“I’m Trading My Sorrows” was one of my mother’s favorite
songs. I haven’t actually been avoiding it, rather I have been not
actively sought to listen to it. I’m not sure if it’s one and the same
thing. However, the chorus hasn't been far from my mind. So I
Googled the verse. I have finally found a tool that actually lets me look
up Bible verses when I have a vague idea of the words that’s in the
verse. It directed me to Psalm 30:5. How could I possibly just look
up the verse without reading what came before and after?
Now, I don’t claim to be a theologian, a biblical or
rabbinical teacher, or pastor, or preacher, or anything other than
myself. I've read Psalm 30 before. Only this time I was facing personal stress inducing situations, and feeling overwhelmingly
depressed and discouraged. I was simply trying to find something to latch onto,
a word, anything to try to find my way out of this sea of despair I was
quickly sinking into. I wanted God’s reminder that “weeping may endure for
a night, But joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). What I found was more than anything I expected. The heading for this psalm says it was a song of the blessedness of answered prayers and it was sung at the dedication of the house of David. However, as I read the words, a picture began to form of a night in Gethsemane, a man praying with such
passion that his sweat and tears became droplets of blood. In the midst of David’s
psalm, a picture of Jesus’s grief, his obedience, his suffering, his victory,
his resurrection began to emerge.
1 I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted
me up,
And have not let my foes rejoice over me.
2 O Lord my
God, I cried out to You,
And You healed me.
3 O Lord, You
brought my soul up from the grave;
You have kept me alive, that I should not go
down to the pit.
4 Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His,
And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.
5 For His
anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for life;
Weeping may
endure for a night,
But joy comes in the morning.
6 Now in my
prosperity I said,
“I shall never be moved.”
7 Lord, by Your
favor You have made my mountain stand strong;
You hid Your face, and I was
troubled.
8 I cried out to You, O Lord;
And to the Lord I made
supplication:
9 “What profit is there in my blood,
When I go down to
the pit?
Will the dust praise You?
Will it declare Your truth?
10
Hear, O Lord, and have mercy on me;
Lord, be my helper!”
11
You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
You have put off my sackcloth
and clothed me with gladness,
12 To the end that my glory may sing
praise to You and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You
forever.
Yet what stood out the most, literally shouted up at me, were
David’s bold words “I cried out to You, O Lord; And to the Lord I made supplication:
“What profit is there in my blood, When I go down to the pit? Will the dust
praise You? Will it declare Your truth? Hear, O Lord, and have mercy on
me; Lord, be my helper!” (Psalm 30:8-10) This is no meek cry of
desperation! This is no wail of the broken heart! This was the cry
of a King to his God, boldly making his needs heard before his God. This
is the cry of one who is confident of God’s love and care for him. This
is the bold declaration of a child secure in the love of his heavenly Father.
Why is my heart faint? Why am I afraid? Is His
promise not the same for me as it was for those who came before me? His
words says “whoever believes” “should not parish,” does that not also include
me? Where is that boldness? Will I allow my emotions to drown out
my praise? The lyricist wrote, “I will praise you through the good or
bad” because “praise is what I do.” It is not enough to simply cry out to God for help but like David I need to boldly claim God's blessings and continue to give him praise.
Shall then be like Mary the sister of Martha who chose to
sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to his words? I have dreams and goals
which are secular of nature. Shall I be divided between my two selves and
live forever with one foot in the spiritual and one in the secular? I am
Martha, concerned with the care of the secular aspects of my life. But I
long to be like Mary, to indulge in the spiritual without reservations. Martha invited Jesus
into her home and wanted to gift him with her best hospitality. But Jesus
saw to the heart of her, her worry about all the little details which really
didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Mary didn't just invite
Jesus, she chose him with every fiber of her being. Why then should this choice
be taken from her?
Free will is a powerful concept. We think of our basic
human rights, the right to life, liberty, and prosperity. Our government
gives us this. But have we ever considered what it really means to really
have those rights? Circumstance happen and will continue to happen and
very rarely can we actually control them. The more we try, like Martha,
the more overwhelmed we will feel. But what if…like David, we choose to
boldly cry out before God, pour out all our miseries, our worries, trade our “yolk”
and take up His instead? What if we “yolk” ourselves to Christ and choose life, to
boldly praise Him always and forever?
Does it mean we need to accept our circumstances and repeat
that overused cliched phrase Christians love so much? “I’m too blessed to
be stressed?” I stopped to think about it because it just seemed
insincere to me. Upon closer examination, I've come to the conclusion that
it should be spoken with boldness, as a reminder that we have chosen
Jesus and we are recipients of His blessings. Those inconsequential details of our everyday life that cause us to despair, to become stressed, cause us to falter, we can simply give it over to Him. As it says (1 Peter 5:6-7), “therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that
He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for
you.” .
I am blessed, with a promise that “the God of all grace, who
called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a
while, [will] perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle [me].” (1 Peter5:10). I have seen death. I have stared it in the face. I
have spent many hours in its presence. Like David, I can boldly claim
that I “have put off my sackcloth and [am] clothed…with gladness…[I] will sing
praise to [God] and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You
forever” simply because like Mary, I am choosing that which is needed, the good
part and it will not be denied me.
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