Singing Psalm 70 for joy in sorrow
- Oct 13, 2023
- 9 min read
Updated: Jul 29
Singing Psalm 70 for joy in sorrow accepting your low state
What does it take to have joy in sorrow?
To have joy in sorrow is to celebrate the highness of God who lowered himself to love you, and in turn, to accept your low state with immense gratitude.
“Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me tread on my high places.” ~ Habakkuk 3:17-19
You are in great company with the man of sorrows who was betrayed, denied, and rejected yet came to bring you joy in sorrow – joy overflowing and life to the full mixed in with the trials and suffering of life in a fallen world.
“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” ~ Isaiah 53:3
Bringing your sorrow to the Lord involves sharing your hurts, trusting him to change your perception or the circumstances that would relieve your suffering, and waiting alongside him until he does it.
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” ~ 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Joy in sorrow comes from waiting and watching him turn those who seek to do harm as he turned you from dishonor, confusion, and shame.
“Let there be shame and confusion
On those who seek my life.
Turned back be they and dishonored
Who in my hurt delight.” ~ Psalm 70:2
Singing Psalm 70 for joy in sorrow seeking the one who is gentle and lowly in heart
There are times when you know what people think about you, and it isn’t pretty. One way or another, you don’t measure up to their expectations or even to your own. You might suffer from imposter syndrome where you are the one saying “Aha! Aha!” to yourself because you have failed to live up to some worldly standard you have set for yourself.
When hopeless thoughts threaten to break through, singing Psalm 70 helps you resist them. Your own lips, empowered by meditating on God’s truth, sing those deceitful thoughts out the window of your mind and watch them fall to their death on the ground where they belong.
As one of God’s adopted children, it is a disgrace to jeer at anyone, including yourself.
Or maybe, like David, you are doing too good a job. You are somehow inadvertently showing up those who are over you. Though you are succeeding at what you set out to do, you might see nothing but failure in your relationships.
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” ~ Matthew 11:28-30
Jesus talks you off the ledge. He is your best friend and might even give you a Jonathan with whom you can be vulnerable until you see him face-to-face. He has taken your failure and given you his success. He teaches you the way it works in his economy.
“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” ~ James 4:8-10
You bring him nothing but your sin and struggles. He gives you everything. He gives you this joy in sorrow so that you will have nothing to boast about except for him. It’s the best deal going, and once you let go of your pride, you will have joy in sorrow as you receive what you don’t deserve and don’t receive what you do deserve. You find that your sorrow is more so a response to your sins than to your difficult circumstances. You despise living in ways that grieve the Holy Spirit.
Paul expressed his joy in sorrow as he was treated as an imposter but yet was true, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as having nothing, yet possessing everything. This is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus: to pray continually, to give thanks in all circumstances, and to rejoice always.
Making little of self and much of Jesus you experience joy in sorrow, the joy of exalting him in the sorrow of having to hold yourself back from wanting to be exalted.
You believe in Jesus that he is your reward to such a degree that when others say false things against you, steal your stuff, and even hate you on account of him, you have leaping joy in sorrow for them.
“Hasten O God, to my rescue;
Hasten to help, O LORD.” ~ Psalm 70:1
Singing Psalm 70 for joy in sorrow anticipating the greatest rescue of all time
You seek the Lord to hurry to help and save. Knowing that you are heard, you eagerly wait with patience because you are sure of a victorious outcome. His promises are as good as done. Jesus gives you lasting joy in sorrow having swiftly answered you at the cross already. You await the fullness of his love with sure hope that he is coming for you only because of his faithfulness.
“See, from his head, his hands, his feet
Sorrow and love flow mingled down,
Did e’re such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?” ~ from Isaac Watts’ When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
You move through life with joy in sorrow because you know what is coming at just the right time. The certainty is joyful. Learning to wait and yield can be sorrowful. God determines when the right time is, and he is never late.
Jesus gave you his commands that you would take every thought captive to obey him, so that you would abide in his love and have his fullness of joy. Yet his soul would become sorrowful even to death in the process of saving you.
You remember what the triune God has done, is doing, and will do, and whether you look at it through a microscope or through a telescope, his glory is magnified. He satisfies you with joy in sorrow that you will forget.
