The Morning Light of His Favor and Psalm 30

Psalm 30 reads as follows from the New King James Version of the Bible:

  1 I will extol You, O LORD, for You have lifted me up,
         And have not let my foes rejoice over me.
 2 O LORD my God, I cried out to You,
         And You healed me.
 3 O LORD, You brought my soul up from the grave;
         You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.[a]
         
 4 Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of His,
         And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.[b]
 5 For His anger is but for a moment,
         His favor is for life;
         Weeping may endure for a night,
         But joy comes in the morning.
         
 6 Now in my prosperity I said,
         “I shall never be moved.”
 7 LORD, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong;
         You hid Your face, and I was troubled.
         
 8 I cried out to You, O LORD;
         And to the LORD I made supplication:
 9 “What profit is there in my blood,
         When I go down to the pit?
         Will the dust praise You?
         Will it declare Your truth?
 10 Hear, O LORD, and have mercy on me;
         LORD, be my helper!”
         
 11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
         You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,
 12 To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent.
         O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

Central to psalm is the theme of God’s personal favor to a given individual. In the Gospels, it says the sun shines on both the just and unjust and this shows how God’s favor comes to all men, deservedly or not.

But this psalm is more about a direct confrontation with God’s favor that is hashed out, and discussed directly with God. Also, the psalm talks about avoidance or being spared as part of the favor. What you might not necessarily count as a favor is something you were spared from, in that you might not have know what it would have been. But this indeed is part of God’s favor.

In verse 4 it says," Sing to the Lord you saints of his, praise his holy name."

The difference it seems within this psalm is that it is addressing those who are already favored by God as his saints. But within this, there is still a struggle to find and secure God’s favor. Even being a saint doesn’t guarantee across the board God’s favor. Further seeking must be done to find and secure God’s individual favor. Verse 6 thru 7 says," When I felt secure I said, “ I will never be shaken, Oh Lord, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm, but when you hid your face, I was dismayed."

There was a time when the psalmist here felt God was favoring him. But either way, the psalmist David is calling what has happened a matter of God’s favor towards him. God’s favor was upon him and then it wasn’t and referred to this rather directly.

Sometimes, that boldness in prayer is just not there. Secretly, I might be seeking God’s favor, or at least making an inquiry towards God’s favor in a matter, yet I might just behave in a way I believe is pleasing to God, hopefully obtaining his favor but never discussing it rather directly. Let’s not jinx my chances by talking about it.

But this psalm is talking about approaching God and naming the situation as having God’s favor upon it or not. Because God’s favor comes with a lot and He doesn’t want us to miss his favor. Verse 5 says, “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."

That joy comes in the morning, signifies that that the Lord will put light to his favor. We are called to see the light of his favor and walk in it. This is why it is important to inquire of the Lord’s favor. If you do have favor towards something or a way to go, but you don’t see the favor, you might miss out on the favor. While the favor is not an obligation of the Lord, you can ask if it is there, that you be able to see it in the fullest light so that you don’t miss it. The symbolic nature of the troubles of the night turning into joy in the morning means that we can get up and find our way around in the morning light of His favor.

The probable context of this psalm is that the psalmist was seriously ill but had been healed or recovered. But the trouble of the night could also represent an extended or lingering problem where the sight of the Lord’s favor seems distant and almost incomprehensible. We know morning comes but if we didn’t know that, it might seem like the idea of morning was almost impossible from the darkness of the night. And it can be hard to believe that great favor or favor of a light time can springboard for extended and mounting troubles. David felt secure like the mountain, but the lost of that place of security sent him into a spiral of overwhelming difficulties. Lingering troubles have an unfavorable flavor to them. It can have you feeling cornered, overwhelmed, being set up for failure, being in conditions unfavorable to your personal concerns and interests,  and from this position it is hard to believe in the possible truth of a lifetime of favor. But reflection and introspection needs to make upon the enabling power of the Lord towards the favor he might bring you. If you don’t believe it and its possible extended nature, you might not act within the favor.

For example, somebody is contemplating an extended vacation in the tropics. They are really hoping for several weeks of rest, relaxation and adventure or extended rest, relaxation and adventure.  If they are starting to see the trip as maybe having one good day at the outset and one or two good days in the middle and otherwise having a rough stay in the region, they might actually cancel the trip because they don’t see it as an overall favorable thing and maybe it isn’t worth it. This is why the concept of whether extended favor is true or even possible, affects how we think and decide from a given point. The psalm is presented a lifetime of favor, but even a believer might not believe that especially from certain points of heavy trouble. Therefore they might miss the favor. This is just another reason for being bold about what the Lord’s favor is but also wise about it as well, so that you will take that trip into the Lord’s favor.

