Sunday, October 19, 2014

BOLD Christian Outreach Reflections from Psalm 30

Subtitle: Facing the Pit (Death)  

 “I will honor you highly, O LORD, because you have pulled me out {of the pit} and have not let my enemies rejoice over me. O LORD my God, I cried out to you for help, and you healed me. O LORD, you brought me up from the grave. You called me back to life from among those who had gone into the pit.” Psalm 30:1-4 (God’s Word, Copyright 1995 by God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society, www.godsword.org)



Have you ever hit rock bottom? It is a very lonely place to be. Danger awaits you in the morning! Fear fills your senses! Your body silently screams at you for an escape! Panic grips your mind! Your thoughts race in several directions and then they become silent, and still you realize that you have no control over what will happen next, so you do the only thing that makes sense at the time…you call out to God. “Help! Please help me LORD! My life is in your hands. I have nothing and without YOU I am nothing. But with YOU, through YOU, and by YOUR divine intervention I will live to see another day.”

This is where faith is tested. Faith isn't something you create, but it is planted in you by God and then it is nurtured through trials and adversity until it becomes ingrained in the very fabric of your existence. Some people are only tested a few times, and go through deep valleys once or twice, but they are the exceptions, for most of us these deep valleys are regular occurrences. Sometimes as we get older the valleys in life seem to be less frequent and not as difficult to endure. This may be the result of our growth in faith as we learn to trust in the promises of God. 

As I look back over my life I have started to understand what David experienced in the 23rd Psalm as he wrote, “Even as I walk through the valley of death, I will not fear evil, because YOU are with me and YOUR rod and staff brings me comfort.” When I reflect on how my LORD has rescued me in the past, it is a little easier to let go of the fear and then trust that HE will rescue me again.

In the beginning of this Psalm, David is expressing that emotional bottom. He had been in the pit of death with little hope for escape, yet God turned the tables on David’s enemies and rescued him. At the same time, God used these words of David to prophesy of the death and resurrection of the Messiah.

Our outreach promise from this Psalm has been fulfilled in the body of our LORD Jesus Christ when He rose from the dead.  While David’s words were of emotional death and rescue, they point to the life of Jesus who physically died and rose from the dead. Jesus fulfilled the prophesy, “O LORD, you brought me up from the grave. You called me back to life from among those who had gone into the pit.”

If you are feeling like your life is in the pit; there is hope! If you are ministering to someone else who is at rock bottom; there is hope! GOD HAS THE POWER TO RESCUE US FROM THE PIT!

Death has been defeated and has no power. Jesus the Messiah has won the victory over death. We have nothing to fear when we by faith let God lift us up. And then… with David we can BOLDly sing praises to the God who saves us.

You have changed my sobbing into dancing. You have removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy so that my soul may praise you with music and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever.” Psalm 30:10-12 (God’s Word, Copyright 1995 by God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society, www.godsword.org)

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