1.28.2026

Sometimes life is wonderful, and that’s great. We praise God for the good times. But what about those times when life isn’t so good? Do we give up on God?

No. 

The psalms teach us to hold onto God when we’re facing hard times, and not turn loose until God steps in.  And God does! No matter how bad things get, in every one of the laments (except Psalm 88), there’s a turning point towards the end from, as one writer put it, “wretchedness to joy.” 

But these praises are brief conclusions to much longer “life is terrible” psalms . . . maybe 3 verses of praise after 30 verses of complaining. 

What about psalms that are 100% thanksgiving? 

There is a third category of psalms I call “life was terrible, but look what God has done!” They focus on the praise rather than the complaint, and as you read them you’ll see they aren’t just celebrating times when “things just work out,” but they celebrate God’s deliverance when it looks like all hope is gone.  

In other words, these psalms are about God’s grace – a grace that takes us by surprise while we’re staring disaster in the eye. These psalms celebrate that something unexpected has happened, something that can’t be explained or predicted. We do not know how such a newness happens any more than we know how the lame man walks, the leper is cleansed, the deaf hear, a dead person is raised, and a hopeless poor person receives good news (Matthew 11:4-5).  But God makes it happen! 

These psalms tell the story of God’s grace not only in gratitude but also in amazement, “lost in wonder, love, and praise." 

There are some 19 thanksgiving psalms (for example, 18, 21, 103, 118, 136), but let’s look at Psalm 30,  a thanksgiving psalm that praises God for a specific reason: the psalmist is given a new lease on life. 

I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up
    and did not let my foes rejoice over me.
2 O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,
    and you have healed me.
3 O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol,
    restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.

We don’t know what the situation was, but it sure sounds bad!  And by leaving out his personal details, the psalmist allows us to bring our own story to it. 

The psalmist is so gobsmacked by his deliverance he insists everyone join him. He gives two invitations to join in thanksgiving and in verse 5 he tells us why we should give thanks: 

Sing praises to the Lord, O you his faithful ones,        
    and give thanks to his holy name.
5 For his anger is but for a moment;                
    his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may linger for the night,
    but joy comes with the morning. 

The key words are “give thanks.” This is more than just being grateful. The Hebrew words imply that when we give thanks we’re also making a commitment to the one who has rescued us. And look at verse 5: the psalmist doesn't deny that there’s been trouble (anger, weeping), but the trouble has been overcome (favor, joy), and that transformation from weeping to joy is as sure as morning follows night. 

In the middle verses, the psalmist reflects on his quick fall from “life is wonderful” to “life is terrible”

6 As for me, I said in my prosperity, (i.e. life is wonderful)
    “I shall never be moved” . . .  
you hid your face; (i.e. life is terrible)
    I was dismayed.

What then did the psalmist do? He cried out to the Lord and gave the Lord a motivation for helping:

To you, O Lord, I cried,                
    and to the Lord I made supplication:
9 “What profit is there in my death,        
    if I go down to the Pit? (the implied answer: “none!”)
Will the dust praise you?
    Will it tell of your faithfulness? (the implied answer: “no!”)

The psalm’s concluding verses echo the unexpected joy of the opening: 

You have turned my mourning into dancing;
    you have taken off my sackcloth
    and clothed me with joy,
12 so that my soul may praise you and not be silent.
    O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.

Well, after all that, the psalmist can’t keep quiet! When God brings us out of whatever despair we might find ourselves, then praise is the only proper (and possible) response. And the psalmist has written all this down for us, to keep it alive for us so that we can learn to give thanks to God as well. 

Blessings,
Pastor Terry