great King, the great Messiah of God's people. How can that be so if we're all going to die, if my blood is going to be spilled to the ground by this terrible illness? Shall the dust praise thee? Yes, mankind, God created from the dust of the earth and at death he's returned to the dust of the earth his body is. Can that dust praise God? How is God going to be served by David dying? Is his dust going to praise God? No, he must stay alive to praise God until his work on earth is finished and until his body can return to the ground and his spirit rise to be with God in heaven. Shall it, the dust, declare thy truth? No, God had called David to declare God's truth. God must, David must therefore declare that truth and David needs to be alive to declare that truth. He has a job to do on earth and he must do that job for the honour and the glory of God. Verse 10. Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me. Lord, be my helper. Now I know, God, that I depend on you. I depend on your kindness every minute of every day. I can't depend on my army, vast as it is, to fight my wars for me, to protect me from my enemies, to protect me from those who would do harm to me. How happy they were when they heard that a terrible illness was spreading across Israel. How much they would rejoice to see God's king destroyed and God's kingdom ruined to raise no more. Lord, be thou my helper. There is no help apart from you. There is no one else who can save us apart from you. Well, God answered David's prayer. That terrible illness stopped at the threshing floor of Arona, the place where David had offered sacrifices to God, the place that would become the place of the temple, God's house in Jerusalem. And so David could rejoice. And how great was his rejoicing. Verse 11. Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing. This is mourning as in sadness. This is mourning as in weeping. This is mourning as in what people do when people around them die. But that day of mourning or that night of mourning has ended. And in place there was a reason to dance and to rejoice with great energy in front of God because God was going to allow the building in Israel of his temple, his house, where he would be present amongst his people. Yes, truly, verse 5, weeping did endure for a night, but joy came in the morning. Thou hast, verse 11 again, thou hast put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness. After death, the family members would be very sad. They would tear their clothes. They would put on the roughest and poorest clothes. Even wealthy people would dress as if they were the poorest people in society. They'd wear clothes made of the same rough and uncomfortable fabric that was so cheap. It was made out of the same sort of substance that sacks were made out of. Therefore, it was called sackcloth, the same sort of cloth that made sacks. And in David's time of sadness, he wore sackcloth as well to show that God had reduced him to a desperate state, to a state of poverty, and he would come to God in poverty and in humility to seek God's forgiveness and God's kindness. But now he declares, thou hast put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness. To gird means really to put on a belt. When you put on your clothes and you've finished, you put the belt around them to hold them in place. And David says, in place of sackcloth, in place of those clothes which I wore in my bitter sadness, now I'm wearing gladness like clothes and I'm covered with gladness. It's a word picture, of course. You can't wear gladness. You can't wear happiness. But David was so full of happiness and joy and gladness and he rejoiced before God. Verse 12, to the end that my glory may sing praise to thee and not be silent. My glory, well, that can mean the inward part. The word glory means really the best and most glorious, most wonderful part of you. Well, the best and most glorious and most wonderful part of a person is that person's soul, that person's inner life. And so David might mean to the end that my soul, my inner life will sing praise to God. Or he might mean, how do we express that? How do we express the joy that is in us? How do we express greatness? How do we express pride if we want to express pride? Well, through the mouth, the tongue. And so David by my glory might equally well mean his tongue. His mouth would sing praise to God. Oh, that makes sense too, doesn't it? And his mouth would sing praise to God and not be silent as he rejoiced before God with this psalm and this song. And so he concludes, oh Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee forever. Yes, one time I forgot to be thankful. Yes, that time I became proud in myself. I allowed my glory, my soul to express my inner pride. And I became proud in my nation and in my army and what I could achieve. But now I don't want my pride to be myself or my nation or my army. I want it to be in God alone. To God belongs all thanks and praise. And I don't just want to praise God for now. I want to continue to praise him on and on. Oh Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee forever. Please write to me my email address 333kjv at gmail.com. It will be great to hear from you. You won't be added to any mailing lists or anything like that. But I would like to know what part of the world you're from. 333kjv at gmail.com. Now let me read to you the whole of Psalm 30. A psalm and song at the dedication of the house of David. I will extol thee, O Lord, for thou hast lifted me up and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. O Lord my God, I cried unto thee and thou hast healed me. O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave. Thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit. Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness, for his anger endureth but a moment. In his favour is life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. Lord, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong. Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled. I cried unto thee, O Lord, and unto the Lord I made supplication. What profit is there in my blood when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? Shall it declare thy truth? Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me. Lord, be thou my helper. Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing. Thou hast put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness, to the end that my glory may sing praise to thee and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee forever.