“O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me.”
~ Psalm 30:2
Hi James and Ellen,
Have you ever been so sick that you thought that you were going to die? It is no fun to be sick. How do you feel when you are sick? Does your body ache all over when you are sick? Does your head feel like it is going to explode when you are sick? Do you want to be just left alone when you are sick? How do you feel when you are no longer feeling sick? What do you do when your body finally stops aching and your head stops throbbing from being sick? When your grandpaa is sick, your grandpaa sometimes feels really grouchy. Sometimes when your grandpaa is sick, your grandpaa wants to be left alone. When your grandpaa had malaria, all your grandpaa wanted to do was to curl up into a ball because his kidneys and head hurt so much. Your grandpaa went through four cycles of increasing discomfort when he had malaria – including not being able to keep his teeth from chattering and nausea to the point of vomiting – and vomiting. Right before David wrote the psalm song which is now Psalm 30, David may have been very close to dying from being very sick. Right before he wrote this psalm song, David may have been feeling that he was in a really deep, dark place. The really deep, dark place where David may have felt like he was when he was right at the edge of dying – probably from being sick, felt like to him that he was in Sheol or hell or dead in a grave. This deep, dark place had David feeling as if he was caught in total blackness, in absolute silence, in sticky mire, in gooey slime, in tacky muck, in a muddy pit, in a thick dust storm, in a place of complete destruction and in a place where there was nothing but total corruption. David felt like his enemies were really happy that he was about to die and that they were gloating and reveling that they would finally be rid of him because his Father God had apparently competely disowned and forgotten him. When the last malaria cycle began, your grandmaa drove your grandpaa to a Guatemala City clinic. After being given a pill to stop the malaria’s side effects, your grandpaa began to quickly feel better. After being given another pill to stop the malaria from returning, your grandpaa went home that same day.
When David realized that God had kept him from dying from whatever ailment that he had, David scribed a thankful, joyful psalm song. This psalm song that David scribed became an ascent song. Psalm ascent songs were used in the dedication of the temple of God that was in Jerusalem. Psalm ascent songs are songs of praise that praise God for all the miraculously things that He had done and was doing for His specially chosen guys and gals. David had no trouble scribing personal praise psalm songs to God. David felt God’s special attention and blessings over and over again in his life. It can be easy for a guy or gal to thank God after He has saved him or her from dying. It is not as easy for a guy or gal to ask God for His help when about the only thing that a guy or gal can think about when he or she is really sick is the awful angst that he or she is feeling or experiencing. After David asked God to heal him and God healed him, David could not praise God enough. David gave God all the credit for having saved him from death. David wrote in verse 2, “O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me.” When do you ask for help when you are feeling sick? Who do you thank for helping you after you are no longer sick? Who do you think allowed David to get sick in the first place? Why do you think that God allowed David to get sick? Do you think that David would have been able to scribe this psalm song if he had not experienced what he experienced during the time that he was sick? God – to teach guys and gals how His mercy works just as He taught David about 3000 years ago, allowed His specially chosen guys and gals to go through a lot of really difficult, tough, impossible, awful, horrible times – which gave God the chance to show off His undeserved grace and mercy to them. It is now 3000 years later and nothing has changed – as God is still allowing His specially elected guys, gals and kids to go through a lot of really difficult, tough, impossible, awful, horrible times in order to show off His unmerited grace and mercy to them.
Your grandpaa’s dad one day – while he was climbing over the cow yard fence, stepped on a board that had a rusty nail sticking through it. Your grandpaa’s dad stepped on that rusty nail. The rusty nail went through the bottom of your grandpaa’s dad’s boot and into his foot. Your grandpaa’s dad’s foot became seriously infected from having the rusty nail go into it. Your grandpaa’s dad had not had a tetanus shot. Really bad infections that are caused by such things as rusty nails can lead to lockjaw. Guys and gals have died from lockjaw. Dying from lockjaw is a very horrible way to die. A tetanus shot keeps a guy, gal or kids from lockjaw. Your grandpaa’s dad’s doctor told your grandpaa’s dad to stay in bed until the infection in his foot was completely gone. It was in the springtime when your grandpaa’s dad stepped on a rusty nail that caused the really bad, potentially fatal infection in your grandpaa’s dad’s foot. Springtime is when farmers get their fields ready for planting. Your grandpaa was not old enough to do the farm work – such as getting the fields ready for planting oats and corn, that your grandpaa’s dad was getting ready to do on his farm. Several days after your grandpaa’s dad stepping on a rusty nail that caused your grandpaa’s dad’s foot to become badly infected, your grandpaa’s dad’s neighbors drove onto the farmyard where your grandpaa grew up as a kid with their farm machinery. Your grandpaa’s dad’s neighbors worked until they had your grandpaa’s dad’s fields planted. Your grandpaa’s dad’s neighbors did not have to help your grandpaa’s dad but they did. God did not have to help David when he was sick but He did. God does not have to help His specially elected kids – like you, but He does. In spite of not deserving God’s help, God has helped your grandpaa over and over and over again.
Psalm 30 (416)