Give Jesus My Grief, He'll Give Me His Joy

NOTE:

This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.

Engagement

How many of you like roller coasters? Let’s see how many of you really like roller coasters. How many of you would ride this one? [Show photo]. This is the Jersey Devil roller coaster, the world’s tallest, fastest and longest single rail roller coaster and it has a 130 foot drop.

Many years ago, when our kids were still living at home our family took a vacation to San Diego. One day while we were there Pam and I drove up to Magic Mountain to meet a couple of her friends. I don’t remember the names of her friends, but I do remember them asking Pam if I was going to be OK going on some of the roller coasters there. What they obviously didn’t know is that I love roller coasters - the steeper and more thrilling the better. So I would definitely ride the Jersey Devil.

But I don’t really like the roller coasters in life quite as much. I would much prefer to live on the heights and never have to experience the falls and the depths. And my guess is that most of you would like to avoid them as well. But that just isn’t realistic is it?

This morning we’re going to look at a Psalm that basically takes us on a roller coaster ride through David’s life. In that Psalm, we’ll see David recount some of his highest highs and his lowest lows. And in the process of studying that Psalm, we’re going to look at another of the great gift exchanges that is available to each of us because Jesus became Emmanuel, God with us, that very first Christmas over 2,000 years ago.

We’ve already seen that Jesus wants us to exchange our despair for His hope and our hurt for His love. This morning we’ll see that His incarnation also makes it possible for us to exchange our grief for His joy.

Tension

We tend to primarily think of grief in connection with the death of a loved one. But grief is actually much broader than that. This week I searched for definitions of grief and I came across this one from a blog from a grief recovery group that I think is the most helpful:

Grief is the conflicting feelings caused by the end of or change in a familiar pattern of behavior.

Certainly the death of a loved one would fit that definition. But according to this definition grief is much broader than that. I might experience grief when I move to a new city or even just move to another house in the same city. I might have grief because of losing a job, or even from a change in position or responsibilities in my present job. Some people even experience grief when they retire.

For me, even though I know it is the best thing for the church and the natural next step in my life, the idea of transitioning out of the lead pastor role here at TFC certainly produces some grief in my life because it is going to cause some major changes in my life.

Using that definition, all of us experience grief in our lives on a fairly regular basis. That is just a normal part of life and there is nothing wrong with it. Where we get into trouble is that we deal with that grief in the wrong way. So let’s let the Bible show us how to handle it in the right way.

Truth

Go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Psalm 30. Before we read the Psalm itself, let’s look at the superscription and see if we can’t get some background and context. We see first that David is the author of the Psalm. We also see that it is a song for the dedication of the temple. I don’t know about you, but when I first read that, something didn’t seem quite right. Remember that even though he wanted to, God told David that it wold be his son Solomon, and not David, who would build the temple. So what’s going on here?

There are a few possibilities. First, the Hebrew word that is translated “temple” literally means “house” or “dwelling place”. While it is used in the Old Testament to refer to the Temple, it can also refer to any dwelling place or it can even be used in a more figurative way to refer to a household. So, this could be referring to David’s house or palace, although that just doesn’t seem likely to me.

The second possibility is that David writes this Psalm in anticipation of the building of the Temple and passes it on to Solomon to be read at its dedication.

The most likely setting, in my opinion, is the event recorded in 2 Samuel 6 when David had the ark of the covenant brought to Jerusalem and placed inside the tent that David had erected for that purpose. It was on that occasion that David’s wife Michal, rebuked him for dancing before the Lord. That would explain the reference to dancing in verse 11 of this Psalm.

Regardless of which of these scenarios is behind the Psalm, there is much for us to learn about letting Jesus give us joy in exchange for our grief. Go ahead and follow along as I read.