Another aspect is the trouble passing by, just as night passes into the day. The troubles will pass and favor could be found from that point on and as this psalm is saying even favor for a lifetime. The significance of the morning light is that there is a visibility to that favor that comes from the Lord. Since we need to see the light o the favor to walk in it, we can more boldly ask for the favor and the sighting of it. An approach to prayer might be asking the Lord, ,that if the favor is there, that you may see it in the light of His love as fully as possible so you don’t miss it, so you take the right turns and immerse in the favor.

One point here is that difficulties might remain, and it might be a question of having to bear them rather than God giving us relief. The favor though, might yet come in the morning, with rejoicing being a sign towards the presence of God’s favor showing its way, or making its appearance. This is something to ponder and consider in prayer as to what I might be praying for. What I want, the favor I want, if I look at it, is something indeed that I want to be long lasting, or was it to be a long standing favor and indeed it might be that way and if it is that way or can go that way, it is important to the paths I am choosing. For example, would someone say study for something for years, say in a field that requires particularly long periods of study in this era such as to be a physician, if they thought the whole process would come into favorable terms for say just a couple of years? More likely they are thinking of this as a potential multiyear commitment that might span decades. The favor of a lifetime that is there is something that you want to be aware of earlier. For example Grandma Moses started painting late, and this is a famous story, but she may have had favor for painting from a much earlier age, and if she had followed the light of this favor earlier, both she and the people that enjoy her painting could have been further blessed by them. So it is also important to see the light of favor even from youth.

A young person may be called to the ministry early, and the adage, today if you hear his voice comes that day, not at a later point just as favor comes in this morning light and this day. Some youthful person might be a great intercessor right now.

Or a healing can be a really big favor especially as it spans the distance of time, instead of walking with a limp for years, someone might be walking free and easy for years. And indeed, if someone is seeking healing from God, they hope it lasts. For example, logically if someone is deaf and wants to be healed supernaturally by God, they are thinking about hearing not just for a day or two but from this point on.

Then God might have something for you that is amounting to his personal favor that you just haven’t tapped into partly because you just don’t believe it could be true or that it could be something that you could stay in. It would be like someone looking over favorable seas to chart across the Atlantic by boat, but figuring soon enough conditions will change. But here, in this psalm, it is talking about God’s favor that is so encompassing, so far reaching that conditions towards this favor will have staying power thru the grace of God’s visible presence within that favor, as indeed God is not hiding his face as David felt when he was now out of God’s favor. Indeed the grace of God’s favor will take into a form that has a high level of visibility, where it can be actually seen in events in an individual’s life. The verse number 6 and the first part of 7 implies that God’s favor was quite visible to David, his mountain was made to stand firm and a mountain symbolizing something that is visible and stands out visibly, and is not hidden and indeed has an overshadowing presence as a mountain does. But also the mountain meant that God had lined up things in David’s favor, that was synchronization with the events of David’s life.

In verse 11 and 12 is says," You turned my wailing into dancing, you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent, O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.

Ultimately, this favor, or removing of the difficulties was actually done by God, and the purpose that was fulfilled is that God is creating the ideal space where the psalmist can again have his heart towards God in a fashion that is not silent. This psalm in particular cites the gift of voice and of singing to the Lord. But also overall going into God’s favor is not a matter of walking into a silence, but is something that we refer to in voice and in song. It is of no advantage to sit in silence and wait for God’s favor.

Favor is always light according to this psalm and we should boldly seek the light with humble deference to what this light might be for us individually in the Lord’s plans and guidance for us as individuals.

It would be almost absurd to buy a lottery ticket and talk at length about what you are going to do when you win, given the extreme odds against ever winning. So, I might buy a lottery ticket and forget and not even check the numbers to see if I won.

But you certainly want to check events of your life against God’s favor and see if any given event might be a sign of God’s favor coming to you and in seeking God’s favor we want to certainly keep on discussing it rather directly with God in prayer and acknowledging its presence as we experience the favor, and keeping silence between you and God with regards to praying about his favor is not the way to go.

In the gospels we are admonished to watch and pray and you might add to pray and watch for God’s favor. We don’t look to the ground to see if the sun is in the sky and we also don’t keep silent to see if God’s favor can be discussed very specifically and on an ongoing basis. And again, his lasting favor is another reason for ongoing or perpetual prayer since the detail and specifics of the favor need to be discussed with God on an ongoing basis with an attitude of thanksgiving in recognizing the actual graces that are present. Extended favor is an invitation to extended prayer.