This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) Welcome to day five of our look at Psalm 26 to 30, looking at
Psalm 30 today. Psalm 30 talks about the ingredients of genuine joy. Psalm 30,
as you look at David's heart before God here, Psalm 30 encourages us that
instead of running from my negative feelings, I need to recognize them and bring
them to God and ask for God's help and healing.

And so what I'd like to do is look at the negative feelings that David confesses
before God in this Psalm, because maybe it'll be an encouragement to you and I
to confess our negative feelings before God. In verse one to three, the first
negative feeling that he confesses is I'm in the depths, I'm in a pit. Let me
read those verses, Psalm 31 to three.

I will exalt you, O Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and you didn't let
my enemies gloat over me. O Lord, my God, I called to you for help and you
healed me. O Lord, you brought me up from the grave.

You spared me from going down into the pit. Only those who recognize that
they're in a pit will ask God to lift them out. If you pretend you're not in a
pit, that everything's okay, oh, fine, you just say fine to everything, even
though when you're at home, your heart's in a pit.

Even though when you're not with other people, you're devastated. Even though
when you're talking to God, you act as if everything is okay. We're good, God,
everything's okay.

Only those who recognize they're in a pit will ask God to lift them out of that
pit. Only those who recognize that they're headed into a pit will ask God to
spare them from that pit. So stop pretending before God.

If you're in a pit right now, just say God, that's where I am. You see me, you
know where I am, that's where I am. Because then God can begin to lift you out
and he is a God who lifts us out.

Second negative emotion that David expresses in this psalm is verses four and
five, I've been weeping through the night. Verse four, sing to the Lord, you
saints of his, praise his holy name, 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.

Joy comes in the morning, this famous verse. This verse is a reminder that you
often cry your way to a place of joy. You grieve your way to a place of joy.

One of the reasons some of us lack joy is we're afraid to cry before the Lord.
We're afraid to grieve before the Lord. And one of the reasons we're afraid is
we've bought into this idea of instant joy, or instant happiness.

People looking for instant joy and happiness usually end up looking in all the
wrong places. Some new kick, some new drug, some new thrill, some new
relationship, some new church, some new book, some new something. But maybe
what's needed is you go back to those old feelings you've been facing and you
just confess them before God.

Don't miss, in these verses I just read, don't miss the comparison between a
moment and a lifetime, between the night and the morning. What you're going
through in this moment does not change the fact that God has promised he will
bestow his favor on you for a lifetime. And when you confess what you're going
through in the moment, he reveals that to you.

What you're facing in this night does not change the truth that God promises a
joyful morning will one day dawn. And when you confess what you are feeling in
that night, then you're headed towards the morning that God has for you. As
David's talking about how he feels in this psalm and looking for God's joy in
the midst of tough times, he also says a third thing.

He says, I am dismayed. In verses six to 10, when I felt secure, I said, I will
never be shaken. O Lord, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm.

But when you hid your face, I was dismayed. To you, O Lord, I called. To the
Lord, I cried for mercy.

What gain is there in my destruction and my going down into the pit? Will the
dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness?

Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me. O Lord, be my help. David felt dismayed
because he felt that God was not showing up to help him when he needed help.

He talks about feelings that we've all been through. There's times in our lives
when we feel like nothing could shake me. Nothing could shake my faith.

Nothing could shake my love. But then all of a sudden, we feel like God isn't
there. We feel like my prayers aren't being answered.

And we become dismayed. When David felt that God was distant, he did three
things. Number one, he reminded himself of those times he'd felt secure.

This isn't the only way I've ever felt God. There are times when I've felt very
secure. So I know this is about something going on inside of me.

And number two, and maybe most importantly, he kept talking to God. Even though
he felt that God was distant, he had the faith to keep talking to God. Even
though you feel that God is distant right now, have the faith to keep talking to
God.

And then number three, he recognized his need for God's mercy. Be merciful to
me, O God. One of the reasons I go through times when I feel far from God is so
that I can be reminded again of how in need I am of God's strength and help and
God's mercy in my life.

If it weren't for the mercy of the cross, I couldn't connect with God at all.
And it's easy sometimes when you feel secure to think it's all about you. When
you feel dismayed, it's an opportunity, a difficult opportunity, but an
opportunity to recognize it really is all about God.

And he is the only one who can show us that mercy. So David said when he was
dismayed, he confessed it before God. I am dismayed, and he found God's help.

And then finally, David said I'm mourning. He not only said I'm crying, we
looked at that earlier through the night, but he said I'm in a place of mourning
in my life. Verse 11, you turned my wailing into dancing.

You removed my sackcloth and you clothed me with joy that my heart may sing to
you and not be silent, O Lord. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.
When it comes to struggling with difficult feelings, we often try to ignore the
feeling until it goes away, especially about, oh, I'd say 50% of the human
population.

You can guess whether that's men or women. About 50% have a struggle with this.
David was honest to God about the feeling so that he could be strengthened.

And I want you to notice in this verse the word turned. You turned my wailing
into dancing. We want to get over the mourning immediately.

We want to get over it. God wants to turn your mourning into faith, hope, and
love. He wants to do something in my life, in your life, even through the
mourning.

This is exactly what Jesus taught his disciples the night before he died. In
John 16, 20, Jesus is talking to his disciples in the upper room and he can see
that they're upset. They know something's going to happen.

He's told them that he's facing a possible death. And he says to them, John 16,
20, you will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. Turn to joy.

Joy is not saying that everything is okay. It's seeing, even when everything is
not okay, that God still has a plan to give you hope. There's something
interesting about this psalm that we don't immediately recognize.

Some of the psalms have a title, and this one has a title that's interesting.
The title of this psalm is For the Dedication of the Temple. I've prayed for the
dedication of a lot of buildings and parks and churches.

And I gotta tell you, it was never a prayer like this where I confess that I was
mourning and that I was crying. It was a prayer about the building being used
for God's great purposes. But David here, as he prays at the dedication of this
building, this temple, he goes a step deeper and he prays for the very things
that God needs to do in that temple.

He prays as one who knows that this place of worship is a place to bring your
deepest hurts to God and to find hope and healing. So just briefly, this psalm
reminds us to do four things when we're grieving, to be honest with God about
your feelings, to exalt God above your circumstances, number three, to call on
God for help and healing, and number four, to sing to the Lord and praise his
name. So let's do that right now in prayer.

As we come to God in prayer right now, whatever feelings you're struggling with,
just bring them to him and say, God, here they are. Maybe you've talked to him
about them a lot, maybe this is the first time. Maybe they've come with tears,
maybe it's without tears.

However they come, just be honest with God about your feelings. And in that
honesty, recognize that God is greater than the circumstances that are causing
those feelings. He's even greater than the things that may be within you that
are causing those feelings.

And call to him. Ask for his help, for his healing, for his mercy on your life.
And do that with a sense of singing to the Lord, praising his name, that no
matter what happens, he is a God that we can trust.

He is a God who we can exalt. And we do exalt you, God. We exalt you in Jesus'
name.

Amen. Well, join us next week, and we're going to continue together to allow God's
word to speak to our hearts.