Psalm 30 ESV

A Psalm of David. A song at the dedication of the temple. 1 I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me. 2 O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. 3 O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit. 4 Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name. 5 For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. 6 As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.” 7 By your favor, O Lord, you made my mountain stand strong; you hid your face; I was dismayed. 8 To you, O Lord, I cry, and to the Lord I plead for mercy: 9 “What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? 10 Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me! O Lord, be my helper!” 11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, 12 that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

David certainly takes us on a roller coaster of emotions in this Psalm, doesn’t he? Like so many of the Psalms, this is a song of contrasts and reversals - from pain to praise, from disease and death to health and life, and the one we’re most focused on this morning - from grief to joy. Here is what this passage teaches us about that great exchange:

Jesus gives me joy in exchange for my grief when I view my circumstances in light of His character

This Psalm has a very interesting structure that is known as a chiasm. In that structure, the second part of the Psalm basically “mirrors” the first part of the Psalm. Since I couldn’t really figure out a way to diagram the entire Psalm to show how this works, let me give you just a couple of examples. Then maybe you can take some time this week to see if you can work your way through the rest of the Psalm.

Let’s begin with verse 1 and verse 12:

Psalm 30:1 ESV

1 I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me.

Psalm 30:12 ESV

12 that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

Notice that the Psalm begins with David’s promise to extol the Lord and it ends with his promise to give thanks to the Lord forever. We also see one of the great contrasts in the Psalm in these verses. Although God has silenced David’s foes, David will not be silenced as he sings praise to God.

How about verse 3 and verse 9?

Psalm 30:3 ESV

3 O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.

Psalm 30:9 ESV

9 “What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness?

Both verses have a reference to the pit and death. Let me briefly comment on the word “Sheol”. That Hebrew word refers to the grave or the abode of the dead. The idea of an afterlife was not nearly as developed in Old Testament times as it is in the New Testament, so it was believed that everyone, both the righteous and the wicked, went to Sheol when they died. David is speaking metaphorically here. He did not actually die and go to Sheol, but he could look back on his life and see the many times that God had rescued him from death.

But I think there is a picture here of an actual resurrection - that of Jesus. Like David, he cried out to God and was rescued from death. I’ll come back to that idea a little later.

Verses 8-10 are essentially a flashback in which David is remembering the prayer that he had prayed that resulted in God delivering him. In that prayer David had asked God to save him from death so he could continue to praise God.

Let’s look at one last example in verses 5 and 11:

Psalm 30:5 ESV

5 For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

Psalm 30:11 ESV

11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,

These verses are really at the heart of our message this morning. We really see the heart and character of God here. He is a God who has righteous anger when it comes to sin, but who also delights in giving mercy. He loves to take the darkness of our mourning and grief and transform it into joy and gladness.

This structure is a literary device that is used to put the focus on the middle part of the Psalm - in this case verses 6-7. That is the turning point or pivot in the Psalm. This is the point where David finally releases his grief to God and receives God’s joy in return. David realizes he is incapable of dealing with his grief on his own and recognizes that he needs God’s help.

So let’s see what we can learn from David about...

Application

HOW TO LET JESUS TURN MY GRIEF INTO JOY

Remember how God has worked in the past

David begins this Psalm by remembering how God has worked in his life in the past. He had cried to God and God has answered his prayer by healing him and saving him from death. And that remembrance gave him the assurance that God was able to do that again in his present circumstances.

Obviously God is never obligated to work in our lives the same way He has worked in the past. Just because you got a new job the next day after your last company laid you off doesn’t mean God is going to work in exactly the same way if that happens again.

But when we take time to remember all the times God has worked in our lives - the times He healed us, the times He protected us from danger, the times He provided for our needs, it helps us to have confidence in God’s ability and His willingness to work in our lives in our present circumstances. And that produces joy.

Remember that my troubles are temporary

We see this clearly in the last part of verse 5:

Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

The Hebrew word translated “tarry” means “to stay overnight”. The idea here is that our troubles and our grief are only temporary. They aren’t going to take up permanent residence in our lives.

And we see the same idea again in the parallel verse - verse 11. There we see that God can turn our mourning to dancing - unless you’re a Baptist of course - and take away our grieving clothes and clothe us with gladness.

Even if our troubles last for our entire time here on earth, that is still only a blip compared to eternity. I’m reminded here of what Paul wrote to the churches in Rome:

Romans 8:18 ESV

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

I don’t remember exactly where I saw it this week, but I like the way one pastor phrased this idea:

If we keep our mind on the Morning we can make it through the night.

Be humble

Our normal reaction to grief is usually to begin searching our own little “bag of tricks”. So we rely on our money, or our abilities, or our intellect or knowledge, or something else of our own that we can use to either get out of the situation or navigate our way through it.

