We turn to Psalm 30:11;

‘You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,’

Here we see that the psalmist describes that he turned the morning into dance. We believe that Psalm 30 is the psalm of David and in David’s life there were many highs and lows and David was able to experience that God truly led him his whole life. When he thought back to what the Lord has done for him,he praised and thanked God for preserving him his whole life.

Mourning is sad but dancing is an expression of joy. These 2 are polar opposites. For someone in mourning, how can they dance? This amazing God was able to turn David’s mourning heart into one of dancing. Most importantly is that regardless of whether he was in his highs or lows, David relied on God, never lost faith, did not get discouraged and didn’t lose hope. This is because he knew that God can help him.

Today in Christianity there’s no other name in which we can be saved so no matter whether we meet highs and lows in our faith, we need such a faith so we can turn our mourning into dancing.

We need to look at this topic from the back to the front. Of course David had moments where his morning turned into dancing, and dancing into mourning. In this great transformation, God wanted him to experience something. These two extremes appeared to him at the same time. All the troubles David went through are recorded very clearly in the Bible. Some were trials given to him by God while others were because of his sins that his dancing turned into dancing.

Let’s look at how dancing turned into mourning for David.

Saul despised the commandments of God and that’s why God abandoned him. Through Samuel, David was appointed as king to succeed Saul as the king of Israel. But David didn’t become king immediately after he was anointed. In between him becoming king, he was persecuted by Saul. David then didn’t do anything wrong, and he even defeated Goliath for the people of Israel whom Saul didn’t go out to fight with. According to our thinking, heroic David should be king immediately. But even after David was announced as king, he had to go through many trials.

When he was young, in his trials he said, “Lord I am just before you”. Truly he was but in his later years he wrote, “Please forgive me of my sins”.

For us in our life of faith, we also have our highs and lows and for David, the trials given to David are similar to what Mencius mentioned which in summary means, “When heaven wants to give you a great mission, you have to go through tests. Through these sufferings, it can build up a person’s endurance.” There’s also a saying that when you’re going through trouble, you’ll grow but in security, you remain stationary. This is something very appropriate for David.

When he was suffering, he became righteous. Even when he had a chance to kill Saul, he didn’t. When he was in his peace and security, he stole another person’s wife and killed the man. You’ll see that for David, there were times where his mourning was turned into dancing and dancing into mourning. When he was pursued by Saul, you see that when you meet unfortunate events, this can strengthen one’s heart and create endurance in a person. It’ll add to the strength that you don’t usually have. It’s true that people usually learn from their mistakes. When they’re troubled in their hearts, when they’re stuck, then they’ll slowly reflect and change their way of thinking.

We see that David’s life had many changes. There was even a time when he was hiding from Saul and fled to his enemies to protect himself. He had to pretend he was mad. This is something tragic. Were there times when we had to pretend to be mad in order to save our lives? The Bible recorded that David’s acting was so real even saliva was wetting his beard. An adult wouldn’t drool like this because this is an action only children would do. If any other person saw this, they would regard the person as mad. However David was neither mad nor a child. He was very normal going through something difficult.

David spent about ten years fleeing from Saul before becoming king. Throughout this, he maintained his righteousness. Time and again Saul tried to again and he also had the chance to kill Saul but he didn’t. Regarding this matter, he trusted God and didn’t choose to take things into his own hands. We see that God was pleased with David’s actions and allowed him to become the king of Israel in God’s time. The times of mourning became the time of dancing.

We turned to 2 Samuel 6:16;

‘Now as the ark of the Lord came into the City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the Lord ; and she despised him in her heart. ‘

Here records that at this time the ark of the Lord came into the city of David. At this time, David had unified the northern and southern kingdom. Prior to this, the kingdom of Israel were split into the houses of Saul and David and they weren’t united. King Saul was on the tribe of Benjamin, and so the tribe of Benjamin would always have supported Saul. The kingdom of Israel because of these issues couldn’t unify. At this time, David was able to unify the northern and southern and the people of Israel acknowledged him as king. But David was very clear that this was a great grace from God and he remembered God salvation and how He allowed him to become king of Israel. More importantly it was God that allowed him to escape this time of mourning.

David saw that the ark of the Lord was on the tents outside and wanted to bring Him into the city. Here records that David was dancing. What was the purpose of this dancing? It was to express his thanksgiving to God, such that his mourning was turned into song. Likewise today, we Christians have received salvation from the Lord, do we bring a heart of thanksgiving before Him regularly? David didn’t because he was above many was able to express his thanksgiving to God.

This dancing was despised by his wife, Michal, because to her a king shouldn’t be dancing like this before his people. Although in Israelite culture, they tend to express their thanksgiving to God and David wasn’t the only one. We turn to Psalm 149:3,

‘Let them praise His name with the dance; Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp.’

150:4;

‘Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!’

The people of Israel tend to praise God with instruments and dance.

We read Ephesians 5:19-20;

19 ‘speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,
20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, ‘

Paul encouraged the believers then to praise God in their hearts. Our worship is a spiritual expression of our thanksgiving to God, and it’s not the kind of drunkenness that’s in the world. It is unlike concerts where people indulge in their desires.

Why should we praise God in the way as mentioned in Ephesians? In our praise, it reminds us of what kind of lives we are leading. Is it according to the will of God? When we are praising God, are we filled with a spiritual happiness? Is there a spiritual life within us? Do we tend to forget of God’s salvation for us? If we forget, we’ll tend to be careless of ourselves. We see that although in David’s sufferings he was saved by God, in his sufferings he especially knew how to rely on God. But in times of peace and security, he became a murderer and adulterer. From what was mourning became dancing, and what was dancing turned into mourning. All these mourning was a result of his sins, and therefore God punished him. One of the most tragic things to happen to David was that his sons killed each other and Absalom, his son, also tried to kill him. Can you imagine if your son wants to kill you? Won’t you be sad and in mourning?

