Mourning Into Dancing! - July 6th, 2011

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,
 To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

Psalm 30:11-12

History and Context:

This is another psalm of David. According to the text it is a "song at the dedication of the House of David". It is not known when, in his life, David wrote this psalm, but it is possible that it coincides with the events of 2 Samuel 24. There was a plague on the people of Israel and God delivered them in response to David's sacrifice.

The Text:

Though we do not know exactly when the psalm was written, it seems very clear that there was some sort of sickness which David was healed from. He is constantly referring to his sadness which God turned to joy. In this particular passage, he refers to his mourning and his sackcloth. Sackcloth was clothing worn when mourning and fasting. But he says that this mourning and sackcloth was turned to dancing and gladness. This is something that God does in all of our lives. God never promised that nothing bad would happen after we come to Him, but we have numerous examples of how He turned the bad things into good. I have seen many bad things in my life, but looking back I can see how God turned them all to good. David is claiming the same thing. God has turned our mourning into dancing, our sackcloth into gladness. And, according to David, He did it all so that our end glory could sing praise to Him!

The Challenge:

Trust God! As mentioned above, God never promised that we would be completely seperate from hard times. In fact, Jesus said that the world would hate us, and that we would go through trials and tribulations for His name's sake. So if you are going through one of those trials right now, know that you are not alone, but even more so, trust God that He will do for you what He did for David. He will turn your mourning into dancing, He will turn your sackcloth into gladness. This is true, of course, if you allow Him to. Allow Him into your situation and watch it change. Or at least watch your attitude about it change.

The Prayer:

Lord, thank you for your promise to always be with me in my hard times. Thank you that you turn my mourning into dancing. Helpo me to focus on you and not the difficulties. Help me to see you through it all. Glorify yourself in this situation. Deliver me and bring glory to yourself. In Jesus' name, Amen!