December 11, 2011 – Psalms 30-31

I was thinking about whether “dust gives thanks”. I think there is a verse about the rocks praising God. I mention it because this Psalm is asking that the person be spared because if they are not, they would not be able to praise God as dust, but that may not be true. It also makes you think about martyrs praising God in their suffering. I think you can praise God after your gone if the way you went causes people to change.

Jesus quotes at least two Psalms from the Cross (this one and “why have you abandoned me” Psalm 22) I think if you read most of these two Psalms you will see a lot of images that bring to mind Christ Passion, but you must look at the end to get a full sense of the hope that Christ is trying to preach. This Psalm ends “be strong and take heart, all hope is in the Lord”. Psalm 22 also ends positively, with all the nations turning to God. We go back to the idea that those present would be very familiar with the psalms and would not only know where these lines come from, but how they end. They speak of brutal treatment and wickedness, but they end in hope. Christ was trying to prepare those that were listening and us today that suffering is not the end. We must have hope.