THE GOD OF THE TURNAROUND
Psalms 30:11-12 NKJ
11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,
12 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 entire psalm is talking about God turning things around for David. God lifted him up so that his enemies did not rejoice over him. David cried out to God, and God healed him, which is another turnaround. Bringing his soul up from the grave in verse three sounds like more of a prophetic word that would pertain to Jesus. And the classic turnaround of verse five, weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.
In our verses for today, David is describing the emotional turnaround that the Lord did for him—turning mourning into dancing. If you are listening to this devotional, the mourning David refers to is not the hours after nighttime but rather mourning of a loss or a defeat. To turn this kind of sorrow into dancing is powerful. The dancing is a dance of joy. And this is just like the Lord. To comfort us to the point that we go from mourning a loss to dancing in celebration.
We understand this even better as David speaks of taking off sackcloth and being clothed with gladness. In the Old Testament, when someone was in mourning, they would wear sackcloth clothing or sackcloth under their clothes. According to Wikipedia, "Sackcloth was a coarse material, usually made of black goat's hair, that was uncomfortable to wear. It was used to show heartfelt sorrow. In 2 Kings 6, the king was wearing sackcloth under his royal robes due to his sorrow regarding the siege in Samaria that caused the people to eat their own children. The sackcloth denoted intense sorrow. So, for the Lord to turn the sorrow and clothe David with gladness was a marvelous turnaround.
As a result of the Lord turning things around for David, he was determined to sing praise to God. He refused to be silent, which is something worth noting about David. He was not silent or stoic about his relationship with the Lord. David was going to praise God regardless. And David was going to give thanks to God today, tomorrow, and forever.
APPLICATION
There are a couple of significant takeaways in this psalm. The first is that the Lord can turn around situations. He can take the negative attacks that may come our way and turn them around. We may go through challenging times, but the Lord can bring us out on the other side in good shape. The idea is that we may weep during the night, but that is not forever. David never said weeping was forever, but weeping can be turned around.
The second turnaround is emotional. The Lord not only lifts us up so that the enemy does not have the last word, but the Lord can turn around the sorrow of loss, and we can become people with gladness. From mourning to dancing. From sorrow to gladness. The Lord can directly affect our emotional well-being. He does not want us in perpetual grief and sorrow.
Whatever we are dealing with, whether it is sorrow or sadness, the Lord can turn it around. So, I will give thanks to Him forever!