"For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."--Psalms 30:5
There are two expressions of emotion that everyone understands, pain and joy! Pain is synonymous to displeasure, misery, discomfort and sadness. Joy is synonymous to happiness, pleasure, fun, and exhilaration. No matter what your age, you have probably experienced both in one form or the other. Given a choice most people would choose joy over pain. As Christians we have learned that no matter how unbearable our circumstances may be that we will arise victorious because "all things work to the good of them that love the Lord." We have an immeasurable amount of tolerance and patience that is rooted in our faith that God will always provide for us and see us through any adversity. We treat each adverse circumstance as an opportunity for joy. For we know that painful, stressing, and hurting situations endure only for a short while, but there will be joy in the morning. Our text first considers a Psalm of David which speaks of his faith that immeasurable joy follows the tragedies of the night. David was certainly qualified to bear witness to this truth. He had experienced both extremes both pain and joy. He found joy in hearing the crowds chant his song upon the slaying of Goliath: "Saul has killed his thousands but David his tens of thousands." David endured the repeated attempts on his life by King Saul, who tried 21 times to kill him. He found joy in defeating his enemies and securing the land for Israel, but he found shame, pain and rejection when he fell into sin with Uriah's wife, Bathsheba. He found Joy in being deemed a "man after God's own heart", but found pain and sadness when he contracted venereal diseases for his part in the adulterous relationship. He later saw his first-born son (of Bathsheba) die after seven days and sobbed as his beloved son Absalom rebelled against him. In the course of his life David was well acquainted with pain, sadness, fear, and personal defeat. However, he characterizes them as fleeting images in the night of his experience and concluded that "weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning." His entire experience was a pendulum-like sweep from pain to joy and back again. Each of us today has shared a similar set of circumstances and witnessed the same methodical sweep of the pendulum of experience. Painful experiences are an integral part of life and they serve their purposes. The presence of a painful experience signifies that something is out of balance. If our body pains it means there something in one of the systems of the body that is not in complete order. If there is constant bickering in your family or uneasiness on your job, it is a pain that sends a signal that something is out of order. In your love life, if you are constantly angry, crying and upset about the actions of your mate, it’s a pain that's trying to send you a message... something is wrong! In this context, therefore, painful experiences serve a purpose. Whatever purpose painful encounters may serve, it is not to attract treatment for the pain itself but for the cause of the pain. If your head aches, your body sends a signal that you are under extreme stress and your nervous system is over loading. When we take an aspirin, we stop the pain by turning off the alarm, but if we do nothing to address the conditions that set off the alarm the cause of the pain is still present. If one mate is a spend thrift and the couple bickers regularly, but makes up with roses, candy and sweet talk, the gifts only turn off the alarm, but the cause of the painful experience will recur unless the problem of free spending is addressed and resolved. David endured the pain and agony of watching his son die after only seven days of life. However he knew this pain was only a sign of his real problem. His adulterous life was out of sync with the will of God, that was his real problem. David concluded that he should reorder his life and put things in their proper perspective and in his 51st Psalm he wrote "Create in me a clean heart oh God, and renew a right spirit within me." Two verses later he said "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation..." Whenever we move outside of the will of God there will always be pain. The individual that orders his personal life outside of God's law, will always be in pain. The home that operates contrary to God's law will always be in pain. The church which orders itself in ways other than prescribed in the word of God will always be in pain. If there is pain there is an effective pain killer. I'm not talking about Tylenol or Excedrin. When there is a problem, we can take it to the Lord in prayer. Prayer is a pain killer because it's a problem solver. Prayer removes pain because it provides solutions to problems, wisdom for decisions and Peace for the mind No wonder the song writer wrote, "What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer! Oh, what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer." David showed us that we can move from excruciating pain to unspeakable joy! He has reminded us that pain is a temporary circumstance not a permanent condition. No matter how debilitating the problem, we can move from pain to joy. James 1:2 suggests that when we experience diverse temptations and painful situations, we should count it as an opportunity for joy. If you are beset by enemies on every side, you can count it all joy, because I hear the Lord reminding the faithful to hold on to God's unchanging hand and I'll make your enemies your footstool and you'll move from pain to joy! I don't know about you, but I've found out that you can move from pain to joy! I've found out that: The darkest nights are followed by the brightest days! A great and heavy burden is followed by a multitude of blessings! I know the Lord is able, I tried him! Tried him for myself! Have you tried Him? He proved that He is able by carrying an old rugged cross to Calvary! He died, but early Sunday morning, He arose from the dead with all power! With all power in his hands!
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