Where is Your Focus?

“I will exalt you, O Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. O Lord my God, I called to you for help and you healed me. O Lord, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit.” (Psalm 30:1-3 NIV).

Scholars tell us the setting for this particular Psalm is found in 1 Chronicles 21. David had experienced many victories. He was enjoying a time of peace. In this time, Satan rises up against Israel and tempts David to take a census of his military assets. The sin appears to be pride and a shifting of confidence from God to his human resources. Though Joab counsels David against this act, David in arrogance goes ahead with the count.

When the count was completed, somehow David becomes aware of God’s displeasure with his act, confesses his sin to God and pleads for forgiveness. God sends Gad to David offering him three options: three years of famine, three months of military defeats, or three days facing the Lord’s wrath. David chooses the three days stating, “Let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for His mercy is very great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men.” (1 Chronicles 21:13 NIV).

The plague begins. 70,000 men died in Israel and now God turns his attention to Jerusalem. Let me pause here and remind you that as unfair as we may think this is, 70,000 dying for one man’s sin, this is a graphic reminder to us that there is no such thing as private sin. Sin has a domino effect. Once sin is committed even if we are forgiven, a series of consequences still follow. Sin may be forgiven, but the scars of sin remain. Never take any sin lightly.

Back to our text. Psalm 30 is probably written at the end of the plague. It is a Psalm of praise for God’s deliverance. Oh that more of us would learn to focus on the deliverance instead of the discipline! All the time I find bitter believers who are angry with God because God has not spared them of the consequences of their sin. Instead of rejoicing over what God is doing in their lives at the moment, they are groveling in the dirt of the past. Instead of exalting the Lord for lifting them out of their depths, they are complaining to Him about having been there!

Maybe you are one of those bitter believers. May I suggest a change of focus? Instead of complaining about what you’ve suffered, why not rejoice in what you’ve been spared from?