Often in the Scriptures and especially in the poetic writings biblical authors talk about being saved from death even though they haven't physically died. The Psalms are full of references to being saved from the grave and often uses terms such as "The Pit" and "Sheol." Even when Jonah was delivered by God from the seas and the belly of the great fish, he terms it in the sense that he was in the Belly of Sheol and The Pit.
You and I don't necessarily speak this way when our life is in turmoil. Sometimes we might consider saying that we had a near death experience through sickness. We might suggest we had a close call with death if we avoided a serious accident. We don't really see the low ebbs of our lives and say it is death. Especially in the Psalms and other wisdom literature, life and death are not just the physical realities of existence, they also describe the essence or vitality of existence. Life is not just breathing but seen to be abundant and vibrant. Death is not just the loss of physical life but it is the depravity of the human condition in life. Sometimes it is the very struggle, even physical struggle of life.
Listen to David.
Psalm 30:3 O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.
Psalm 69:10-16 When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach. 11 When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them. 12 I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me. 13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness. 14 Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters. 15 Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me. 16 Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
In Psalm 69 David is speaking of his life as if he is lying in the ground ready to be covered over as he faces the hardship of his life and the taunts of his enemies. He is in despair.
We are never left in this position. We are always called to know that God's mercy is greater than Sheol or The Pit. In Psalm 30, David cries out to God and makes the argument that if he were physically to be in the grave because of the consequences of his own pride, God's greater glory in his mercy would not be seen and praised. He pleads for God's mercy knowing that God has power over death.
Psalm 30:9-12 "What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? 10 Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me! O LORD, be my helper!" 11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, 12 that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever!
In the beautiful rhetoric of poetry and songs we get to truly contemplate the glory of God in the way he rescues us out of human depravity. Rather than the doom of Sheol, in Christ we have our mourning turned to dancing, our sackcloth turned to clothes of gladness, and we are not able to be silent in singing God's praise.
When we look at the reality of our lives as we read it in the Psalms, we are presented with a stunning truth. We desperately need God's mercy. God's mercy is more wonderful than you can imagine and it should drive your whole life of praise and thanksgiving as you live, abundantly live, for him.