In Other Words ...

His anger lasts for a little while, but then his kindness brings life.
The night may be filled with tears, but in the morning we can sing for joy!

Psalm 30:5
Easy-to-Read Version

Weeping may endure for a night. But joy comes in the morning.

Psalm 30:5

When life becomes a series of dark nights, filled with personal sufferings, news of shootings, and an awareness of a steady homegoing of the church, it can be easy to lose hope. But, if we are anchored in faith, anchored in Christ, hope can hold steady until morning comes.

For many of us, morning is an answer to prayer that comes through the word God has given us.

So, sometimes, there's morning joy, no matter how numb a soul may feel.

This morning, I found joy in how John the Baptist said, "Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world."

I found joy, because I could see that word of Heaven in a whole new light.

That passage leads me to a group-study idea that would ask, What is sin?

Would mankind have any awareness of sin, if there wasn't any good?

Isn't sin an expression of opposition to good?

And, if sin is mankind's opposition to the goodness of Heaven, can't that mean that, when Jesus gave Himself back to Heaven, He, in effect, began to take away man's desire to sin against Him?

Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

John 1:29

Doesn't that give you joy? Seeing scripture in a whole new light?

When Jesus gave Himself back to Heaven, He didn't take away His love from us. But He sure did give this world reason to pause, to think about wrongdoing, to repent.

I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

Psalm 119:11, ESV

In Old Testament times, prophets commanded, "You must completely destroy all the people—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. The Lord your God has commanded you to do this. So then they will not be able to teach you to sin against the Lord your God or to do any of the terrible things they do when they worship their gods." (Deuteronomy 20:17-19)

But God, in His ultimate wisdom and grace, made the better way, through giving us Himself in Jesus, who discipled men not to sin against Heaven but to be faithful.

Then, in withdrawing to Heaven again, he gave mankind time and opportunity to think it all through, to repent.

Yet, doesn't man still tend to be sometimes twisted in his thinking?

One man might dare to say that the goodness of Jesus was so much so that Nicodemus was able to come to Him in the night, to ask whether he was truly God with us, truly the Savior, and that, if a person isn't worthy to be seen in the night in a holy way, that person is not of God and deserves to be sinned against.

How desperately wicked. (Jeremiah 17:9)

The Apostle James said, "When tempted, no one should say, 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed." (James 1:13-14)

Temptation comes from sinfulness of a person's own heart. It's all in the way the person looks at a gift from God, James seems to say. A person can see in the Spirit and cherish the sight, protect it, and use it for good; or the person can see in the filth of his or her own heart and set out to defile or misuse a perfectly good gift.

... Thank you, Jesus.

Joy comes in the morning.


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Sisters are the perfect gift. Think about it.

The Bible doesn't say anything negative about a sister, only that a brother can be "born for adversity."

Sisters are the perfect gift.