The God who turns things round

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

His anger lasts only a moment, but his favour lasts a lifetime; weeping may linger for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning…

You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy… Psalm 30:1,5,12

A very simple truth today: God is great at turning things round.

The Bible is full of this. The crisis of Israel during slavery in Egypt was turned around by the miracle of the Exodus. The tragedy of Judah led off to captivity in Babylon was turned around by the remarkable restoration under the pagan King Cyrus. And supremely, of course, the horror and sadness of the crucifixion, death and burial of Jesus was turned around by the wonder of his resurrection.

God is great at turning things round.

This is true of big history-changing events – but also of the personal lives of individual believers in God. If you are a Cristian it’s very likely that you can look back in your life to times when you were pretty much in despair – all seemed lost – but God turned everything round and brought you through. And here you are today.

Psalm 30 is a great example of this. I have quoted just three verses out of  the 12, but of course the whole psalm needs to be read and digested in a prayerful spirit (don’t rush it!). The title added in our Bibles associates this Psalm with King David, and that’s quite possibly true. But it could also be by an anonymous writer (people who read Hebrew will tell you that the phrase “Of David” could also be translated “For David” or “About David”).

At face value it’s the prayer of a man who has been healed from serious illness – God has “lifted him out of the depths”, like a bucket drawn up from a deep well. Indeed, he goes so far as to say that God “brought me up from the realm of the dead”.

But what, to me, makes this psalm so memorable are two poetic phrases which in their different ways capture the sheer joy and exhilaration of God turning things round.

First, weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes in the morning (verse 5). Isn’t that beautiful?

As with many parts of the Bible, of course, it isn’t to be taken in a woodenly literal way – the Bible is full of poetic language, figures of speech, and so on. We all know very well that there are nights full of weeping – which are then followed by mornings which are… well, full of still more weeping. Even the night after Jesus’ crucifixion was followed by what must have been the bleakest, most wretched, most miserable Saturday anyone could imagine.

But the psalmist has latched on to a poetic phrase in order to convey a truth at the very heart of Christian faith: the future of every man or woman whose hope is in God is a future of pure, unadulterated joy and sheer exhilaration.

True, the “morning” in question may, ultimately, turn out to be the morning of final resurrection with Jesus. When that day comes the “night of weeping”, however long it lasted, will be nothing but a distant memory – and perhaps not even that.

Paul sums up this truth in 2 Corinthians 4:17: “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all”. You may feel sceptical about that: “If Paul knew just half of what I’m going through he wouldn’t speak so glibly of ‘light and momentary troubles’!”. But, don’t worry, you only have to read Acts and Paul’s letters to see that, oh yes, he knew all about troubles and pains all right!

The second poetic phrase I find particularly beautiful is: You turned my wailing into dancing… (verse 11).

I must admit that dancing is something that has never remotely appealed to me. My wife and I recently went to the wedding anniversary celebrations of Christian friends. We were delighted to be invited – but slightly put off to learn that it was going to take the form of a “caeli”, which of course is a form of vigorous dancing in which everyone is expected to take part. Oh dear!

But we needn’t have worried. There was no coercion (perhaps being now old and decrepit helped) – and in fact it was a real pleasure to sit and watch. There was a wonderful innocence in those who danced; the great thing was that they were all smiling with sheer pleasure, as if to say, “Yes, we know we look a right bunch of ridiculous plonkers prancing about like this – but, who cares, we are happy”. Everyone – dancers and spectators alike – were smiling.

I find now that I remember that occasion every time I read about dancing in the Bible, especially in the Book of Psalms. Dancing figured in the worship of the people of Israel, and is a symbol of the joys that await all God’s people in heaven. All “wailing” will be ended, every tear dried, every sorrow healed (just take a few moments to soak up Revelation 21:1-4).

So, if anyone reading this feels presently in the depths of despair, I do hope and pray that reflecting on this little psalm will give you a real lift. I can only urge you to hold on to God if only through gritted teeth. The morning will break with rejoicing, and it may be far sooner than you can imagine. And ultimately your wailing will be turned into that wonderful, blithesome dance of heaven.

For… God is great at turning things round.

Loving Father, I feel desperately low at the moment, truly in the depths. I simply cannot see a way through my difficulties. Please help me to hold on to you, and bring me soon into the sunshine of your grace, knowing that even that is only a foretaste of the glorious dance of heaven. Amen.