Joy In The Morning

Introduction

I will extol thee, O Lord; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favor is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. Lord, by thy favor thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled. I cried to thee, O Lord; and unto the Lord I made supplication. What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? Shall it declare thy truth? Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me: Lord, be thou my helper. Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; to the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee forever.

The psalm we have just read is a psalm of thanksgiving for the great deliverances that God had worked out in David’s life. According to the title, David wrote the words at the time of the dedicating of his house of cedar, though there is nothing in it that has particular reference to that occasion. Some believe that the psalm was penned upon his recovery from a dangerous fit of sickness, which might happen to be about the time of the dedication of his house. Regardless, David praises God for the deliverances He has brought him through. He calls upon others, including you and me, to praise God too, and encourages us to trust Him. He recollects the prayers and complaints he had made in his distress, and with them he stirs himself up to be very thankful to God for the comfortable change he is enjoying. As we consider this psalm we ought to remember with thankfulness the deliverances has worked for us. We need to stir ourselves up to praise God and engage ourselves to depend upon Him in our great times of need.

Has God delivered you?

What did David say?

I will extol thee, O Lord; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

David had great reason to praise God. His enemies had not triumphed over him; God had kept him alive and healthy, had delivered him from death on many occasions and had delivered him from certain defeat. Remember that when David was a young man he told Saul about the lion and the bear? He triumphed over them and God delivered him. He delivered him from the hand of Goliath. He gave him victory over the Philistines and his other enemies. He protected David from the evil hand of Saul who day after day tried to kill him. Think of the many days and nights David spent hiding in caves and sleeping in the wilderness as he ran for his life – and God brought him through it all! David had great reason to praise God!

What about you? Think back over your life and see how God has delivered you time and time again. You may be looking at your present situation and be apt to think that God has abandoned you or forsaken you. Maybe you think He has forgotten you – but He is there all the while doing what He has always done, and that is to deliver you from dangers you’ll never know about. As I have thought back over my own life, it does me good to remember the times when surely God was working to protect my life. It may have been an illness; most assuredly He was in my car, and even at my job sites.

Some of you have been in war. You’ve been near death in the hospital or with an illness at home. You’ve come close in some other accident, yet through it all God has delivered you out of the pit. Maybe your deliverance has nothing to do with your physical well-being. Remember when you were flat broke and didn’t know where the next meal was going to come from? Remember when you couldn’t pay your bills and God brought you through? God has brought you through all those things and so much more! God has delivered some of you from failing marriages, broken childhoods, terrible past experiences. God has delivered you from a traumatic situation and now there is healing and wholeness.