Rejoicing comes in the morning
Psalms 30:4-5 - Once His wrath has passed, His people will rejoice
“Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people; praise his holy name. For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”
Psalms 30:4-5 NIV
After a brief trip to the Pauline epistles, God has sent us back to examine Psalms in more detail. Psalm 30 is one of David’s psalms; it is titled “A Psalm. A song at the dedication of the house of David.” That sounds like he had written a psalm to be sung for the dedication of a really nice palace worthy of a king, but it has also been envisioned (by no less than Charles Spurgeon) as a prophetic song for the dedication of the temple. David, of course, planned for the temple, but it was his son Solomon who ended up building and dedicating the structure. The more pious Jews of the time had made it a habit of dedicating new dwellings to God, asking for His blessing and protection of the structure.
More commentaries point at this as being a song of thanksgiving to God after David re-dedicated his house. He had been driven from it by Absalom, who defiled it with his incest, and here David is praising God for crushing Absalom’s rebellion.
In verse 4, David is calling upon his people to praise God as well. He’s not just asking them to praise God for his personal blessings, but for the blessings they have received as well. 17th-century British minister Matthew Henry made this observation:
There is a remnant of such in this world, and from them it is expected that they sing unto him; for they are created and sanctified, made and made saints, that they may be to him for a name and a praise. His saints in heaven sing to him; why should not those on earth be doing the same work, as well as they can, in concert with them?
Verse 5 is a reminder that although God had — on many occasions — punished the Jewish people for their repeated departure from the covenant He had made with them, His anger was usually short-lived. Once His people confessed their sins and repented of them, they were back in His good graces. They know that He is slow to anger and not easily provoked — “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” (Exodus 34:6-7).
Once His wrath has passed, His people will rejoice. Once again quoting from Henry:
If weeping endureth for a night, and it be a wearisome night, yet as sure as the light of the morning returns after the darkness of the night, so sure will joy and comfort return in a short time, in due time, to the people of God; for the covenant of grace is as firm as the covenant of the day. This word has often been fulfilled to us in the letter. Weeping has endured for a night, but the grief has been soon over and the grievance gone. Observe, As long as God's anger continues so long the saints' weeping continues; but, if that be but for a moment, the affliction is but for a moment, and when the light of God's countenance is restored the affliction is easily pronounced light and momentary.
We have found his smiles very sweet; In his favour is life, that is, all good. The return of his favour to an afflicted soul is as life from the dead; nothing can be more reviving. Our happiness is bound up in God's favour; if we have that, we have enough, whatever else we want. It is the life of the soul, it is spiritual life, the earnest of life eternal. (emphasis is mine)1
We’ll close today’s devotional with another short commentary that notes the similarities of David’s song in Verse 5 with the resurrection of Jesus , this time from George Horne:
This is a most beautiful and affecting image of the sufferings and exaltation of Christ...of the night of death, and the morning of the resurrection.2
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Today’s prayer comes from Knowing Jesus:
Heavenly Father, I praise and thank You for Your loving-kindness and long-suffering toward me and all Your children. Thank You that no matter what difficulty and pain I may go through in this life, help me to remember that weeping will be replaced with laughter, and pain with joy. In Jesus' name, AMEN.
Scripture quotations taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica US, Inc.®. Used by permission.
Henry, Matthew. "Commentary on Psalms 30." Blue Letter Bible. 1 Mar, 1996. Web. 2 Nov, 2024.
Horne, George "Commentary on the Psalms" (Audubon, New Jersey: Old Paths Publications, 1997 of a 1771 edition)