Does Joy Come in the Morning?

The Psalmist writes in the thirtieth chapter in verse five,

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.

As a follower of Christ, I have heard that verse countless times. I have even quoted that verse so many times as well. The question is does that verse actually ring true in your heart? We quite often take for granted the things we have heard over and over, but I believe that we need to make sure that this truth from God is etched in our hearts because it is true. We all have faced, are facing, or will face difficult times, and it is easy to question where God is during those times. Why is this happening? What did I do to deserve this? When will this end? These are all questions that we have thought or said aloud when facing difficult trials. We can take comfort in knowing that we have experienced the truth of this verse in the past. Those difficult circumstances did end, and the joy of the Lord was renewed. So, what can we do to deal with difficult times better?

                I believe that there are two critical things we can do to live out that joy will come in the morning. The first one is to take our eyes off ourselves and fix our eyes on Jesus. When we only focus on what is happening and how it is affecting us, we will much more easily get stuck in a mindset that keeps us struggling in misery. There are numerous scriptures that start with someone lamenting about themselves or their circumstances, but when they shift their attention on God, their worship of the amazingness of God begins. By shifting our focus on God, we can seek his comfort because He is the God of all comfort. He is the God who draws near to the brokenhearted, and He is the God who is always present. Putting our attention on Him helps us to get to a place of peace because God is the author of peace. The second thing that will help us in difficult times is to remember all that God has done for us. Remembering helps us bring a perspective that we serve a God who hears our cries for help and answers because He is good, and his promises are always kept.

This week, I heard a song titled, “Joy in the Morning” by Tauren Wells and Elevation Worship. The song opens with the following lyrics: “Everything happens for a reason / But you don’t know what you don’t know / And you’ll never have peace if you don’t let go of tomorrow / ‘Cause it ain’t even faith till your plan falls apart / But you still choose to follow / If it doesn’t make sense right now / It will when it’s over."  Then the bridge of the song says, “If it’s not good, then He’s not done.” What a reminder that joy will come in the morning. We just need to fix our eyes on Jesus and remember His faithfulness never fails.