WINNING THE LOTTERY (Psalm 30:6, 7)

6 When I felt secure, I said, "I will never be shaken." 7 O LORD, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed. (NIV)

One of my favorite t-shirts reads “God, let me prove to you that winning the Lottery won’t ruin me.” But, I know better and God knows me well enough to also know better. In verse six of today’s reading, the psalmist hints at the dangers of self-sufficiency. When we’re prosperous and everything seems to be going right we begin to think we got there solely because of our abilities and our own doing. Pride, arrogance and independence start to take root. We forget the One who poured out the blessings, who gave us our talents, skills and gifts. So God gives us a reality check. See verse seven, “You hid your face.” Read it again...slowly. Close your eyes and repeat the verse to yourself, making a picture in your mind. Now imagine how it would feel to have your spouse, your parent, your child - someone you love deeply - refuse to look at you or allow you to see their face, to look into their eyes. When we begin to think we don’t need God, he gives us a taste of what that would really be like. He hides his face from us. He lets us experience his absence so we are reminded of how lonely, how empty, how fragile and dependent on Him we truly are. After all, we don’t need to win the lottery. We already have.

FATHER KNOWS BEST (Psalm 30:4, 5)

“4 Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name. 5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” (NIV)

Being a parent and raising children has given me invaluable insights into God as my heavenly Father. I now better understand how my rebellious disobedience wounds God and I know the pain of seeing sin needlessly hurt the ones I love. I also know that it is love that motivates me to discipline my children and teach them right from wrong in order to protect them from the consequences of misbehavior. When I was a child and on the receiving end of my share of spankings, I was sure my parents relished and anticipated every opportunity to discipline me. It was, I was convinced, their favorite hobby and the national pastime of adults everywhere. However, as a parent, I’ve come to experience the truth of “this is going to hurt me more than it’s going to hurt you.” No good parent looks forward to punishing their children, nor do they want the punishment to last a minute longer than it has to – as much for them as for the child.

The psalmist understands this and in verse 4 tells us saints what we are to do – praise our LORD – and verse 5 reminds us why – God doesn’t abandon us to suffer in a lifetime of punishment. Sin, disobedience and a fallen world will bring pain and tears into each of our lives until Jesus establishes his perfect kingdom. But in the meantime God is not gleefully standing over us with a sledgehammer waiting for opportunities to smash us, as we may be prone to imagine. Instead, being the faultless parent he is, God snatches us up into the safety of his arms without a moment to spare and showers us with joy and peace, making a shadowy memory of our past aches and suffering.

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL (Psalm 30:1-3)

“1 I will exalt you, O LORD, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. 2 O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me. 3 O LORD, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit.” (NIV)

When I was ten years old growing up on the family farm, I once fell into a rainwater-filled half-dug well while trying to capture frogs with an empty ice cream bucket. The hole was ten feet deep, the water level was several feet below its mouth and I couldn’t swim. Not a good combination. In spite of my cries for help and a panicked wish to see my dad lowering a rope to my rescue I soon realized no one was coming to help me. Gaining two feet and slipping back one with every effort, I clawed and kicked my way up and out until I collapsed on the ground, sobbing and gasping, relieved to be alive. That isn’t the only pit I’ve encountered and I’m sure you’ve all had your share of them, too. Pits come in many different shapes and sizes, literal and otherwise. Sometimes we fall into the pit dug by others and sometimes we dig our own. In today’s reading, the psalmist sings the praises of God because He is the Rescuer. The psalmist thanks God for rescuing him from enemies and their gloating (vs. 1), healing him from illnesses and disease (vs. 2) and even from the grave (vs. 3). The phrase “you lifted me” in verse 1 is a metaphorical usage of the Hebrew verb meaning “to draw up out of the water” and paints the picture of a bucket lowered down into a well and then raised to draw up water. Regardless of the pit in which you find yourself, even if you’ve dug it with your own two hands, God still stands at the top with a rope in His hands waiting to lift you out of the depths.