Psalm 30 Continued…
Psalm 30:7 O Lord, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed.
David begins to explain why he felt so secure. The Lord “favored” him. (Literally, David was “in the Lord’s favor”) That phrase, “You made my mountain stand firm,” is difficult. While the exact translation may be elusive, the sense of the statement, in contrast to the feeling of dismay that David experienced, is clear. The Jerusalem Bible translates it this way: “Your favor, Yahweh, stood me on a peak impregnable.” It makes sense in light of the fact that David’s kingdom is now firmly established in time.
“My mountain” does not refer to Mount Moriah, or Mount Zion, as some have supposed, for the passage relates to a former period of his life when these were not yet in his possession; but he speaks of himself as having, through the favor of God, put himself into a strong position—a position where he feared no enemy and no change; where he thought he was entirely secure—the state of “prosperity” to which he had referred in the previous verse.
The hiding of God’s face means a loss of divine favor on which David had leaned so heavily. The thought in Hebrew behind the phrase, “I was dismayed,” suggests being terrified out of one’s senses. In Hebrew it is put quite bluntly: You made my mountain stand strong; you hid your face; I was dismayed.
Psalm 30:8 To you, O Lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy:
When he was in trouble, that is, when the Lord had hidden his face from him, and he was aware that He had departed from him: he was not stupid and unaffected by it; nor did he turn his back on God, and seek another God. Instead, he cried after a departing God, which showed his love for Him, and his faith in Him, by looking again towards His holy temple and waiting upon Him to return. From all this, it seems that God withdrawing from him made his prayers more fervent.
His confession and prayer, when he realized that the Lord had left him, may well be found in 2 Samuel 24:17: “When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the Lord, “I am the one who has sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall upon me and my family.” David learned an important lesson, which is that no one can give himself cheerfully to prayer until he has been softened by the cross, and thoroughly subdued. And this is the main advantage of experiencing afflictions, that while they make us aware of our wretchedness, they stimulate us again to pray for the favor of God.
He prayed in the most humble manner, pleading with God for His grace and mercy, and that He would again show him His face and favor.
Psalm 30:9 What gain is there in my destruction, in my going down into the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness?
That is, what profit or advantage would there be to you if I should die? What would be “gained” by it? The argument which the psalmist uses is that he could serve God better by his life than by his death; that his death, by removing him from the earth, would prevent his rendering the service which he might by his life.
The prayer used here by David was not given at the time of the composition of the psalm, but at a time when the psalmist thought his mountain (kingdom) stood strong, and when God saw fit to humble him by some calamity—perhaps by a dangerous illness.
“In my going down into the pit?,” that is, when I die, and my body is laid in the grave, shall the dust which remains praise You? David complains to God, that by allowing him to fall by the sword of the enemy, or to be cut off in any other way at the beginning of his reign, would be of no benefit to his people, nor to the cause of religion; since he would be prevented from publicly celebrating the praises of God, and worshiping Him, which he proposed to do, if God would spare his life and give him the victory.
The “dust” is inanimate, and, while it remains dust, cannot speak. What the freed soul may do, David does not consider. Very little was known under the old dispensation concerning the intermediate state. Shall it declare thy truth? The dust certainly could not do that, unless revived and formed into another living body.
Will it proclaim your faithfulness?
Either the truth of the Gospel, which lies in the word of God; or the faithfulness of God in the performance of his promises—which is the object of the praises of the faithful.
Can a lifeless body stand up in defense of the truth, or make that truth known to the living? This shows on what his heart was really set, or what the prevailing desire of his soul was. It was to make known the truth of God, to celebrate His praise, and to bring others to an acquaintance with Him. May our focus be the same.
PRAY
Father help me to know that only in You am I anything at all. I cry out to you in my day of distress. I trust in you to help and hear.