Mourning to Joy

I was talking to my daughter Shelley yesterday and she shared Psalms chapter 30 with me and talked about what it meant to her. So I thought I would write a lesson on what it means to me.

This is a Psalm that David sang at the dedication of the Temple. David starts out in verse 1 with, "I will praise you Lord for you have rescued me. You refused to let my enemies triumph over me." I love the fact that David praised the Lord, it is so important that we praise the Lord also. So why did David praise the Lord? Because he knew that God had given him victory over his enemies. David was a man of faith and he knew where his help came from, his help came from the Lord. I want to stress something here, it is also important to praise the Lord for just who He is and not for anything He has done, for God is worthy of our praise and David knew this very well and I am sure he did it often.

Verses 2 and 3 say, "O Lord my God I cried out to you for help and you restored my health. You brought me up from the grave, O Lord you kept me from falling into the pit." King David also knew about prayer and he knew who the great physician, and healer, was and trusted Him for his healing. I am not sure what David’s problem was but it must have been life threatening because he mentions going down to the pit. Praise the Lord He healed David and David responded with praise.

Remember the story of the ten Lepers that Jesus healed and only one came back to praise Him and Jesus said something like this – weren’t there ten healed where are the other nine? Does only this foreigner return to give glory to God. The man that returned was a Samaritan, the other 9 were Jews and they despised each other.   (Luke 17:11-19)

This teaches us that not everyone is thankful even when they receive a miracle. David was the kind of man that appreciated and loved the Lord and was willing to praise Him. In verses 4 and 5 it says, "Sing to the Lord all you godly ones, praise His holy name! His anger lasts for a moment, but His favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may go on all night, but joy comes with the morning."

Thank the Lord that He doesn’t stay angry at us forever or we would have no hope. The good news is, if we have sinned against the Lord and we repent and confess our sin, He is faithful to forgive us our sin, praise God! The consequences of our sin may cause us to weep for a time, and it should, but with God’s forgiveness comes joy and David knew this very well. Praise God for His unmerited favor that lasts a lifetime.

Verses 6 and 7 say, "And in my prosperity I said I shall never be moved. Lord by thy favor thou has made my mountain to stand strong, thou did hide thy face and I was troubled." We cannot put our trust in prosperity, it can vanish, we need to put our trust in the Lord. He will never let us down, praise His name.

In verse 8 David says, "I cried to thee O Lord and unto thee I made supplication." David’s supplication, or prayer, is in verses 9 and 10, "What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? Shall it declare thy truth? Hear o Lord and have mercy upon me Lord, be thou my helper."

Then the Lord answered David’s prayer and David was very excited with the answer, forgiveness had come and joy filled his soul. This is what he said in verses 11 and 12, "Thou has turned for me my mourning into dancing: Thou has put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness. To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God I will give thanks unto thee forever."

The Lord had turned David’s mourning into gladness to the point that he felt like dancing. He was so overjoyed that he couldn’t keep silent he had to praise the Lord. He said, "O Lord my God I will give thanks to thee forever." What about you, can you say the same thing that David did? Will you thank and praise the Lord forever? Has the Lord turned your mourning into joy, do you feel like dancing when you think about what the Lord has done in your life?

Too many Christians look and act like they swallowed a prune. There seems to be no excitement or joy whatsoever in their lives. I have seen this for many years. Haven’t they been forgiven, washed and cleansed by the blood of Jesus? Haven’t they been set free? Who is getting the credit for all the things the Lord is doing in their lives? God inhabits the praise of His people, He loves it when we praise Him. I wonder how it makes Him feel when we don’t praise Him?

I think Jesus answered that when 9 out of the 10 lepers He healed didn’t come back to give glory to God for their healing.

Whoever you are reading this, please don’t forget to praise and thank the Lord daily, it will make Him happy and it will also help you. God bless you ~ have a great day.