My “Right Now” Is Not My “Always!”

For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. - Psalms 30:5 ESV

Have you ever heard of the resurrection plant? It is an ugly little plant that has very short roots and lives with about 2-3% of water.  It can live in that state for almost 3 years. But if you take a cup of water and pour over that plant within the hour you will see where it gets its name from. That ugly, brown, crumpled up plant becomes a thing of beauty.  If God can do that for an old ugly plant, how much more can God do with you? Where they find you doesn’t have to be where God leaves you.

Psalms 30 is a psalm of David when he reminisced about all that he had endured and how the Lord had faithfully brought him through.  He teaches a valuable lesson about how to hold on to confidence in God during difficult times. If David was here he would say don’t get hung up on all the negative experiences that you have faced.  Take time to remember how God has brought you through. Remember how God worked it out when your enemies thought that they had you pinned down.  Remember when your soul was so overwhelmed that you wanted life to be over. Remember that’s when God showed up and renewed your spirit and made you feel like you can run on a little while longer.  Instead of allowing life to overwhelm you, find a memory of what God has already done or is currently doing and rejoice over that. The songwriter reminds you to “Count your blessings, name them one by one…Count your blessings, see what the Lord has done!”

Sometimes you just have to hunker down and say to your soul…”If I can just make it through the night I know that God has something better in store for me! My right now is not my always! Where I am now is seasonal… This isn’t forever!”  You have to rehearse that reality even when it feels more like fantasy. Tell your enemies don’t get used to me here…because my right now is not my always! 

I know that if you can make it through the night season of your life that God is going to bring joy in the morning.  Weeping is like a hotel guest that checks in for a night’s stay. As a guest, Weeping has access to all of the accoutrements of the facility.  By the time weeping wakes up the hotel’s night manager has come around and slipped the folio under the door to inform Weeping that it is check out time. Weeping has to vacate the premises because there are other guests that will arrive in the morning. The room that Weeping has occupied will now be used by another guest, Joy!  If you can hold on throughout the night joy will come in the morning and your “right now” will not be your “always!”