The Joy of the Lord
02/09/06 08:58
Nehemiah instructed the people of Israel not to mourn
or weep; for the day that they had assembled was a
sacred day to the Lord. He went on to say, “Do
not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your
strength.” Now, often times we receive this
Scripture from the subjective point of view, desiring
to know the experience of that strengthening. In
other words, I believe we all want to know just how
that joy empowers us for everyday living. They (our
Bible teachers) tell us that we should feel stronger
because we have joy being Christians. Or at least, we
should feel joy and if we don’t then something
is wrong with us and we shouldn’t expect God to
strengthen us with His joy. Sounds like a bunch of
malarkey to me! I find myself getting into a lot of
trouble when I begin to start thinking about life
with my wants and needs as the center or top
priority. This is the essence of Secular Humanism,
which is itself a false religion. Beloved, anytime
anyone shifts the priority of the Gospel away from
Jesus and on to us should remember the solemn words
of St. Paul, “But if we or an angel from heaven
should preach a gospel other than the one we preached
to you, let him be eternally condemned.” And
so, may we always press on to receive the Scriptures
as God intended them to be received. And that is
simply done by allowing the Scriptures to interpret
Scripture. Now, back to the joy of the Lord.
It is a fact that there is a great joy one experiences when one realizes that he has been accepted by God and reconciled to Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. But, this joy can be veiled by the hardships and tribulations of life. A man racked in pain all of his life because of some illness obviously would have trouble understanding how the joy of the Lord strengthens his life if all he looked at was how he experienced that joy. What is it to him? Does it relieve his pain? Does it minimize his suffering? But if that same man would search to know just what the Lord’s joy was; what was it that caused the Lord to joy, then he would certainly be removed faster from the mourning and grief of his situation. For I tell you a truth, there is something very liberating to joy in someone else’s pleasure while dealing with a hardship of your own. So, what is the joy of the Lord? The writer of Hebrews says this, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross…” That joy that was set before Jesus was you and I. For in the Gospel of Luke (ch.15: 5) Jesus tells the parable of the shepherd who has a hundred sheep and one comes up missing. He leaves the ninety-nine in the open country and goes after the lost sheep until he finds it. And when he does he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. When I realize that I am God’s joy I can do all things because He strengthens me through Christ! See how the Scriptures speak for themselves! O, how I love God’s Word. My prayer is that He reveals this truth to your heart this week. God bless.
It is a fact that there is a great joy one experiences when one realizes that he has been accepted by God and reconciled to Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. But, this joy can be veiled by the hardships and tribulations of life. A man racked in pain all of his life because of some illness obviously would have trouble understanding how the joy of the Lord strengthens his life if all he looked at was how he experienced that joy. What is it to him? Does it relieve his pain? Does it minimize his suffering? But if that same man would search to know just what the Lord’s joy was; what was it that caused the Lord to joy, then he would certainly be removed faster from the mourning and grief of his situation. For I tell you a truth, there is something very liberating to joy in someone else’s pleasure while dealing with a hardship of your own. So, what is the joy of the Lord? The writer of Hebrews says this, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross…” That joy that was set before Jesus was you and I. For in the Gospel of Luke (ch.15: 5) Jesus tells the parable of the shepherd who has a hundred sheep and one comes up missing. He leaves the ninety-nine in the open country and goes after the lost sheep until he finds it. And when he does he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. When I realize that I am God’s joy I can do all things because He strengthens me through Christ! See how the Scriptures speak for themselves! O, how I love God’s Word. My prayer is that He reveals this truth to your heart this week. God bless.
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