Testimony: A 10-Day Devotional By Gloria GaynorExemplo

Joy Comes In The Morning 

There have been times when things were going so badly for me that I thought, “is God mad with me?” I’m sure many others have felt the same way. We indulge in something we know we shouldn’t, and when things start to go wrong afterwards we think the Lord is angry with us or disappointed in us and is punishing us. We beat ourselves up for a while and make all kinds of wild promises of how we’ll do better and how we surely won’t ever repeat that offense again. Or we make supplications to the Lord begging His pardon and claiming we’ve just had a moment of weakness and that the offense is not one we normally do, as if He doesn’t already know our penchant for it. Like little children caught with our hands in the cookie jar, we hope to shorten, if not quickly end, what we perceive as punishment for being naughty. And when it doesn’t stop immediately, we imagine He is still angry and still punishing us. We gather this all because we imagine the Lord thinks like we do or like our parents do. But the Word says He does not. 

God loves us more than our parents ever could. He loves us with an undying, unchanging, unconditional love. He loves us enough to have sent His only begotten Son to die for us. God doesn’t want to punish us. We’re too good at punishing ourselves and harming ourselves and everything He created to bless us. God knows that the things He calls sin are harmful to us; that’s why He forbids us to do them. Sin grieves Him because of His love for us. So even if we do something for which God determines punishment is warranted, His Word says, “His anger only lasts for a moment. His favor is for life; but joy comes in the morning." (Ps. 30:5) In other words, the Lord is quick to forgive us our sins and begin blessing us again. The Lord, like any good parent, chastises those He loves. Prov. 3:12 says, "For whom the Lord loves He corrects." 

Rather than experiencing fear during hard times, we need to remember the promises of our heavenly Father--that He is our Jehovah Shamah, the Lord who is always there. He goes before us to clear and show us the way. He walks beside us to protect us from those who claim to be friends but are not and to keep us from straying from the straight and narrow, safe and optimum path. He is our rear guard to protect us from sneak attacks. He covers us to protect us from attacks from spiritual forces in high places. He carries us when we are injured or weary and can’t make it on our own. When we are attacked it is only because we somehow, either knowingly or unknowingly, have stepped off the straight and narrow and allowed ourselves to become vulnerable to the enemy’s attacks. If you remember and walk in all of that, it is certain that joy will come in the morning!