“You have turned for me my mourning into dancing. You have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. Oh Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!”
– Psalm 30:11–12
And that’s how Psalm 30 ends.
This Psalm is a cry for mercy at different points. Even the verse right before Psalm 30:11–12 says, “Hear oh Lord and be merciful to me! Oh Lord, be my helper!” Both those sentences with exclamation points at the end. And then it’s a cry of faith here at the end.
The joy of the Lord changes everything in our lives.
The Joy of the Lord Changes Everything
Verse 11, “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing.” And I just want to encourage you with that declaration today. For anyone listening to this right now who is mourning in any way. I exhort you, look to God, who alone has power, love, mercy, who alone is able to turn your mourning into dancing.
He is able to loose your sackcloth. The whole picture is to put aside mourning and clothe you with gladness. Is this not what Revelation says at multiple points, is what history is headed toward for all who trust in God. For the day when he wipes every tear from our eyes. It says it in Revelation chapter seven, Revelation chapter 21.
Psalm 30:11–12 Encourages Us In Difficult Times
When we see his face and mourning, and suffering, and sorrow, and sin, and death are no more. And everything is new, and we are satisfied in him, and there are no more tears in our eyes when he clothes us with gladness. And will clothe us with gladness for all of eternity, that our glory, so what he has done in our lives, this transformation from mourning to dancing, that we may sing your praise and not be silent.
Then the last phrase here, last sentence in Psalm 30:11-12, “Oh Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.” That word forever. Forever. Be encouraged today in your mourning, in the hurt and the pain of this world that seems like it won’t go away, be encouraged there is a day when your mourning through trust in Jesus, who has conquered sin, and death, and the grave. Through trust in Jesus there is a day when your mourning will turn into dancing.
A Prayer Based on Psalm 30:11–12
It won’t just turn into no longer mourning, it will turn into dancing. When your sackcloth’s will be gone and you will find yourself clothed with gladness in a way that leads you to give thanks to God forever and ever, and ever. God, we praise you for this reality in a world where we grieve. We praise you that we don’t grieve as the world grieves, that we grieve with hope. We grieve with confidence.
Yes, our grieving is real, it’s deeply real. We feel the effects of sin, and suffering, and death in this world. Yet, we praise you that this world is not the end. That sin, and suffering, and death are not the end. That Jesus, you have conquered the grave, you have conquered sin, and you have risen and ascended on high and you’re coming back one day, and you’re going to bring us to yourself. And there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and we will enjoy you forever and ever, and ever. You will wipe every tear from our eyes.
Grieving With Hope
God, we praise you for this reality, so we pray that you would help us to mourn with hope. Psalm 30:11–12 gives us hope. To grieve looking forward, to dancing with gladness. Giving thanks to you forever and ever. And God, even as we pray this, we pray and plead for people around us who don’t know this hope. God, please help us to share this hope today with somebody else.
Help us to lead somebody else to know the hope of Jesus. And God, we pray this for people groups around the world. God, for the Ansaris in India, 11 million of them. Oh God, no followers of Jesus known among them. And this 11 million people in India, this Muslim people group, none of them know the hope of Jesus, none of them know the one who has power to turn mourning into dancing.
Sharing Hope
God, we pray that you would change that, that they might be glad when you send somebody to the Ansaris of India we pray. We pray for the spread of the gospel among the Ansaris of India. We plead for that right now, that they might know this hope. That they might join us in giving thanks to you forever.
Even as we praise you for this promise in Psalm 30:11–12, that you turn our mourning into dancing we pray that you would spend our lives, use us, use our families, use our churches to make this good news known, this hope known among people right around us, and people far from us. That you might, not just wipe away every tear from our eyes, but you might do this for people from every nation, and tribe, and tongue, including the Ansaris of India.
We pray all of this in Jesus’s name, the one who has conquered death and has the power to turn our mourning into dancing. In Jesus’s name, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
