The Quantity and Quality of God's Favor

"Sing to the LORD, you saints of his;
     praise his holy name. 
 For his anger lasts only a moment,
     but his favor lasts a lifetime;
 weeping may remain for a night,
     but rejoicing comes in the morning."
 Psalm 30:4-5

We sing to the LORD and praise his holy name because his anger lasts only a moment but his favor lasts a lifetime. I don't believe that every trial is a punishment. But, if we view them as discipline (see Proverbs 3 & Hebrews 12) and realize that God's desire is to reconcile us to himself not punish us with distance, we can trust that the "punishment" will not last forever. 

The point is in comparison, a moment to a lifetime, weeping for a night, but rejoicing in the morning. I think that the difference between a moment and a lifetime is the quantity and the weeping to rejoicing is the quality. 

I suppose most people have seen the movie, Gone With the Wind. Near the end of the movie after her entire life is devastated Scarlet says, "But, tomorrow is another day." To be honest, I wanted to throw something at the screen at that point. I sat through what seemed like an eternity of a movie and the climactic line is, "But tomorrow is another day." Yes, and your land is toast and your way of life is gone forever. My point? God's favor is not an existential leap of faith with no tangible or real hope. 

God's favor turns our weeping into rejoicing. Normally, if you have spent a night contemplating an unavoidable and painful consequence you don't just wake up all giddy. You may have resolved to find a way to make it through, but, rejoicing is any entirely different reaction. 

We rejoice because God forgives and he is Sovereign. God's will is not to hold us down and grind our face in the mess we made. No, God favor is forgiving , gracious and merciful. Also, I believe at some point it is tangible. There is something we can see or experience that demonstrates his deliverance. We repent, he forgives. Done deal. Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ.