Time!

Time!

For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may endure for a night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.

Psalms 30:5 AMP

The Context and Focus:

This is another psalm by David, the man after God's heart. It bears repeating that this was a man who knew how to hold God's attention, because he was quick to repent and return, and he would praise God with the whole of his being. He had no pride or pretensions when it came to praising God. This psalm has as its title 'Thanksgiving for deliverance from death'. This was just one out of the many instances that David found a reason to praise God. I have to learn a few lessons from the life of this man too, and the first is this: there must be nothing in my life that should keep me from living a life of gratitude. Things will happen to me that I may not like or enjoy, but there is this assurance that I have a God who cares so much for me that he will not allow just anything happen to me, unless it will surely promote his purpose and plan for my life. That is the God who calls me his own, and the One David again introduces to us today. The balance to this understanding is to also know that the same God of love is also the God of judgment. He loves us so much that He gave the life of his Son Jesus for our sin.

The Message:

 His son, who knew no sin, became sin, so that we can become the righteousness of God. With such a high price paid for sin, you can be sure that the price for rejecting such a gift will also be huge. No matter how much God is angry with sin, he is even more joyful when those in sin turn to him in repentance and surrender their lives to Him. He hates sin, but loves the sinner. He will punish sin, no matter in whom it is found, but his love is eternal. No earthly man was born a Christian, which means that at a time, before salvation, we were all subject to God's anger. By this grace, we have crossed from death to life. No man can stand God's anger, but I cannot also continue in sin and expect that grace will also continue to abound. In God, there is a supply of all I need for life and Godliness, but I have to be and do right in order to have access to this supply. For all who have come to know God, they have passed on from the anger of God, into the eternal favour of God. What else can a man get that can beat that? What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul? Is there any value to this life if this is where it all ends, with no hope of eternal life? 

The Conclusion:

One key component to the verse above is TIME. We see the scope of time as it relates to God's anger, but we also see it as it relates to God's favour. We see the same component in the phase of weeping, but we also see it in the phase of shouting for joy. The night is a season in time, and so is the morning. It is very important to know how time relates to what you seek from God. Indeed, for all of us on earth, these phases will happen. No amount of prayer can wish them away, but it is more important that we end up with the eternal phases that end where God is. Life will also happen to all of us; nobody has been promised to live forever down here on earth without dying. 'Bad' things will happen to the best of us, and they may cause us to weep, but the season of the nights of weeping will come to an end one day, and the morning light of eternity will dawn. Those who had silently wept will sing and shout for joy. I just must note again that it is only those who had been contrite for sin, weeping and crying for God's help that can look forward to the joy that is promised for the morning. Am I qualified to look forward to it? It is not too late, but time is of the essence. Repent, before it is too late. God's time of favour is here.