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…

He has turned my mourning into dancing

Have you ever experienced any of the following?

• deliverance from the attacks of your enemies
• answered prayer in desperate circumstances
• rescue from impending death

Has God been good to you in any way? What does it do inside of you when you see how good he is? How does it make you feel? Does it move you? If yes, than you have reasons to sing, shout and dance! You have reasons to praise the Lord. This Psalm is jam-packed with the wonderful blessing of the Lord in the life of the Psalmist. And these wonderful acts of God leaves the psalmist singing, shouting and dancing.

In fact, the bible actually says, “he breaks out in dancing.” I don’t know what this psalmist was into back in those days. I doubt he was familiar with Zouk, Conga, Charleston, Kolo, Cha-Cha, Lindy Hop or the Harlem Shake. But I imagine that he did something like the Horah or something crazy 🙂

Compare the following phrases side by side and you can see how gracious God is toward the writer.

Ps. 30:4–5 – moment of anger/ a lifetime of favor/ a night of weeping/ a joyful morning/ a turning of my mourning into a time of dancing/ a stripping of my sadness and a clothing of gladness

Though there is weeping in our lives, sometimes because our sins move God to anger, and sometimes just because we live in a fallen world, our weeping almost always comes to an end. Even when we are weigh down by sorrow due to the passing of loved ones from this life into the other, and when our soul can’t find the comfort it needs, God takes us through the stages of grief and finally brings us into a place of peace, comfort and joy. The ‘morning’ (verse 5) stands for the time when God gives relief (Psalm 90:14); it may tarry for a while, while we weep and mourn (Psalm 49:14), but his joy always comes in the morning. He lifts our sorrow, pain, discouragement and depression – filling us with songs of deliverance. This should give us reason to sing, shout and dance!

Ps. 30:6–7 You Alone Are My Security/ he alone is our help/ we live and move and have our being in you/ you are everything/ you make my mountain stand strong 

It is easy, in times of prosperity, to trust in oneself; to feel invisible, untouchable; but we must always remember that it is God who makes our mountain stand strong (mountain is a sign of unshakable security), and if he should remove his care, we are undone. We fall apart. I love the imagery of God being a rampart, a stronghold, a tower, a shelter, the shadow of the almighty, he shall cover you with his feathers and under his wings you shall take refuge. This should give you a reason to sing, shout and dance!

Psalm 30:11, 12 – How can you stay silent?/ Can you contain it? Does it make you want to shout… break out into poetic exuberance of praise?

I love the lyrics to the song “when I think about the Lord” – it goes like this: “When I think about the Lord, how he saved me, how he raised me, how he filled me with the Holy Ghost, how he healed me to the uttermost. When I think about the Lord how he picked me up and turned me around, how he set my feet on solid ground – it makes me want to shout.” I don’t know about you, but I cannot remain silent because of all these things the Lord has done. Especially now, as I contemplate what he did on that cross for me. It makes me want to shout!

The psalmist say,  “I will sing your praise… everything within me will praise you as long as I live. I Will Give Thanks Forever.” The experiences in which sorrow has turned to joy leads the psalmist, to give God the praise.  He breaks out into a poetic exuberance of praise. The words “My glory” is a poetical term in the Psalms for one’s whole being (Psalm 16:9; 108:1).

He is saying, everything in me, every part of me, my whole being will praise God. I wonder what that looks like: Singing, shouting, clapping, jumping, dancing, rolling, waving, crying, shaking, laughing, falling, kneeling, bowing?

Maybe there are no words to explain it – it must simply be experienced!