“For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.” ~ Ecclesiastes 5:20
He will hasten to change you in the twinkling of an eye from mortal to immortal, from sinful to pure in heart, from self-serving to God-glorifying, from a decaying body to a lasting body, from joy in sorrow to pure joy.
“Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion; they shall have everlasting joy.” ~ Isaiah 61:7
“Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.” ~ Jeremiah 31:13
“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” ~ John 16:20-24
“But I am poor and afflicted;
Hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my Savior;
O LORD, do not delay.” ~ Psalm 70:5
The sorrow of parting will yield to the joy of reuniting. The greatest joy in sorrow will bid you adieu once it has fulfilled its purpose of enriching your newfound, standalone joy. It will then be uncoupled and free as you cherish the richness of uninterrupted, untarnished time with the Lord, for whom you were made, forever.
“Let those who seek You be joyful,
Let them be glad in You;
Let those who love Your salvation
Say, ‘God be magnified!’” ~ Psalm 70:4
October 8-13, 2023
************
Heart ♥️ reflection
March 31, 2025
“For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.” ~ Romans 7:22-23
Question: What purpose do restrictions serve in my life? Why is there such a pull in me to be unrestricted?
Heart reflection: One purpose restrictions have in your life is to give you the opportunity to trust God’s care for you. To fear God and keep his commandments is like the law of gravity. You don’t get to decide whether the pin you let go of goes up, down, or sideways. It’s going down. The moment even one human lives in an unrestricted way, unbound by any laws, others are restricted by this unbridled freedom. The idea was planted in the Garden of Eden that God is somehow withholding good from us. Though he gave us the entire ocean and prohibited us from only one drop of it, he was portrayed as miserly. Futile attempts to write God out of his own story continue to this day. Who can have a worldview that doesn’t include the one that made the world? The one that desperately wants no restrictions. Who runs a business that oppresses and says to the one who gave them life and ability that it is “none of your business”? The one who wants his own unrestricted way runs a business that untethers itself to Jesus whose business it is. Who can have friends when the overriding goal is to be unrestrained in thought, word, and deed? No one. What must you do to overcome your desire for no restrictions? Declare war against it. Seek the Lord’s heart. Trust him and love his ways. Only then can you sow and reap peace, honor, and joy in every relationship.
“Turned back be they and dishonored
Who in my hurt delight.
Let those who seek You be joyful,
Let them be glad in You;
Let those who love Your salvation
Say, ‘God be magnified!’” ~ Psalm 70:2b, 4
************
The Psalms—Q&A
And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid. ~ Nehemiah 2:2
How does the Lord Jesus leading me to sing Psalm 70 help me grow in my affection for God and in my connection with others?
Whether your life feels like “hurry up and wait” or you take your time and at the right time, hurry up, having a deep affection for God and trusting him is essential.
Who or what do you turn to in times of trouble?
Singing Psalm 70, you learn of David who built such a tightknit, trusting relationship with the Lord, he felt free to ask him to quickly respond when what he needed was urgent. David knew that God had placed him in the exact situation that he was in at the exact time that he was in it. He also knew that God was present with him from the start of this trouble to its finish and beyond. And if he didn’t rescue him from the immediate trouble, he knew that was only because he needed to go through that trouble for God to make his rescue doubly profound. God always answers better than we think to ask.
David set a wonderful precedent that you can follow as Nehemiah did. Though afraid in relationships or in many other of life’s battles, you can accomplish whatever it is that he has planned for you to do as you take your fears to God. His purposes are to form Christ in you through whatever you suffer. Jesus trusted the Father by the Holy Spirit’s power even through death. Jesus means it here as well as in every other life situation when he said, “Follow me.”
The enemies, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms, are continually looking to steal, kill, and destroy the lives of God’s people. The more the reality of my neediness sinks in, the more I realize that singing this psalm would be of great benefit anytime. How desperately I need the Lord‘s presence to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and to move me, a weak and straying sheep, to serve God and others before myself.
“Hasten, God, my rescue;
help me quickly, LORD;
God, I am needy;
O come to me, I pray;
You’re my Help, my Savior;
LORD, do not delay.” ~ Psalm 70:1, 5
Ask Nehemiah: How did having to wait for God’s deliverance teach you to trust him?
Engage and grow together!
“Iron sharpens iron,
and one man sharpens another.” ~ Proverbs 27:17
July 31, 2026
Comments