Psalms 30:1 - Meaning and Application

It was a good and accepted practice among the godly Jews, though not directly commanded, to dedicate a new house to God (Deuteronomy 20:5). David did this when his own house was finished and he moved into it (2 Samuel 5:11). Royal palaces need God’s protection just as much as ordinary homes, and they should be just as fully devoted to his service. We should treat the homes we enter as little places set apart for God.

At the start of living there, we should commit ourselves, our families, and all our household matters to God’s care. We should ask for his presence and blessing, devote ourselves and all we have to his glory, and resolve to keep sin far from our homes. We should also determine that we and our houses will serve the Lord, both in family worship and in every part of gospel obedience. Some think this psalm was sung when David’s house was dedicated again after Absalom, David’s son, had driven him out and defiled it with incest. They also think it was a song of thanks for crushing that dangerous rebellion.

In these verses, David first gives thanks to God for the great rescues God had done for him. “I will extol you, O Lord,” he says, “for you have lifted me up.” He will praise God as the One who is high and exalted, and he will do all he can to advance God’s kingdom among people. God lifted him not only out of the pit where he was sinking, but also up to the throne of Israel. God raises the poor from the dust, and when he lifts us by his providence and by his grace, gratitude should move us to praise him as much as we can, even though our best praise is small.

Three things made David’s rescue especially great. First, it meant his enemies were defeated. They were not allowed to triumph over him, as they would have done if he had died of illness or been destroyed in trouble, which would have been cruel and arrogant on their part (Psalm 41:11). Second, it was an answer to prayer. “I cried to you,” he says. We should bring all our trouble to God and make every cry a cry to him. When we pour out our grief that way, it eases a burdened heart. God not only heard David, but healed him, healing his body, his troubled mind, and his scattered kingdom. This is one of the ways God shows himself, “I am the Lord who heals you” (Exodus 15:26), and we should give him the praise for it. Third, it saved David’s life. He had come to the very edge of death, dropping toward the grave and ready to go down into the pit, yet God rescued him and kept him alive (Psalm 30:3). The closer our danger has been, the greater our deliverance feels, and the clearer it shows God’s power and goodness. A life that has been given back from the dead should be spent praising the God who gave it.

David then calls others to join him in praise, not only for the special kindness shown to him, but for God’s goodness to all his saints, his faithful people (Psalm 30:4). “Sing to the Lord, you saints of his.” God owns all true saints as his own. There is still a remnant of such people in the world, and they are expected to sing to him, because they were made and made holy to be for his honor and praise. The saints in heaven sing to him, so those on earth should do the same as well as they can, in harmony with them.

They believe that God is perfectly holy, so they should sing to him and give thanks when they remember his holiness. They should praise his holy name, for holiness is what marks him through every generation. God is a holy God, and his holiness is part of his glory. The holy angels place special weight on this in their worship (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8). We should often remember and speak of God’s holiness. It is a joy to the saints that God is holy, because that means he will make them holy too, and more holy. No part of God’s character is more frightening to the wicked or more comforting to the godly than his holiness. If we can truly rejoice in and thank God for his holiness, it is a good sign that we share in it in some measure.

They have also found him gracious and merciful, so they should sing to him for that as well. We have learned that his anger does not last long. We deserve for it to last forever, since we have deserved nothing but judgment, yet “his anger lasts only a moment” (Psalm 30:5). When we offend him, he is angry. Still, because he is slow to anger and not easily provoked, his anger is soon turned away when we repent and humble ourselves, and he is ready to be at peace with us again. If he hides his face from his children and withholds the usual signs of his favor, it is only for a little while, in a small outburst of wrath. But he will gather them with everlasting kindness (Isaiah 54:7, 8). If weeping lasts for a night, even a long and painful one, joy is sure to return in the morning. In due time, comfort comes back to God’s people, for the covenant of grace is as steady as the day.

This has often been true in our own experience. We have wept through the night, but the grief has soon passed and the trouble has gone. As long as God’s anger continues, the saints keep weeping. If his anger lasts only a moment, then the suffering is only a moment too. When God’s face shines again, even severe trouble is rightly called light and brief. His favor is life, meaning all that is truly good. When his favor returns to an afflicted soul, it is like life coming back from the dead, and nothing is more refreshing. Our happiness rests in God’s favor. If we have that, we have enough, even if we lack everything else. It is the life of the soul, spiritual life, and the promise of eternal life.