Joy Comes in the Morning
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Introduction
Introduction
A song of enduring hope. As painful as a season may be, it is only a season. Life has twists, turns, ups, and downs, and, although we may suffer through dark nights, morning will come. We are to sing to God and worship and praise Him. When we are silent and our hearts turn away from worship, we are not living up to our full potential.
This sin-riddled world gives us many reasons to despair (John 16:33). Our own sin often brings God’s discipline (Hebrews 12:7–8; Revelation 3:19). Heartaches, disappointments, and betrayals can leave us feeling shattered, and we may wonder if hope will never come again. So God reminds us that joy comes in the morning. Dark nights can last a long time, but they are never permanent for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Instead of hopelessness, we have His promise that He will make all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). Only God can take the very bad and transform it into something very good. What is meant for evil and turn it for good, and bring beauty from ashes. Even when walking through “the valley of the shadow of death,” we need fear no evil (Psalm 23:4). Our Good Shepherd never abandons us, and our suffering is always purposeful (Psalm 56:8). The Lord can take the broken places in our lives and create a mosaic that blesses the world. It is often our darkest pain that becomes our brightest light when we entrust it to Him. Joy comes in the morning when we remain faithful.
The emphasis of this Psalm is on praise to the LORD for rescuing David from a dangerous and difficult situation that included sickness, being near death, God’s anger and discipline, sorrow and emotional turmoil. The trial involved David but included the nation. The superscription of the Psalm indicates that David wrote this Psalm for the dedication of the house of David.
First this could indicate the palace. David capturing Mt Zion and making Jerusalem the capital city. All Israel having crowned David, his victories experienced over the Philistines and he now built a grand palace for himself. Point to a context of pride in David where chastening of the LORD would be invited.
Second house could refer to the temple of the LORD. Then the context becomes the national plague caused when David arrogantly numbered the people and 70,000 died.
Both cases show the lesson of the Psalm is clear the LORD forgave David and blessed him with new beginning. Scottish preacher George Morrison wrote “The victorious Christian life is a series of new beginnings.”
1 I will exalt you, Lord, because you have lifted me up and have not allowed my enemies to triumph over me. 2 Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you healed me. 3 Lord, you brought me up from Sheol; you spared me from among those going down to the Pit.
4 Sing to the Lord, you his faithful ones, and praise his holy name. 5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor, a lifetime. Weeping may stay overnight, but there is joy in the morning. 6 When I was secure, I said, “I will never be shaken.”
7 Lord, when you showed your favor, you made me stand like a strong mountain; when you hid your face, I was terrified. 8 Lord, I called to you; I sought favor from my Lord: 9 “What gain is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your truth?
10 Lord, listen and be gracious to me; Lord, be my helper.” 11 You turned my lament into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, 12 so that I can sing to you and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you forever.
Bad Times Do Not Mean Defeat
Bad Times Do Not Mean Defeat
1 I will exalt you, Lord, because you have lifted me up and have not allowed my enemies to triumph over me. 2 Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you healed me.
3 Lord, you brought me up from Sheol; you spared me from among those going down to the Pit. 4 Sing to the Lord, you his faithful ones, and praise his holy name.
5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor, a lifetime. Weeping may stay overnight, but there is joy in the morning.
David writes and says I will exalt You LORD. This indicates that David understands worship and praise to be volitional acts of his own will. Praise and worship are acts of the will and something that one decides to do or not do. David didn’t say I feel like exalting he said I WILL indicating he was determined no matter what he would exalt the LORD. Often times in our own life circumstances determine our worship, but our worship must be determined outside of our circumstances. It has been said before and it will continue to be said but its easy to praise and worship in good times and easy times when things are going well. A true worshipper is able to worship in the hardest, darkest and most despairing of times.
Now it looks by the second half of this verse that David only exalts the LORD because the LORD has lifted him up and rescued Him. However we need to look and see the truth of why the LORD rescued Him. Verse 2 David says LORD my God I cried to you for help and you healed me. David exalts and worships the LORD for Him rescuing Him, but understand that the LORD rescued Him because David cried out to Him and trusted in Him to rescue Him.
David trusted the LORD to help Him and the LORD lifted him from death and healed him physically. David says you brought me up from Sheol - literally saved me from death. David was driven to high praise of God because God had given Him life over the grave. How much more should we praise and exalt God for providing eternal life? In Christ God gives us eternal life and victory over the Pit.
David calls out for the people - the faithful ones to praise and sing to the LORD. The faithful ones are to praise and sing unto to the LORD! Why? David tells them - His anger lasts only a moment but His favor a lifetime. Weeping may stay overnight but there is joy in the morning. David is saying that even the plague that came from the anger of the LORD only lasts a moment, but His favor a lifetime. The favor of the LORD outlives His chastening anger and discipline. David understands that trials, troubles, storms, discipline, etc are temporary especially when compared to the eternality of His favor.
Notice that David states that weeping may stay overnight. This is a hopeful statement. Now weeping usually happens over bad news and bad times of sorts - the night is the period of trouble tribulation etc. The scripture states that weeping MAY stay overnight. It isnt set in stone that it will stay overnight! They is a chance weeping doesnt even come. Listen to the promise found here - Our weeping doesnt have to stay overnight - it may or may not. It depends on our response to God and His anger and His favor.
