The Dance

Psalms 30:11-12 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

This is one of my favorite promises in the Bible — God turns mourning into dancing! He takes away the anguish of being clothed in sadness and replaces it with gladness. However, notice what God doesn’t do — simply stop your mourning and make it disappear. No, He transforms it…into joy! He turns your sorrow into gladness. He takes your failure and creates success! We serve an awesome and mighty God, who says, “all things work together for good to them that love Him, and to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

Again, we are seeing the news showing video of all the families picking through the piles of trash that once was their homes and businesses prior to the tornadoes. It is devastation to life as they knew it and the loss of homes is nothing compared to those that lost family members. It all seems overwhelming and our hearts cry out for them.

Still, in the shadow of destruction, most are saying they feel blessed because they are still alive. Some may have cried to the Lord for the first time in the midst of the storm. My prayer for them is that they know and cling to the promises of God to turn their mourning into dancing. Those believers in the areas of destruction have that knowledge to hold on to but many will not have heard and/or taken to heart the scripture. For now, we can stand in the gap in prayer for revelation knowledge for them. The best help we can send to the area is prayer.

The rebuilding process will be long and costly. Look at New Orleans, there are still huge chunks of the area all this time later that look more like the aftermath of an explosion that neighborhoods where families’ voices filled the air and children played. Yes, rebuilding will be long and costly. However…aren’t you glad there IS a ‘however’ … the scripture applies to all who know and call on the Lord.  ‘You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.’ From the ashes of destruction our Lord can transform lives into a new thing.

Perhaps the ‘area of destruction’ in your life is not the result of a deadly tornado and tsunami but the aftermath still wipes you out emotionally, spiritually, physically and materially. This promise from the Lord is yours, too.

Let’s take time to dwell on this promise. Our sorrows, disappointments, tragedies and failures are very real — but they are also “raw material” for a divine transformation that our Lord will accomplish in His time for His glory. And we WILL dance! God will do His part. Our part is simply to wait…believe…and cling tightly to this wonderful promise!