Joy and Sadness
Daily Reading: (Psalm 30:11-12, Jeremiah 31:13): “You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you forever.” “Then young women will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.”
David wrote in the same chapter a few verses earlier “Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name. His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. (Psalm 30:4–5).”
For those with faith in God, no setback, no misery, no loss can be lasting. Christ conquers our greatest fears and pains, not always swiftly, but surely. The suffering and loss cannot outlast the life he purchased for us on the cross. For us as believers, joy comes with the morning, and after the morning, and even in the mourning. And so we sing (Psalm 30:4), even in the middle of severe sadness because our hope is that God can turn it. God can (haphak) overturn/ turn around, change, transform your sadness into dancing (Psalm 30:11).
God isn’t going to force a change in your emotion only you can allow God through the Holy Spirit to overturn what has turned on you. David is speaking here of what I believe is not only his present circumstances but will be his future experience as well. For this Psalm, scholars believe was written in 1017 B.C. Solomon was born around 1010 B.C. or seven years later. Seven years later the Psalm David wrote would be enacted in his life, after his child died that he had with Bathsheba, God would give him Solomon.
We go to 2 Samuel 12:14-31 at a time when David was in sackcloth and it shows probably the greatest sadness you could ever experience, the death of your child. David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground. 17 The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them.
David mourned for the death of a child, he worshiped God (2 Samuel 12:20) and allowed God to turn and transform his sadness into dancing- which leads to the eventual birth of Solomon. Do you know what the name Solomon means? It is where we get the Hebrew word shalom from. It means peace. God brought forth peace (Solomon) into the world of a grieving father and mother as a result of worship (2 Samuel 12:20).
I can tell you from my own life experiences I have in the past mourned too long for the loss of something when God wanted to turn my mourning into dancing and great joy. A job loss, a financial loss, a loss to my health, even a loss in a sports game. What turned it around was worship. Allowing God’s transformative grace to result in peace in my life. It didn’t mean the child was brought back to life. It didn’t mean the no turned into a yes. It meant God was bringing forth something new and the change, the (peace/Solomon) began in my heart before any noticeable difference took place and it led me to dance.
Jeremiah 31 talks about the Lord who leads (9) redeems (verse 11), delivers (11) provides (14) but it all comes out of His everlasting love (verse 3) for us. And in both Psalm 30 and Jeremiah 31 they both say the miracle of the down-trodden, mourning people who are transformed into joyful dancing people is a work of God. It is a miracle to behold.
My prayer for all of us is that we would bring Jesus into our situation, that we might see ourselves as victorious even when battles are lost and ultimately allow God to transform our emoticon status on our life’s social media page to joy. Faith is essentially dancing and rejoicing and worshiping God for who He is and what He will do for us.
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