joy comes in the morning?
I've been pondering verse 5 from Psalm 30 lately. "Weeping comes for a night, but joy comes in the morning." David has been prideful, and as a result God gave David some choices of consequence. Of these, he chooses a three-day plague to be visited on his kingdom, which God later stops before it's completion. So David has reason for joy in his morning. For me, though, I seem to wake up with a bit of dread as I look at the challenges of the day and my life. Ironically, though I have questions about life and finances, I don't face anything near what David was dealing with during those days. I find myself focusing on the problems rather than the solution. I find myself focused on despair rather than hope.
Lately our pastor, Brian, has been discussing the churches written to in the book of Revelation. As a part of that discussion, Jesus, writing through John, reminds one of those churches that we all have a NEW name. A new name that God knows us by. What is that new name for you? The name you may be living with is loser, inadequate, sinner, or fraud. But He has a new name for us, and that name is probably the most outlandish thing you've ever heard. Loved, accepted, forgiven, or worthy, are only a few of the new names He may know you by.
It is for these reasons that I can celebrate the new morning. It is because of the first part of the verse, which I conveniently omit, that I can rise to a new day with hope and eternal perspective. The truth is simple. The entire verse is THAT truth. 'For His anger lasts only for a moment, and His favor...God's eternal favor...lasts for a lifetime. When I can really grasp that, I can realize the truth and hope of a joy that does come in the morning...each morning.