Psalm 30: Sheol

Have you ever been to Sheol? Some of you are saying, “Of course not!”, while others are asking, “Where or what is Sheol?” Sheol is the English translation of a Hebrew word that is found in the Old Testament 65 times. In the King James Version, it is translated as “grave, hell or pit”. It’s basically, to quote The Moody Bible Commentary “the general Old Testament description of the place of the dead”. So, according to all these definitions, the answer to my initial question is “no”. None of us have been to Sheol, but haven’t all of us felt like we’ve been there, or at the very least, haven’t we felt like we were on our way? I have, David did, I’d dare to say that you’ve felt that way as well. 

In Psalm 30, David addresses a season of his life that almost overwhelmed him. He writes honestly and emotionally that God healed him when he cried out for help. He then wrote, “O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol”. David didn’t say that God kept him from Sheol, but that God brought him back from it. David is not saying that he died and was resurrected, but that he was overwhelmed, he was overcome, he was convinced that all that was good was lost, he had fainted and yet God, in His grace, met him in that place and then rescued him from it. 

I don’t believe David was being dramatic, I believe he was being honest, he was revealing the truth of his inward parts. I also believe we need more honesty. Rather than hopeful declarations we need honest confessions. We can’t treat what hasn’t been diagnosed and we can’t be delivered from what we won’t confess. In what I’m writing about today, and what I believe David was writing about in Psalm 30, Sheol doesn’t have to be death. Sheol can be shame, it can be grief, it can be loss, it can be addiction, it can be abuse, it can be sin, it can be divorce, it can be betrayal. Sheol is anything that takes your breath, in the worst possible way. It’s a kick in the stomach, but it can also be an ache that doesn’t seem like it will ever go away. Sheol is sometimes not where we fall to, it’s what we can’t climb out of. Seasons of waiting that we begin to believe will never end feel like Sheol. Promises that start to linger until we question if they were ever really promises, feel like Sheol. Discouragement that repeats itself, that cycles in just when you thought you had moved out of it, that feels like Sheol.

If you are still with me and you can say, “I’ve been to Sheol”, or maybe, “I’m in Sheol right now” then we must ask, “What now?” Sheol is not a place we escape from with effort, it’s not a place that we can will or believe our way out of, it’s a place that we have to be willing to see God in. In Psalm 139, David wrote of God, “If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!” That Psalm is a song to God’s knowledge of us and presence with us. It’s a statement that David was singing to himself and teaching us to sing. It’s a reminder that Sheol feels like death, but the Giver of life sits with us, even when we think we’ve descended into Sheol. 

So, what’s the point, what’s the conclusion I’m trying to come to? Sheol is a lie. It’s a feeling that says that God is someone other than Immanuel, God with us. It’s a fear that we’ve done something to push Him away. It’s a worry that what we were sure of might actually be unsure. Sheol says that it’s the end, but David says that Sheol is the place where our hearts get restored. It’s the place where God meets us, molds us, changes us and then delivers us. Sheol is not a place to be feared or despised, it’s a place to be willing to enter because we know we don’t enter it alone. It’s a place that we will never welcome or desire, but it is a place that we will come to see God more clearly and give Him our lives more fully. Sheol is the valley of the shadow of death where we learn that God is with us. It’s the place where our enemies surround us, and we learn that even there God prepares a table for us. It’s the place where danger seems to loom, but God’s rod and His staff bring us the comfort of provision and correction. Sheol is the place we enter empty and emerge from with our cup running over. If I may encourage you today, while I trust the words of David to encourage me, Sheol is not where you will die, it’s where God will move. It’s not the place where vision diminishes, it’s where God’s promises are restored. It’s not where you end up, it’s what you need to go through. Don’t believe the lie of Sheol, it’s not where what you hoped for dies, it’s where God heals, delivers and restores; it’s where God does what He said He would do and does it more abundantly than we ever asked or imagined.