Today we are on Psalm 30! There were two verses in this chapter that spoke in a special way to me, although there are many other great verses as well! These are the two that I choose:
. . . Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. Psalm 30:5
You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness. Psalm 30:11
Have you ever wept about something? I mean, about a really truly important something? If you have lived to adulthood, I would guess all of us have--and sadly even some children I know have had to face really hard things. Not hard like losing your favorite toy or not getting to go to camp--but hard like losing your father to cancer when you are only four or six years old kind of hard. Things that truly make you weep. Things that break your heart, and you know nothing will ever be the same again.
I have experienced the chill of a nurse telling me on the phone to get to the hospital immediately, because my child is not expected to live much longer. Praise God my child DID live and leave the hospital--but many others do not. Weeping. Deep I-don't-know-how-I-will-live sort of weeping.
But it doesn't end there.
Even if life ends--the story doesn't end there!
"You have turned for me my mourning into dancing. . . "
Dancing? Yes--joy so full that it bubbles out of you and you cannot contain it all. Which reminded me today of another promise that sort of goes along with these two:
Eye has not seen, nor ear heard; Nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." 1 Corinthians 2:9
Even when we are still in the midst of the weeping--we need to remember the promises that joy IS coming! That we WILL dance again! That God has many wonderful surprises ahead for us that we cannot even guess. That our joy WILL be complete.
I looked up 1 Corinthians 2:9 in my Bible commentary to see if there were any notes on this verse, and there were. It's a little long, but I thought I would share what I found with you here just in case someone else finds it encouraging like I did.
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You need to dwell upon the assurances of God's Word; to hold them before the mind's eye. Point by point, day by day, repeat the lessons there given, over and over, until you learn the bearing and import of them. We see a little today, and by meditation and prayer, more tomorrow. And thus little by little we take in the gracious promises until we can almost comprehend their full significance.
Oh, how much we lose by not educating the imagination to dwell upon divine things, rather than upon the earthly! We may give fullest scope to the imagination, and yet, "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." Fresh wonders will be revealed to the mind the more closely we apply it to divine things. We lose much by not talking more of Jesus and of heaven, the saints' inheritance. The more we contemplate heavenly things the more will our hearts be brimful of thanks to our beneficent Creator.
SDA Bible Commentary
Vol. 7A p. 1085
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I do not want to "lose much" by not talking more of Jesus and of heaven! Yes--there IS much weeping here--too much weeping. But we still have the promise that joy comes in the morning!
How do YOU keep your mind on Jesus and on heaven? I would love to hear how you are focusing on Him! Let's share and encourage each other!
Have a joy-filled day!
~Susan
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