How Joy Comes in the Morning in Psalm 30

I’ve been waiting for this psalm. When you’re stumbling through the drudgery of loss, your heart resonates with weeping that tarries for the night, and you long for joy to come in the morning.

“I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me.” Psalm 30:1

Like a frightened child is drawn up onto the lap of a protective mother, the Lord draws us up to protect us from our foes. We praise him in response.

“O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.” Psalm 30:2-3

We cry out. He heals. He draws us up from Sheol. He restores life to us. He protects us from those who go down to the pit. Loss feels like you’re free-falling, waiting to hit bottom. It feels like your foes are surrounding you and taking you to the pit with them. You feel as though your life has been destroyed. And then, like at the flood of old in Genesis 8:1, “But God remembered Noah…” God hears our cries for help and he restores us.

And we respond from the depths of brokenness.

“Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name.” Psalm 30:4

We respond in songs of praise. Gratitude erupts from our mouths as we worship his above-every-other name. In the depths of loss, our plight is clear. But so is his worth! And our hearts pour out of our mouths in adoration.

“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

I wrote about my journey as the draining of the wound of grief. Weeping does tarry. Longer than you can imagine. But weeping is in waves. It tarries a night, and a wave of joy is delivered to your heart. This is not a joy in circumstances kind of joy. This is a joy in the Lord kind of joy. This is joy because you know you have an immovable supply of God’s favor.

“To you, O Lord, I cry, and to the Lord I plead for mercy…” Psalm 30:8

In disciplined manner, we turn only to God. We cry to him. We plead for mercy. And every morning mercies are supplied! We bargain with God by promising to praise him. We argue with David in verse nine, “Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness?” We come full circle and petition the Lord to hear us and to extend mercy and help to us.

“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.” Psalm 30:11-12

Joy comes in the morning. Joy in the Lord. He turns our mourning into dancing. I want to be very careful here. No one dances in joy over loss. We dance in spite of loss. The joy delivered to us in the morning—the joy of God’s sustaining goodness—inspires dancing in the heart.

Joy comes in the morning because he hears, he helps, he restores, and he gives mercy. And when you’re heading for the pit of weeping despair, his rescue inspires joyous dancing.

“O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!” Psalm 30:12