What does Psalm 30:6 mean?

This verse gives more insight into why the Lord disciplined David (Psalm 30:1–5). The context of this psalm seems to be the dedication of the future temple site (1 Chronicles 22:1), just after God brought judgment on David for resisting His will (1 Chronicles 21:7–17). Whether David was one of those who became sick, or simply grieved over the incident, he recognized that God was rebuking him for arrogance.

David became too self-confident: he felt secure in his prosperity. The word translated as "complacency" in Proverbs 1:32 comes from the same root word from which the Hebrew translated as "prosperity" here does. One might think of it as being at ease or tranquil. Thanks to success and stability, David started to assume he could never be defeated. He allowed his trust in the Lord to vanish, replacing it with trust in his own merits.

It is crucial for believers to recognize how insecure they are without the Lord's presence and power. Whoever thinks he is immovable, like David did, should be careful before they suffer a fall (1 Corinthians 10:12). Job confesses, "I was at ease, and he broke me apart; he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces" (Job 16:12). The Lord can use discipline to reveal a person's false sense of confidence. The Laodicean church was consumed with a false sense of security. It boasted that it needed nothing, but the Lord called for repentance. If the church failed to repent, it would fail to exist (Revelation 3:15–19).