YOU TURNED MY WAILING INTO DANCING
Psalm 30
“Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people; praise his holy name. For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”
To the Psalmist, God is joy and not a killjoy. Sure, our sinful ways, our disregard of him, our selfishness and our weakness towards our fleshly desires all will affect our relationship with him because, like it or not, he is holy.
Yet he was the one who took the initiative to help us find our way back to him through the sacrifice of his son. God does not relish condemning us; he desires us to find our way back to him so we may be blessed once again. God wants to put that smile on our face.
Let’s not become big headed when we understand this. This is who he is. We are dirtbags but he is love. And so, on the basis of what our Lord has done for us (at God’s initiative), God has opened the door for us to pray and seek his mercy and help. And so we should, with the confidence based on the finished work of our Lord.
The Psalmist calls on us to praise the Lord who is the God of our joy. Have we been taking advantage of our relationship with God to be joyful or do we wallow in our pain, our loss, our ill health, our poverty, our loneliness, our problems and our obstacles?
“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.”