O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. For your anger is but for a moment; your favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. — Psalm 30:2, 5

Has this ever happened to you? As you stumble out of bed first thing in the morning, you stub your toe. Badly. As you curse your own clumsiness, you begin your day in a cloud of negativity. Then things only seem to get worse. You spill your coffee and stain your clothes before you get out of the house. You get stuck in a traffic jam and are late to work. Your co-workers seem to be on your nerves all day. You get home and forgot you promised the family a special dinner. 

This is just a simple example of how the stresses and negativity of life can overwhelm us and it seems to rule over us. When one thing goes wrong, everything seems to go wrong. It might be a bad day or it might be a bad year. It might be a stubbed toe or a dire diagnosis or a grave loss. Whatever it is, we feel “cursed.” 

The beautiful refrains of Psalm 30:5 have been used in many settings. It has been proclaimed with powerful convictions from the pulpit and passionately in prayer. It has been intoned in the beautiful melodies of old-time gospels. It has been sung in classic anthems and hymns. It has been said that there is no other Psalm that offers as much faithful hope and blessed assurance as this one. “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”

Most of us understand “morning” to be that time following sunrise that God sends after the nighttime of our misery and suffering. We understand the Psalm to mean that joy would surely come when daylight appears and we could finally see our way out of the trepidations and tribulations of the dark night. But have you ever called one of those 24-hour customer service numbers at, say, 12:05 a.m.? The operator will answer, “Good morning!” Yes, morning comes to us not at daybreak, but in the middle of the night. 

And since joy comes in the morning, we must realize how that joy comes to us even in the darkness. A new day can dawn even at night. Joy comes when we understand and believe that desperate times and difficult situations cannot prevent the fulfillment of God’s promise and progress in our lives. Joy comes when we celebrate the fact that even in the darkest night, God is still moving us toward better days. 

What good news. Even in the darkness of our circumstances, God has brought us through the debacles and depressions of yesterday and helps us to find joy in knowing that the new day of promise has begun. When we cry out, God proclaims to us, “Good morning!”

— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. Todd Hackman is senior pastor at St. John’s United Church of Christ in Monroe.