Psalms 30 – 32
How many times does verse 30:2 happen in your life?
O LORD my God, I cried to you for help,
and you have healed me.
I hear people asking for help often, I have done so with my finances, legs and back often in my life. I have never experienced spontaneous healing, but often wonder if I am going about it the wrong way. I believe for this to take place we need a fundamental shift in how we actually pray.
If you get the opportunity read the Isaiah Effect by Gregg Braden, there he describes a “rain man” who got rain. He asked how did he “pray for rain” and get it to work. His response was perfect, where he said “I prayed rain”. See praying “for” something has us in a mindset of placing our energies on the lack thereof, where he prayed as if it was always there. See it’s a subtle shift in ones focus, which David had obviously discovered.
Verse 30:5 tells us the emotions of the moment are unavoidable, but never let them carry past that moment:
For his anger is but for a moment,
and his favour is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
David uses God as an example where He may get upset in a moment, but it only lasts a brief time. Life is not always “sunshine and blue skies”, we are going to have tough times ahead. The key is not to let the negative consume us, give the emotion its moment and then release it. We need to focus on joy to remain in a constant connection with God.
Now I passed by verse 31:5 and was reminded of Jesus’ death on the cross:
Into your hand I commit my spirit;
you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.
We don’t have to die before we can commit our spirit to God; no Jesus had his entire existence. David did also, where he found the secret to being connected to God and that is through more than just words, but feeling and emotions. Feelings and emotions come and go throughout our lives, but David found that remaining in them connect him directly to God. This is an odd concept to digest in a short reading; the Isaiah Effect explains it more fully. Learn to focus your energies away from the negative and towards the positive.
Verse 32:11 ends this reading with encouragement:
Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
The forgiveness of the Lord is something we don’t really take to heart. David is saying be glad and rejoice not because we live a blameless life but because we are forgiven! We do not need to keep beating ourselves up for sinning since the price had already been paid. Now that does not excuse the one who keeps sinning, remember the woman at the well. When he called her out, he told her to stop sinning and be forgiven. We can’t keep running to the computer for porn or some other addiction then beg for forgiveness only to wade back into the next day.
This is a tough subject when you look at it this way. We are forgiven and should be glad, but we are not blessed when our sins are repetitive. I believe when you get into the addictions, a person needs to be glad they have forgiveness, but also work towards escaping the bondage of their sin. Then you can really be glad and rejoice!