Through God’s grace, mourning can turn into dancing but through men’s foolishness, mourning can also turn into mourning.

Today we’re living in a time of security and peace. If we don’t draw close to God, come to church and worship and praise Him, we may very easily slip into a crisis in our faith. We shouldn’t despise this matter of coming to worship and praise God.

We turn back to a time when David sinned, which is the matter of Bathsheba. At that time, he probably didn’t draw near to God because he could sleep until the sun set. If a person thinks about God every day, he would praise God daily and is able to thank God in his prayers every time. His mind would be very clear, he would know that God exists and know that he can rely on God to overcome his weaknesses. He wouldn’t dare to sin against God. Don’t underestimate the power of praying. We need to have these thoughts in our minds to remind ourselves. We read Ephesians 6:17;

‘And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; ‘

When Paul talked about the whole armour of God, one of it is the helmet of salvation. We need to be reminded of the salvation of God. On your hand, you must hold the sword of the spirit. The Holy Spirit is like the sword. A person who fights in a war wouldn’t put down his sword because when you put it down it’s because your despise your own life. The Bible recorded that the spears didn’t leave the soldiers of David. Today, the helmet of salvation, sword of the spirit and prayers of the Holy Spirit, do we look down on these things?

We look at another example in Exodus 15:20;

‘Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took the timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. ‘

Here records that after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand. Here records that they were singing and dancing to praise God.

After many years of slavery, they had to deal with many burdens. Slaves like them go through lives with nothing to look forward to. It didn’t matter at that time but when pharaoh saw that the people were multiplying, he wanted to eliminate them and any males would be killed. We know that Moses was rescued. At that point of time, there were many Israelites women living in fear of their children being killed.

For a family, having children is something joyous because when you have children, it means you can pass on your future. In the cruelty of the pharaoh, their joy in life became mourning and this is something men cannot handle. We aren’t able to experience the fear and pain the Israelites women had. The moment the child is born, he is killed. After they crossed the Red Sea, how could they but not praise God?

Coming back to us Christians today. If our lives have no future, living is something empty and painful, and something worth mourning about. If our lives on earth are one without meaning, full of sufferings with nothing on earth, what’s more the eternal suffering in the future? Is such a life worth mourning or dancing? Maybe you can dance while you’re still alive. In this life you have, you can enjoy yourself but with no hope in your future, what can you do about it?

God’s hand led the people out of Egypt and into the promised land. It’s something they didn’t dare to dream about. From without hope they had hope. In such a time, could they not help but praise God? We’ve been able to leave this power of death and able to enter the kingdom of eternal life. Do we have a heart of thanksgiving with regards to God? Is our hearts filled with gratitude of salvation such that we can dance? Do we praise our God over this grace He has given us? Our Lord Jesus has already became king, the question is if He is a king in our lives. Do we often praise Him? We read Hebrews 13:15;

‘Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. ‘

The author of Hebrews tells us to sacrifice praise to our God. The fruit of the praise is like sacrifice. This will show that our Lord is worthy of praise because He has praised us. This is a very sincere thanksgiving. In our daily lives, do we bear the fruit of grace or do we feel that there’s nothing to thank God about? What’s worrying is if we don’t listen to His words and obey Him. The Israelites received salvation and their mourning turned into dancing but the dance has to be one that praises God. Instead, they danced a different kind of dance. We read Exodus 32:19;

‘And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. ‘

Though when they crossed the Red Sea, all the Israelites were praising God but on the way to the land of Canaan, when Moses climbed up the Mount Sinai and stayed for 40 days, the people were dancing at the foot of the mountains but they were indulging in their lusts and crafted an idol to worship. They were fulfilling their fleshly desires and was not to praise God. In this time, their dancing became mourning.

Today, are Christians also bounded by their desires? In their walk on this life of faith, they feel dissatisfied with many things in their lives and pursue after the enjoyment in life. Some Christians choose to give up Jesus, they don’t want to listen to His words and act according to their own desires. When you tell them Christians shouldn’t do this, they’ll answer, “Why not? As long as I’m happy, I’m okay.” Their end will be one of mourning.
When you try to make things that are unreasonable reasonable, although you may gain a momentary joy, you’ll face a strict judgement from God in the end.

How can we thank God in our times of mourning and dancing? We turn to Acts 3:8;

‘So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. ‘

When Peter and John went to the temple to pray, they saw a lame man, healed him and allowed him to walk. The first thing the man did was leap up, stand and walk into the temple. Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have because the grace of the Lord Jesus is enough.”

God healed this man through neither silver nor gold. Spiritual experiences will help us grow more than the help of others. According to the law, this person who was lame is unable to come before God because he was disabled. But God healed him and his life changed. He received this grace and so he stood up, lept and went into the temple to praise God.

Are we like this too? For those of us who have received grace, we should stand up and often praise God. It is a grace to come before God to worship and praise Him. This lame man was a good testimony for the people. Are we also to make our lives testimonies for God? Today, is our life of faith one that can turn mourning into dancing or is it one where mourning is turned into dancing?

As a conclusion, God can turn our mourning into dancing. Through faith, we should rely on Him. Whether in times of troubles or peace, we should not forget to seek after God. We should come before Him to praise Him to bear the fruit of our lips, to rejoice the grace God has given us. In this time where faith can grow cold easily, we have to remind ourselves that our life was originally with morning and no hope. God allowed us to dance and we shouldn’t be overcome by our own desires to cause us to sin to God such that we became a pitiful person whose dancing turn into mourning.