Friday, April 8, 2016
Psalm 30:5, 11 Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning ... You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.
THE APPROACHING JOY
During Advent we looked forward to Christmas joy. During Lent we looked forward to celebrating the Resurrection. But eventually or sooner all of our celebrations end. Because of sin in this world we do not experience unending joy. Instead, as Chaucer observed: "All good things must come to an end."
Famous American poet Robert Frost similarly wrote:
"Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay."
But Easter ushered in more than a mere celebration. The resurrection of Jesus declared Him to be the Son of God with power. That meant that He could say with authority: "Be of good cheer! Your sins are forgiven." "Today you will be with me in Paradise." "I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Joy to balance sorrow equals comfort. And the joy of Easter is that nothing bad can stay, for even death has been swallowed up by life! Mary Magdalene kneels outside her Savior's tomb and her tears give way to joy at His kind Word. Both in the trials of life and in the face of death, because He lives, the Christian knows that all bad things must come to an end. Christ has turned the wisdom of this world upside down. "Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning ... You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy" (Psalm 30:5, 11).
No more to fear or grief I bow,
God and the angels love me now;
The joys prepared for me today
Drive fear and mourning far away.
