Psalm 30

For His anger lasts only a moment, but His favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.

(Psa 30:5)

You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to You and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give You thanks forever!

(Psa 30:11-12)

Being a Christian provides a person with SO MUCH HOPE. For people who don’t know the Lord, tragedy here in this world can be debilitating and leave them feeling HOPELESS. The worst this world has to send our way, according to this psalm, will only last for a “moment”, or for the “night”. Suffering for the believer is never a permanent situation, it is forever transient. For us, the favor of God lasts for a lifetime, and there will always be a bright morning of Joy to end our nights of weeping.

The psalmist tells us that God can take our MOURNING, and turn it into DANCING. I love that picture. Mourning is probably the greatest possible expression of human sorrow, while a spontaneous dance is one of the greatest expressions of pure joy. What is it that can affect such powerful change? It is the PERSON and WORK of Jesus. At its core, all of our sorrow and suffering are directly or indirectly related to SIN. Jesus alone has conquered sin and death, therefore HE is the only one who can turn mourning to dancing.

As a Christian, we know Jesus. Therefore, no matter how badly we are suffering, we KNOW that one day the Lord will make everything right. Rejoice in the hope we have, for it CANNOT BE EXTINGUISHED!!!