WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1
Psalm 30:1-12
1 Chronicles 21:1-30; 22:1-6

“Therefore will not we fear …”

FROM WEEPING TO SINGING

The house dedication that David is singing about in this Psalm does not refer to the king’s palace, but rather to the Temple to be built by his son Solomon. A chain of events developing from David’s haughty desire to take census of all Israel led to his sore chastisement and a three-day plague that took the lives of 70,000 in Israel. When the angel of the Lord was about to destroy Jerusalem, David pleaded mercy for God’s people but submitted himself and his house to judgment. The angel of the Lord spoke through Gad the prophet that an altar be erected on the threshing floor of Ornan whereby he would be pardoned through burnt-offerings, offered thereon. This David did after he had bought Ornan’s threshing floor for 600 shekels of gold. When David saw God’s wrath appeased thereby, he perceived that the Temple he had desired to build, which he first disclosed to Nathan the prophet (2 Sam 7:1-17), was now confirmed to be over Ornan’s threshing floor. For the dedication of this Temple to be built by Solomon, David wrote this Psalm and song. The pathos of the chain of events leading to the altar sacrifices on Ornan’s threshing floor is reflected in this Psalm. The story of these events is recorded in 1 Chronicles 21:1-30; 22:1-6. This historical record will help you understand why weeping is mentioned in Psalm 30:5 and the grave in Psalm 30:3.

Comments Spurgeon: “When God’s children prosper one way, they are generally tried another, for few of us can bear unmingled prosperity. Even the joys of hope need to be mixed with the pains of experience, and the more surely so when comfort breeds carnal security and self-confidence. Nevertheless, pardon soon followed repentance, and God’s mercy was glorified. The Psalm is a song, and not a complaint. Let it be read in the light of the last days of David …” What an admonition to us. When the Lord blesses us with increasing prosperity, let us walk the more humbly before Him!

THOUGHT: How have I responded to God’s blessings in the past?
PRAYER: (Use Proverbs 30:8-9.)