Thoughtful Thursday: A Brand New Day...

There are 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs. Someone once told me that we needed wisdom daily, so there was one chapter for each day of the month....Anyway, on the 30th of September, I accidentally started reading Psalm 30 instead of Proverbs 30. I knew I was in the wrong book after reading two or three verses, but I went ahead and kept reading. I am so glad that I did. Of course, it was no accident after all. I have been thinking about the wonderful study I had that day and thought I would share a bit with you here.

In Psalm 30, David talked about an experience he had when he went from complete sadness to joy in a very short amount of time. He said in verse 11, "Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing." Well, that was great for David, but sometimes we can go from dancing to mourning or from joy to sorrow in just a moment. We keep waiting for "joy to come in the morning" as verse 5 says, but sorrow just seems to want to linger!

It may be an illness, death of a loved one, a broken relationship, a wayward child or financial hardship. It may be a dream that has been shattered or a goal that has fallen by the wayside. What happened to those goals we set? Did you set a goal to read through your Bible, lose weight, get out of debt, make new friends, get more organized, forgive someone....? You probably feel sick over it. If you are like me, those things will tend to make your heart heavy. Proverbs 13:12 says, "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick." It's no surprise that we would feel bad. We have let other things distract us, we have let ourselves think that we were being too "lofty", we put blame on others for our unfulfilled dreams and goals.

Philippians 3:13-14 says, "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

Isn't this an encouraging verse? Forget about all of those things at which you've "failed". You can dream again. You can hope and set goals. You can forgive someone - really forgive them. Problems may always seem to loom over us, casting darkness and night our way, but joy WILL come in the morning. Press on - reach forth and welcome your brand new day!