Mourning into Dancing

You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever. Ps 30:11-12 (NIV)

This is one of my favorite promises in the Bible — that God turns mourning (weeping, crying, whatever you want to call it) into dancing! He takes away the depression of being in sadness and replaces it with gladness. However, notice what God doesn’t do — simply stop your mourning and make it disappear. No, He transforms it…into joy! He turns your sorrow into gladness. He takes your failure and creates success! We serve an awesome and mighty God, who says, “all things work together for good to them that love Him, and to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

Let’s take time to dwell on this promise. Our sorrows, disappointments, tragedies and failures are very real — but they are also the very things that our God loves to work thru for us, to provide a way of escape for us, which He will accomplish in His time for His glory. And we WILL dance! God will do it. Our part is simply to wait…believe…and cling tightly to this wonderful promise!

Mighty to Save

"The LORD has taken away your punishment; He has turned back your enemy. The LORD, the King of Israel is with you; never again will you fear any harm. On that day they will say to Jerusalem, " Do not fear, O Zion, do not let your hands hang limp. The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing" ( Zephaniah 3: 15-17).

I like this verse because contained within it, is a phrase that is found in of my favorite songs right now. Mighty to save. These words from Zephaniah can speak truth and hope into our lives right now. If we are dealing with a temptation right now (and we all will at some time or another), remember, He is mighty to save.

Maybe you are discouraged right now. Sometimes everyday life can take our joy away and it seems like we are carrying a heavy burden. It is hard to take care of ourselves while taking care of others around us. It is hard to juggle the role of mother, wife, grandmother, aunt, etc and to complete all the tasks that need to be done and have the energy to get up tomorrow, to do it all again.

The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save.

Maybe we are carrying a heavy burden. Many of us are caring for someone who is sick, or we have a friend who we are trying to help past their issues. Or we are awakened during the night and burdened to pray for someone. Maybe we get little sleep at all because of all of the things that are weighing heavy on our hearts.

The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save.

But, according to the verse above, don’t let your hands hang limp. In other words, get your strength from the One that can save you from discouragement, the One that can carry your burdens. He can save you and is mighty to save. If Zephaniah were writing to us today, I wonder if it would go like this:

"Fear not, you members of the WVLUN Planning team, the Lord your God is with you. He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you. He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."