Forever Thankful

Selah:

Sacred Songs of the Psalter

Max A Forsythe

^© Anno Domini 2005

From the pulpit at Pilgrim’s Rest

Presbyterian Church in America

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Introduction: In the past decade or so, I have observed a certain cultural shift in attitudes towards the dearly departed. I first noted the consequence of the lack of knowledge of the light of salvation when several students were killed in an automobile accident. The professional humanists were comforting the mourners with a thought that as long as they remembered the deceased, there would be something strong to hold on to. A popular song of the time also appealed to the same misguided premise.

Again, in the same period of time, there has been a growing trend to mark the spot of tragic accidents with all manner of tacky memorials. You may remember the huge pile of sentimental debris outside Buckingham Palace when Princess Diana was killed? Much of the impromptu reminders of those who were killed in the 911 attack in New York City were hung or deposited in similar sidewalk displays. Then of course, there are the several tons of memorials laid to rest at the American wailing wall in Washington, DC: the Viet Nam Memorial.

How long has it been since our society properly understood the two holidays: Memorial Day and Armistice Day? The original intent of such memorials was for those who survived to give their testimony for what God had done in bringing them through the necessary battles of warfare.

But, so strong is the tacky humanistic paganism that families who showed up in Crawford, Texas to remove their relatives “crosses” from the protest site, were threatened and intimidated – as if they had no right to control the uses of the names of their own dead who were being dishonored in the rural ditches of the Texas countryside.

Now I do not mean that there is no proper place for memorials for the dearly departed, they are called cemeteries and for centuries in Christian countries that is where tombstones were erected at the place where the dead await the end of the age.

Development: Given this sad commentary on the current state of affairs, it is indeed refreshing to read the wonderful ending to David’s mourning psalm. In the last two verses, David is careful to tell us the final outcome of his dangerous dilemma. “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing,” he gleefully writes after the tragedy which caused the poetic soul searching of this psalm.

Much as war veterans once rolled up their sleeves to show their wounds, and to give thanks for being alive – so too does David remember not the details that prompted this psalm, but instead: those events whatever they were are laid aside so that all glory may be given to God and that countless others who read his testimony may know, not the sorrow of the moment, but the gladness of eternity.

In all pagan countries, there is a certain weeping and wailing associated with death, but in a proper Judeo-Christian sense there should be a celebration that the dead in Christ are forever in His presence. Indeed, even in funerals where I had no clue what the deceased’s understanding of Christ was – I made every attempt to show and demonstrate the power and promise of the resurrection. And in one funeral where an aged saint went home to be with the Lord, we sang psalms and hymns. The funeral director, who was obviously in his sixties, came up to me afterwards and thanked me, he said he hadn’t seen such a joyous funeral in nearly thirty years. He had almost forgotten the Christian context of going home to be with the Lord!

Beyond the premise of joyful dancing, David also tells us that on the occasion of this psalm the Lord also “loosed my sackcloth and wrapped me in gladness.” There is a double transformation here, not only in the inner soul, but also in the outward appearance. So that we may know the spiritual freedom given in, through and by the grace of God.

Application: This brings us to our last verse in the psalm, the twelfth. And it is here that David shows us the providence of God working in and through the tragic events of our lives. “So that my soul may sing Your praise and not be silent.” All of life, David understands it, is in the hands of the Almighty. He it is who transforms the sadness and tragedy of life into dancing and gladness. And why? Simply this: in order that our “souls may sing [His] praise.”

Earlier in our psalm, David had wondered if he would personally go down to the dust of Hades and not be allowed to praise the God of heaven. “Will the dust praise You?” he had asked. Of course not, even as he realized it – the dust after all is silent. It is only souls saved by the power, love and grace of God that may give praise to His glorious name forever and ever.

A fact that David ends this poem with: “O my Lord God, forever will I give You thanks!” Calvin notes that “David concludes the psalm as he had begun it, with thanksgiving. He affirms that it was by the help and blessing of God that he had escaped safe and he then adds, that the final object of his escape was, that he might employ the rest of his life in celebrating the praises of God.”

Ah, isn’t that the story of the entire church? All of us who are here have come because the Lord has touched our hearts in the midst of life. The Holy Spirit has guided and protected us and even whispered into our ears: here is life in Christ! Were it not for the promise and providence of God, we could not know and even as David worried logically – the way to the pit is broad indeed. But thanks be to God, we have been saved – so therefore we must assemble week by week to give to Him the honor, glory and praise due His holy Name. Amen.

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