Read Psalm 30:1-5. 1I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me. 2O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. 3O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit. 4Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name. 5For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
Here in Psalm 30 David is expressing a pretty deep theological truth. We tend to see weeping and joy, sorrow and triumph, night and day as two separate categories in life, as if we are always living in one or the other but not both.
But here’s what David understood, and we must try to understand, that joy doesn’t simply replace mourning, just as morning doesn’t replace night. Rather night and day exist cyclically. Night becomes day, just as our weeping becomes our joy. What this means is that to avoid grief is to avoid joy. To deny our sorrows is to refuse God’s glory. To never have reason to weep is to never have reason to praise.
Jesus said it like this:
John 16:20-22. 20Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy…22So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
Jesus’ own sorrow on the cross turned into the joy of resurrection morning. The momentary evil became the eternal good. And the same is true in your life today, Christian. The momentary afflictions you feel today are turned into an eternal glory for you in Heaven. So sing praises and give thanks to his holy name knowing that nothing in this life can steal your eternal joy in Christ.
To live is Christ is to live in the cycle of weeping and rejoicing, knowing that in Christ our sorrow is never wasted and never meaningless. It is ever producing God’s glory and grace in us.
Prayer. Jesus, you turn my sorrow into rejoicing. You saved my life from the pit and lifted me high into the heavens with you. Help me give thanks to you today no matter what comes. Amen.
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To Live is Christ 