By Mike Chaffin
You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, Psalm 30:11
Gladness will dispel sadness when we look to the Lord. Years ago, I was transferred to Lafayette Louisiana by my company. We left friends and co-workers behind. Lafayette is a great town but after a few months I became sad. For one, raised on a farm in Missouri, I was homesick. I missed my old friends. My wife and I were trying to have a child, and it hadn’t happened yet. One night while in bed, silently praying to the Lord about my sadness I listed these sorrows.
Now, growing up on a farm in Missouri in the sixties and seventies meant no air conditioning and sleeping with open windows in the summer. During my prayer to God about my homesickness I even remembered that loudmouth mockingbird sitting in the oak tree outside my window waking me up every morning at sunup. As a teenager who worked nights, I sometimes hated that mockingbird. But in my prayer, I even told the Lord I now missed that silly bird.
The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17
Our backyard in Lafayette had no trees. In fact, this new subdivision had few trees if any and we seldom had birds around. However, that very next morning I was woken by the singing of a mockingbird sitting on our back fence. God’s way of telling me He had heard my prayer. My sadness left and my heart filled with gratitude and thanksgiving.
I will be glad and rejoice in Your mercy, For You have considered my trouble; You have known my soul in adversities, Psalm 31:7
I really understood Psalm 16:9,
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope.
And as we learned in an earlier devotional, hope doesn’t disappoint. Sadness will come to us in many shapes and forms, but we don’t have to live there. We can fill our hearts with gladness by reaching out and rejoicing in the Lord.
Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for your great love for us. In our sadness we can reach out to you and be restored, refreshed, and made glad. Your care for us is unending. I praise your name. In Jesus’ name, amen.
