January 5

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For His anger is but for a moment, His favour is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning. Psalm 30:5

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🔊 One great need of our hearts is for hope. Life carries us on a wave of the next new exciting thing, but then these things run out. Sometimes life’s joys are cut short in tragedy. The result is the same, and we have a ‘night of weeping’. The darkness of the night seems so deep because we lose hope – we lose sight of God’s intervention. The night presses in and becomes stronger than the promises of God. It can seem to have a permanent quality. Here the Psalmist is giving prophetic insight into the oppressive darkness and depression that sometimes crushes the souls of believers. Get perspective, he says – the dark days are but for a moment. Press through! Declare to the storm, “I will trust in the Lord!” It may seem as if God is angry, but this will only last for the time it takes for a candle to flicker, compared with His favour, which is on us for all of life, both now, and in eternity. ‘Joy is coming….’ Don’t let the night get hold of you – that is what happens when we lose hope. Keep your heart fixed on the promise of God: ‘Joy is coming…’ Don’t mix the concrete of despair with the tears of the night. Instead let your tears water the tender plant of God’s word, for a new day is on its way. As surely and unstoppably as the earth turns into the sun for a new day, there will be a new dawning of grace and favour on your life.