“I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up
and have not let my foes rejoice over me.
O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,
and you have healed me.
O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;
you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.
Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For 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...
You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
you have loosed my sackcloth
and clothed me with gladness,
that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!” Psalm 30:1-5,11-12
“A song at the dedication of the temple,” says the introduction. David only prepared for the temple before he died, so what inspired this song? Considering his life to this point, his long experience with God from childhood through sheep-tending through Samuel’s anointing through being crowned king, his psalm reaches back and beyond human measures with divine hope. God’s promises to him were true and would remain, the temple would be completed, His saints would always have reason to praise His name. “His favor is for a lifetime.” David’s glory would indeed silence never.
When we live ‘drawn up’ with Christ, we see all from His vantage point. Foes and darkness and death are below, and we are bound up high in the heavenlies with the Savior, spiritually healed and restored. We own an eternal perspective, with fear, and need, and anger, and sorrow limited and momentary, swallowed up in the victory that is ours forever. We know and live in the joy that is present and surely to come. (1 Corinthians 15:54-57)
This divinely-elevated perspective gives way to extolling our God. Weeping may tarry, mourning in the sackcloth of sadness or shame or regret may linger, but the sun will rise! Dancing of soul and gladness of heart will break through the night in morning joy! Jesus, the bright morning star who lives and sustains and intercedes for us, is coming again! (Romans 8:34; 2 Peter 1:19; Revelation 2:28; 22:16,20)
When dark clouds of fear or loneliness, loss or uncertainty, desperation or confusion, hang heavy, remember what is coming, and stand on the ramparts to watch. When weeping tarries, look to the first glint of morning. (Psalm 130:6; Habakkuk 2:1; Revelation 21:23)
“O Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
the clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
the trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend;
even so, it is well with my soul.” ~Horatio Gates Spafford (1873)
“The sun shall be no more
your light by day,
nor for brightness shall the moon
give you light;
but the Lord will be your everlasting light,
and your God will be your glory.” Isaiah 60:19
Lord, give me eyes to see Your morning in every night. Turn weeping to rejoicing. Loosen my tongue to sing Your praise and thanks forever, O bright morning star, and receive the laud due You!
As the rain and snow 