Joy Comes

December 22nd, 2025

When you receive a phone call from a number you don’t recognize, do you tend to answer it, or ignore? What criteria do you base that decision on? If life were a rollercoaster, do you prefer the slow steady climb to the top of the hill or the rush as you come shooting down the hill?

There is a great passage in Psalm 30 where David describes some of these rollercoaster experiences the author was feeling:

1 I will exalt you, Lord,
for you lifted me out of the depths
and did not let my enemies gloat over me.

2 Lord my God, I called to you for help,
and you healed me.
3 You, Lord, brought me up from the realm of the dead;
you spared me from going down to the pit.
4 Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people;
praise his holy name.
5 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. Psalm 30:1-5

Look back over this passage and notice what God has done for David (and us).
Look one more time and see how David responds to God.
Verse three can be interpreted as “the brink of death”. Have you ever literally been, or thought that you were on the brink of death? What are some of the thoughts that might be associated with that?

Did you notice in verse five the reference to God’s anger? When the Old Testament references God’s anger, it is connected to His righteousness. With that in mind, notice the differences of how one experiences His anger and His favor. It’s vital to know that our righteousness is now based on what Jesus has done for us on the cross restoring our relationship with God.

4832 Ponderings:

How do you respond when reality doesn’t meet your expectations?
When was a time you have moved from a time of weeping to a “morning of joy!”?
How might you use verse 5 of our Psalm to help express comfort, help and joy to others?

Closing Prayer:
Dear Father in heaven, sometimes out of the depths of despair we cry out to you. Lord, we ask that you hear our humble voices, and may You be attentive to our cries for mercy. Lord, if you kept a record of sins, how could we ever stand in Your presence? We thank You that with You there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you. O Lord, we wait for You, everything in our whole being waits for You and we put our hope in You. We wait for You, O Lord, like a watchman waits for the morning, even more than a watchman that waits for the morning. Adapted from Psalm 130:1-6

Posted in Joy, praise, expectations