Teachers obsessively count down to the weekend and to the next holiday. Instead of “good morning”, typical hallway greetings are: “only five lessons to go!” or “59 days left till the summer holidays!”
Maybe I should respond by saying that I have an unshakeable joy that is not dependent on my circumstances. It makes no difference whether it’s Friday last period with a challenging year 8 class or whether it’s the first sunny day of the summer holidays AND my kids miraculously slept in till 9 am (for the record, that has never happened).
Not only would that be annoying, it’s not quite true. Of course us Christians are affected by our circumstances and this is just one silly example. What about in the bigger things, the different seasons we pass through? What difference does knowing God make to our sorrow and to our joy?
David wrote this Psalm at a happy time. He was King, no longer running around in fear of his life. God had fulfilled His promises to him and had also rescued him from various problems that aren’t specified (v1-3). He had built a palace and he may have composed this song for its dedication – though it seems he was also looking forward in faith to the building of God’s temple, which would happen during his son Solomon’s reign and which would be such an important symbol of God with His people.
After praising God for His deliverance, David calls on others to sing and praise God with him (v4). David recounts how he prayed during a dark time, begging for God’s help, bargaining with Him: “what gain is there in my destruction… will the dust praise you?” (v9) God answered, turned David’s “wailing into dancing” (v11) and David finishes with more praise: “I will give you thanks for ever.” (v12)
The Psalms were a song book, helping the Israelites to collectively express their faith and their hope, to acknowledge God’s work in the world and to worship Him. Psalm 30 calls them to give thanks to God who turns sorrow into joy (night to morning, wailing to dancing, sackcloth to clothes of joy, v5&11).
Three things about happiness I feel challenged by in this Psalm:
- David thanked God for his happiness. Because of his God-steeped way of looking at life, he doesn’t say he earned it or brought it about. His security came from God: “you made my mountain firm” (v7) though he was tempted to rely on himself at times (v6). The house/temple, the security, the joy are all gifts from God and he’s simply thankful.
- His was a realistic happiness, tempered with memories of the darker times. Not so much happy happy joy joy. In some way, the joy came from the sorrow. The joy didn’t come by pursuing happiness but by trusting God through the dark night.
- Happiness led him to sing about God. Just like he cried out to God in sorrow, his response in joy is praise. He saw his story of joy following sorrow as an opportunity to give praise to God and to call others to do the same.
Prayer:
Thank you for the joy we experience, in little things and big things. It is all from you. Thank you for Jesus who chose sorrow to bring us joy. Thank you that when we grieve, it is with hope. Thank you that the morning will come; suffering will end.
We pray for all those in our church family who are grieving the loss of a loved one or facing other heavy circumstances. We pray for those whose sorrow has not turned to joy yet – those struggling with unanswered prayer. We cry to you for help. We want to praise you in the night and in the morning. Renew our aim to sing to you with our whole being and our whole life.
Photo credit: Nanda Dian Pratama unsplash.com
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