When I read verses 6 and 7 I can’t help but think of David’s sin with Bathsheba. In verse 6, David gets overly confident in his own strength and abilities. He looked around at all his accomplishments, all his possessions, all his power and he got proud and arrogant. He thought that he was bulletproof, that nothing could change any of that.

Unfortunately once we start thinking we’ve got it all figured out, we stop needing God. Because he had that mindset, I think David honestly figured he could get away with committing adultery with Bathsheba and murdering her husband. And he did for a while.

But at some point, his relationship with God began to suffer. He experienced what it was like to suffer God’s anger at his sin. He came to know firsthand what it was like to have God hide His face from David. And that broke David’s heart.

And when that happened, David was reminded of that fact that everything he had been depending on was only there because God had gifted him. That was the turning point for David in dealing with his grief.

When things are going well in our lives, we have a tendency to be just like David and to think that nothing can affect us. Like David, we can easily forget that everything we have in life in a gift from God and think that we have obtained all that we have strictly through our own efforts.

Be grateful

As David looks back over this entire experience, he ends the Psalm with these words:

O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

Once David realized that his journey from the brink of death to wellness and wholeness was all because of the grace and mercy of God, he was overwhelmed with the desire to give thanks to God.

No matter how bad things get, we always have so much to be thankful for. And maybe if we’d spend more of our time focusing on those things and being grateful, the difficult things in life wouldn’t consume us so much.

We also see here that gratefulness is contagious. David not only makes a commitment to give thanks to God himself, but in verse 5, he exhorts all of his fellow Jews to do the same thing. That is another reason that corporate worship is so important.

Be patient and wait for God to work

This is probably the hardest thing for most of us to do, especially for us men. But we clearly see here that we can’t manufacture joy on our own. Only God can take our grief and turn it into joy.

You’ll notice once again, just like we did last week, that God is the one doing all the action here. David doesn’t say “I turned my mourning to dancing”. He says “God, you did that”. He didn’t say “I clothed myself with gladness”. He says, “God, you did that”.

In this passage, we clearly see God’s character. He is a God that delights in showing mercy. He delights in granting favor to His people. He delights in taking that which is broken in our lives and restoring it. He delights in turning our mourning into dancing.

But often for our own good, He doesn’t do those things immediately. So we need to fight the urge to take things into our own hands and try to fix them and give God some time to work.

Jesus gives me joy in exchange for my grief when I view my circumstances in light of His character

Our joy is grounded in a God who is the God of joy. Though His anger is real and deserved, it is only for a moment. But His favor is for a lifetime, both here on this earth and for eternity. Weeping may indeed tarry for a night, or even several nights, but morning is always coming. This is true for God’s children because it is rooted in who God is.

Action

So that means first of all that you want to make sure that you are one of God’s children. One of the biggest lies perpetuated by our culture is that we are all God’s children. But that is just not true according to the Bible. In the beginning of his gospel account, John reveals the requirement for becoming a child of God:

John 1:12 ESV

12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

Only those who have placed their faith in Jesus have the right to become children of God and can count on Jesus to give them joy in exchange for their grief.

Remember earlier that I said verse 3 is a reference to the resurrection of Jesus? When David wrote “...you restored my life...”, he used a Hebrew verb that means “to raise someone from the dead”. It is the same verb used in 2 Kings 8 to describe how Elisha raised a boy back to life. That is literally what God did for Jesus.

On the very first Christmas, Jesus became Emmanuel, God with us, by being born as a little baby to an unwed young couple. But He didn’t remain a baby. He grew up, and lived a sinless life, and in the most selfless act in history, He gave up His life on the cross in order to pay the penalty for our sins. And His lifeless, dead body was placed in a grave. But God restored His life and raised him from the pit.

Jesus did that to make it possible for everyone to become God’s child and to have Jesus turn their grief to joy. But only those who make the decision to place their faith in Jesus alone receive that gift. That is the required first step if you want to take part in the great gift exchange we’ve been talking about for the last three weeks.

For those who have already made that decision, Jesus would like nothing more than to take your grief and give you joy in return. But in order for that to happen, you’ll need to apply the principles that we’ve talked about today.

Inspiration

Life is indeed a roller coaster. And all of us are going to experience grief from time to time. But the good news is that Christmas makes it possible for us to give Jesus that grief and to receive His joy in return.