For His anger is but for a moment and His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
-Psalm 30:5
Oh, those last couple of phrases in Psalm 30, verse 5. Weeping may tarry for the night. Weeping is a reality in a fallen, sinful, sorrowful world. There is sadness in this world. Things are not all as they should be. There is mourning in this world. I think about people I know who’ve lost precious loved ones over recent days. I think about others I know who’ve been hurt in significant ways by relationships and things that have been done to them and there is such grief and hurt and sorrow and sadness. In some cases, I think when is this going to end and I’m guessing some of you are asking the same question in your own life, like when is this going to stop?
God, give us grace to trust that a day is coming when our sorrow will turn to joy and we will be with You forever.
This Verse Encourages Us to Trust in God’s Faithfulness
I was talking to one person the other day and it was just one thing after another, after another, after another. It was like, oh, when it rains it pours. Like, when is this going to stop? It’s a long, dark night.
That’s where Psalm 30:5 says weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. In other words, when the nights are long and the sorrow is unrelenting and you wonder if it’s ever going to end, Psalm 30, verse 5 makes clear, it is going to end. Sorrow will not have the last word in your life. Sickness and disease will not have the last word in your life.
You know how we know that? Because, Jesus always has the last word, which means life has the last word, which means salvation has the last word, which means hope has the last word. That’s why a few verses later in Psalm 30, verse 11, the psalmist says, You’ve turned my mourning into dancing. You’ve 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. Weeping may tarry for the night, but know this, joy comes with the morning.
Whether you’re in a dark hard time right now, or that time is around the future, know this, it is temporary. It’s temporary, whether you’re walking through it right now or you walk through it in the days to come, it will be temporary. I say that because of what the Bible teaches. Jesus has conquered sin and death and the grave. He has risen in victory over them all and He will have the last word. Know that joy is coming in the morning. Mourning will turn into dancing. Joy comes with the morning. Sorrow will turn into dancing based on the promises of Almighty God.
Psalm 30:5 Praises God for His Strength
So we pray. God, please, please give perseverance to those who have been weeping for many nights and please give grace, strength, patience, hope for those whose sorrow seems to be unceasing right now. I pray for that in my own life and others’ lives who maybe are not going through difficulty right now, but we don’t know what lies around the corner. God, help us to always see that the struggles and sorrows of this world are ultimately temporary. We praise You for that reality. We praise You for the promise that one day sin and sorrow will be no more. That one day death will be no more. That one day disease will be no more. And that one day hurt will be no more. That one day You will wipe away every tear from our eyes. You will ultimately turn our mourning into everlasting dancing and gladness.
Oh, God, bring it about. Come Lord Jesus. Come quickly and while You tarry, help us to trust in You. We pray in Jesus’ Name. 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.
