This too shall pass!

Scripture: Psalm 30 Click here for reading

Observation: There is a great observation by the Psalmist of a secure feeling in the midst of prosperity but when that prosperity ends, the psalmist feels crushed.


Your favor, O Lord, made me as secure as a mountain.
    Then you turned away from me, and I was shattered.


Does our security from God become established by our prosperity?


Application: As a chaplain in a hospital, a long time ago, I walked into a room with a young man (not the norm for the telemetry floor) who seemed visibly shaken.  I sat with him and he shared pleasantries with me.  But then, he asked a poignant question to me; "Why is it that when you end up in the hospital, everyone tells you 'this too will pass' but no one ever says that after you win the lottery."


As Psalm 30 is a psalm of thanksgiving, we hear deep words of moving away from the shattering (being stuck in the hospital) experience of God's turning away to a celebration of praise.


"You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,
that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!"

That is something the prosperity gospel misses.  That God is the one who is present in all things.  This is the God we sing praise to.  As Job, God's faithful servant proclaimed, "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, Praise the Lord!"


Prayer: This too shall pass, in all things we give you praise O Lord.