We Can Dance If We Want To

Dear friends,

The Bible clearly teaches us that, as believers, we can triumph over sorrow. That’s a truth I’ve been holding on to over the past several days as we’ve been processing the loss of a good friend who recently took his own life. As I’ve wrestled with the reality of our loss, the Lord has given me great comfort in the promise He gives in Psalms 30:11-12, which says, “You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!”

This is actually one of my favorite promises in the Bible, as it reminds me that God will help us through the feelings of loss and pain that are such a part of life. However, it’s also important to keep in mind what He doesn’t do - and that is, He won’t simply stop our mourning and make it disappear. Instead, He transforms it. In other words, God takes the emotion that feels overwhelming to us - our sorrow - and He turns it into gladness. So He takes what’s difficult and challenging, and turns it into something that’s actually good for us.

What I’ve discovered over the years is that this is something God does in all areas of our lives - He takes what Satan means for destruction in our lives, and instead uses it for our good. So He can take our failures and bring success out of them. He can take disappointments, and turn them into blessings. And He can take pain, and bring joy from it. The Apostle Paul describes it like this in Romans 8:28, where he writes, “God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to his purpose for them.”. The key is, we need to love God, and then surrender to His plans for us - while at the same time, trusting Him to do what He's promised to do.

So as we look at the difficult things in our lives, let’s remember that, if we belong to God, we will not be overcome. The difficult things in our lives are raw materials for God to use in a divine transformation. Our part is simply to trust - believe - and cling tightly to His wonderful promises. So today, let’s take time to dwell on that truth. Let’s take our sorrows, disappointments, tragedies, and failures and surrender them to Him - asking Him to transform them into good, as only He can do.

Amen?

Daniel