“You turned my wailing into dancing; You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing Your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise You forever.” — Psalm 30:11-12
From Defeat to Dancing
Sports enthusiasts love a good comeback. As a Georgia native, I am partial to a group of teams that have found themselves on the long and short end of some epic comebacks throughout my lifetime.
Somehow, the Atlanta Falcons allowed the New England Patriots to make history at their expense in Super Bowl LI a few years ago. As a boy, I watched the Georgia Bulldogs erase a 25-point deficit against the Purdue Boilermakers and quarterback Drew Brees on Jan. 1, 2000, at the Outback Bowl to win in overtime. As of late, the Atlanta Braves and their youth movement have made baseball exciting again for “Braves Country,” not giving up when they are down in the late innings.
I am sure you all know the pure happiness that results when your team pulls off such a feat, complete with dancing and shouting!
A great comeback story requires that the people involved feel down and out, like the world is against them. The psalmist and warrior King David wrote some of the most raw, emotional poems in history expressing his feelings of defeat. They were recorded in God’s Word for us as believers to know that God is in the business of comebacks.
David found himself in many a dire situation, only to see the Lord move in miraculous ways and restore him to victory over his enemies. He wrote Psalm 30, as noted in the NIV translation, “For the dedication of the temple.” Verses 11 and 12 of that Psalm proclaim, “You turned my wailing into dancing; You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing Your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise You forever.“
Like David, we all face times as Christians where we don’t see joy or hope in our future. It is tough, like the fourth quarter or ninth inning, trailing a difficult opponent. But this is when our God works out His plan, and turns our defeat to dancing in ways that we never saw coming.
— Allen Kent, Kathleen, Ga.
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