In the thirtieth Psalm, David has emerged from some earlier trial into happier days, and he delights in his renewed circumstance (vs. 2-3). Having come through some unspecified affliction, David’s call to praise the LORD, YHWH (v. 4), is based on his experience of deliverance from a dark and tearful temporary place of pain, into an eternal place of favor and joy (v. 5). Through his experience of suffering and then overcoming, the Psalmist has learned not to rely on any singular moment of earthly prosperity, but to rely completely on the mercy of God, who is His ever-present help in time of trouble (vs. 6-10). By the end of the Psalm, David once again praises God who has replaced the sackcloth of his mourning with a garment of gladness and dancing (vs. 11-12). The momentary terror he experiences as he feels God has forsaken him, causes him to realize his vulnerability, thus leading him to seek deliverance. God is thus worthy of praise and glory and honor.
God often uses contrasts in Scripture to show the glory of that which is eternal against the mundane dark backdrop of temporariness. Nowhere is this more manifest in history than when the people who walked in darkness, without a word from God for hundreds of years, suddenly were met by a great light. At the appointed time, shepherds watching their flocks by night were met by the glory of the Lord shining around them. And suddenly the night of waiting and weeping was over – the Light had come into the world, and He would change everything forever. Light and life to all He brings! Born to raise the sons of earth! Glory to the newborn king!
