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Psalm 30:5 Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

In Hebrew the word weeping is a transliteration meaning bitterly, continual weeping, flowing. From the NetBible footnotes we read, “Heb “in the evening weeping comes to lodge, but at morning a shout of joy.” “Weeping” is personified here as a traveler who lodges with one temporarily.1

The Hebrew word for joy translates “a ringing cry, in proclamation, joy, praise.

I have had a visitor in my life for some time now – his name is Weeping. At one point I felt he had taken up permanent residence, an uninvited squatter who would not be evicted. Even my prayers couldn’t make him budge – I had to have faith that for whatever reason, God had allowed this caller in to teach me silent lessons. Night after night he would sit with me, often as still as death, other times with violent wracking sobs and moans that drove me to the edge of myself. I begged God to help me, because I couldn’t see the lessons through my tears, nor could I hear them as Weeping drowned out all other sounds.

So I wrote in my journal, and in desperation read through verse after verse of Scripture, and ran to my Father when I couldn’t bear Weeping any longer. God would hold me, but would not let Weeping leave, no matter how I begged Him to make him go away.

But in recent days, I have watched as slowly, painfully, Weeping has begun packing his bags. And somehow, he and I have come to an understanding. As much as I hated his visit, and fought against it, I have learned in spite of myself. I watched him pack his lesson books (all 66 of them in one giant volume), and my heart felt, could it be, a respectful friendship, for him? A sense of gratitude?

And then came the morning… before dawn, I watched Weeping pick up his belongings. He came to me, and laid his hand on mine for but a moment, and I knew this would not be the last time he would visit. He opened the door, and stepped out into the blackness. As I watched him walk down the road, the night of my soul began its transformation – fading into deep charcoal, then to a softer grey, and finally bursting forth bright and glorious with the first golden rays of the dawn. Weeping disappeared from my sight, and my heart rejoiced as I saw my old friend Joy coming up the road to spend time with me again. I felt my God beside me, and knew He had never left my side through this entire visit, and I buried myself in His arms, wrapped in His love, whispering thanksgivings of praise.

1NetBible footnotes http://www.bible.org/netbible/index.htm

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