How long is a night? Literally a night would be 12 hours but the Bible isnt always speaking literally. God isnt governed by a specific amount of time. Our night may last longer than a night. Your night depends on you. How you handle your night governs how long it will be. Unless your attitude about it is right, it could last for weeks, months, or even years. In other words, the night could be 3 minutes, 3 days, 3 months, or even 3 years or longer. The duration of our night depends on how long we allow darkness to remain in our lives and how long we allow God's face to be turned away from us because of sin and wickedness in our lives.
When it ends however joy is waiting in the morning for the believer. You see the promise is that the night doesnt mean defeat for the faithful - the morning is promised and there is joy in the morning. God’s help arrives in the morning
22 Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for his mercies never end. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness!
5 God is within her; she will not be toppled. God will help her when the morning dawns.
8 Let me experience your faithful love in the morning, for I trust in you. Reveal to me the way I should go because I appeal to you.
Our weeping is only momentary but His favor is for a lifetime - eternal lifetime. God isnt replacing our weeping with joy He is transforming it.
20 Truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice. You will become sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy.
21 When a woman is in labor, she has pain because her time has come. But when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that a person has been born into the world.
22 So you also have sorrow now. But I will see you again. Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy from you.
The Presence of the Lord Makes The Difference
The Presence of the Lord Makes The Difference
6 When I was secure, I said, “I will never be shaken.” 7 Lord, when you showed your favor, you made me stand like a strong mountain; when you hid your face, I was terrified. 8 Lord, I called to you; I sought favor from my Lord:
9 “What gain is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your truth? 10 Lord, listen and be gracious to me; Lord, be my helper.”
David’s pride led to the chastening from the LORD. Our pride invites chastening from the LORD upon us. David calls out and says when I was secure and said I will never be shaken. When I was secure - translates to “prosperous” and prosperity is careless ease or a carefree self-assurance because things are well. This is a common attitude and default setting for unbelievers, but remains a continual temptation for us as believers also.
17 You may say to yourself, ‘My power and my own ability have gained this wealth for me,’ 18 but remember that the Lord your God gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm his covenant he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.
The Lord permits trials and brings chastening that we might not become comfortable in our faith and stop growing. Prosperity without humility can lead to adversity - Warren Wiersbe
12 I was at ease, but he shattered me; he seized me by the scruff of the neck and smashed me to pieces. He set me up as his target;
David needed to learn a very important lesson and we have a choice to learn from him or to learn ourselves through much sorrow and difficulty. The lesson is this we do not stand in our situations, prosperity, health, etc. Stand or find our security. When we stand it is because we stand in the LORD.
12 So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall.
David recognizes it is the favor of the LORD that allowed him to stand like a mountain. When the LORD hid His face or afflicted David - David realized he was secure in nothing without the LORD. Maybe you arent going through trouble maybe you are in a season of success - it doesnt insulate you from difficulties. This is the time to make your faith firm in the LORD. There is no security and safety outside the LORD! Without the LORD life is a nightmare. We need to seek Him and His face - His presence is the difference in our life and in our distress. Like David we must call on, seeking favor from the LORD - because His favor lasts a lifetime!
The word terrified describes intense agony, anguish and great fear. When the LORD hides His face or presence it brings terror in to us - terror is the same terror Saul felt. The Lord was not with Saul and had hidden His presence.
21 The woman came over to Saul, and she saw that he was terrified and said to him, “Look, your servant has obeyed you. I took my life in my hands and did what you told me to do.
Victory to the Faithful
Victory to the Faithful
11 You turned my lament into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, 12 so that I can sing to you and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you forever.
David describes the transformation for those who are faithful in the LORD and His power to transform seeming defeat into victories. David says you turned - hapakta transformed or caused to change - my lament into dancing and removed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness. Scripture often times compares the dramatic transformation of the LORD in the life of a believer with that of changing clothes.
Sackcloth always serves gladness. God take our lamenting and turns it into dancing. He has the final word over it all. Not the other way around. God removes our weeping and and clothes us in the morning with joy.
David then says its so we can praise God and not be silent - in fact he says he will praise God forever without end. In every night we can either have a pity party or we can rehearse the choir songs of heaven. No matter what happens God promises that ultimately we will be victorious with Him.
4 because everyone who has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Worship and praise is a choice outside of circumstance
God's anger is brief, but His favor is a lifetime.
Weeping may or may not last all night.
Your night depends on how you handle your weeping.
Joy comes in the morning.
Morning is not a 12-hour period when it is dark outside.
Your morning is when you let the light of God into your life.
Joy comes in the morning when we awaken to our purpose and see that even our mistakes, sorrows, and confusion have become the foundation upon which God builds a ministry. the tapestry of our life.
God allows pain and struggle into our lives to refine us like gold (1 Peter 1:6–7). Jesus was God in the flesh, yet He suffered terribly while on earth so that we would know He understands our pain (Hebrews 4:15; 5:7–8).
As bad as it was in the moment,
2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
We are told also
3 For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you won’t grow weary and give up.
Jesus models for us what it means that joy comes in the morning. His death did not have the last word - His resurrection did! God has the last word and it is joy comes in the morning.