Morning is Coming

    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 30:5

I love this promise from Scripture. It is a reminder that there is an end to what we may be going through, that the night will not last forever. It may last for weeks or months or years or even the entirety of our lives, but it will not last forever.

Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
        and your healing shall spring up speedily;
    your righteousness shall go before you;
        the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Isaiah 58:8

The Lord has brought Psalm 30:5 to my attention over and over again lately. I just finished reading a book that’s two parts were divided into “Weeping may last for the night” and “Joy comes with the morning.” In the first part, the heroine journeyed with her God-given guides Sorrow and Suffering to the High Places. She learned much from them and learned to find joy in them as she experienced many hardships, difficulties, and temptations. In the second part, she finally reaches the High Places where she is given rest, a new name, and her companions are transformed into Joy and Peace. The Lord was taking her through difficulty in order to transform her into His image. That’s His pattern.

        But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
        which shines brighter and brighter until full day. Proverbs 4:18

Mostly my meditations on the hope and promise of morning have been prompted by a song from Third Day’s new album Miracle called, “Morning Has Broken." It is a very poetical and imagery-inducing song that was written in the ‘70s (see below), and as I listened to the words I couldn’t help but think of this verse. When the morning does come after a long, hard, dark night (Job 7:4), your senses seem to be sharpened, your heart more joyful and thankful, and you seem to be more aware of the presence and goodness of Christ. Your heart seems to be more tuned to sing God's praise. At least this is what I get out of this song and this is what I have experienced. Furthermore, it reminds me of the daily renewed mercies of God:

    The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
        his mercies never come to an end;
    they are new every morning;
        great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22

Morning is coming. I don't know when, but it is. And while I get to experience temporary mornings in this lifetime, there will be a day when the morning will come and it will never, ever leave (Revelation 22:5).    

Morning Has Broken
 
Morning has broken, like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for them springing, fresh from the world

Sweet the rain's new fall, sunlit from Heaven
Like the first dewfall, on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness, of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness, where His feet pass

Morning has broken, like the first dawn
Sing Hallelujah; A new day is born

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
Born of the one light, Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God's recreation, of the new day

Morning has broken, like the first dawn
Sing Hallelujah; A new day is born

Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD;
        his going out is sure as the dawn;
    he will come to us as the showers,
        as the spring rains that water the earth.” Hosea 6:3

Lessons Learned in the Light: Fellowship

The first half of the year, I did a blog series on the lessons I have learned in the dark. And while I do feel like I am still somewhat in the dark, the Lord has allowed a few beautiful rays of light to shine. The lessons I am learning are deep and hard, but immensely sweet (especially in hindsight :). For the remaining months of this year, I would like to focus on the lessons the Lord is teaching me in the light.

This lesson is about faithfulness. Not my faithfulness, because my faithfulness, I’m ashamed to say, is not always so steadfast, but the Lord’s faithfulness. He never fails nor does His Word. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). I discussed them some in one of my last posts, but I want to focus on in particular is God’s faithfulness to love and care for me through other people, namely the Body of Christ.

Over the past few weeks I have watched God love me through others in numerous ways. One of my closest friends and her husband took me on a hike to pray over me and encourage me through Scripture. My pastor’s wife and dear friend brought me lunch at work to talk with me about the things I had been struggling with. A prayer warrior from my church said she “felt” my burdens and has led others in my church to pray for me, even though I had not really expressed to her the turmoil I felt. And there have been others who has expressed concern for me and whom the Holy Spirit has led to pray for me.

This is the gift of being part of the body of Christ expressed through a local church. Since I don’t tend to stay in one place for long, I had the mindset of not going deeper with people, not setting down roots, but, oh, how I have missed out because of that! I heard one missionary say that he learned to go deep quickly with people because he knew his time with them was short, which is exactly the opposite of what I was doing. Yes, saying goodbye is hard, but the sweetness of deep, Christ-centered fellowship is worth it. The Lord has allowed me to be part of a small congregation in which I see the Book of Acts come to life. My church family really does care about each other and prays for each other and desires to be together. This is especially expressed through my small group where we gather every other week to study God’s Word, pray for one another, share a meal, and spend hours just hanging out. We confess our sins and share our struggles and testify to the work of God’s grace in our lives. This doesn't come naturally, but we have each been intentional and, through the grace of the Lord, we are going deeper with Christ and one another. It is a beautiful thing.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7

Making Chinese dumplings with my small group

 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Acts 2:42