December 8
by Heather Highful
There is a striking reversal in Lamentations 5:15, and an opposite one in Psalm 30:11, making the verses themselves reversals of each other. In Lamentations, the writer laments that “the joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning. ”Yet in Psalm 30 the psalmist writes, “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness. ”In Lamentations 5:9, the author writes, “We get our bread at the peril of our lives”; in John 6:48, Jesus says, “I am the bread of life.” This divine act of reversal, seen also in the beatitudes in Matthew 5:1-12, is what we depend on for our lives: bread of life instead of bread at the peril of our lives; dancing instead of mourning. It is what we lean on in a dark time of waiting. It is what allows us to dance even in the dark, because we know the light has come and is coming; and he has put that light in us.
We wait in darkness, and we mourn, but we mourn as those who have hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13), because “the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Isaiah 9:2 and Matthew 4:16). We both remember Jesus’ advent to the world and look forward to his return, though as yet we live as sojourners. Currently we mourn, but we can also dance, looking back at what Jesus has already done and forward to an advent in the future at his return. We have him within us and can therefore rejoice whatever our circumstances (Philippians 4:4-13 and Colossians 1:27). He has clothed us with gladness as a dancer would be appropriately clothed for dancing. Jesus is the one who clothes us with gladness, and this clothing he puts on us is himself. Jesus says, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12), but, because he clothes us, he also says, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). We can dance and rejoice, and others may see and give glory to the Father (Matthew 5:16). God has not utterly rejected us, nor remained exceedingly angry with us (Lamentations 5:22); he has indeed turned our “mourning into dancing . . . and clothed [us] with gladness, that [our] glory may sing [his] praise and not be silent.”
“Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name. . . . O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!”
There is a striking reversal in Lamentations 5:15, and an opposite one in Psalm 30:11, making the verses themselves reversals of each other. In Lamentations, the writer laments that “the joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning. ”Yet in Psalm 30 the psalmist writes, “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness. ”In Lamentations 5:9, the author writes, “We get our bread at the peril of our lives”; in John 6:48, Jesus says, “I am the bread of life.” This divine act of reversal, seen also in the beatitudes in Matthew 5:1-12, is what we depend on for our lives: bread of life instead of bread at the peril of our lives; dancing instead of mourning. It is what we lean on in a dark time of waiting. It is what allows us to dance even in the dark, because we know the light has come and is coming; and he has put that light in us.
We wait in darkness, and we mourn, but we mourn as those who have hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13), because “the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Isaiah 9:2 and Matthew 4:16). We both remember Jesus’ advent to the world and look forward to his return, though as yet we live as sojourners. Currently we mourn, but we can also dance, looking back at what Jesus has already done and forward to an advent in the future at his return. We have him within us and can therefore rejoice whatever our circumstances (Philippians 4:4-13 and Colossians 1:27). He has clothed us with gladness as a dancer would be appropriately clothed for dancing. Jesus is the one who clothes us with gladness, and this clothing he puts on us is himself. Jesus says, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12), but, because he clothes us, he also says, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). We can dance and rejoice, and others may see and give glory to the Father (Matthew 5:16). God has not utterly rejected us, nor remained exceedingly angry with us (Lamentations 5:22); he has indeed turned our “mourning into dancing . . . and clothed [us] with gladness, that [our] glory may sing [his] praise and not be silent.”
“Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name. . . . O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!”