“…neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10
DON’T READ THIS IF YOU ENJOY FEELING SORRY FOR YOURSELF!! It might spoil your fun! If you would rather be pitiable than strong, stay away from the joy of the Lord!
God doesn’t go around feeling sorry for Himself and He commands us not to, “neither be ye sorry.” Rather, “Rejoice evermore” (1 Thessalonians 5:16) and “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). Though you may not be happy with yourself or your circumstances, you can be happy in God. It is God’s joy that is our strength and not our own. We may strain to find things over which to be happy in or of ourselves, but there is plenty to be happy about in the Lord.
I read about a grandfather who fell asleep on the couch and his grandson took some Limburger cheese and rubbed it onto his mustache. The grandfather stood up and began sniffing. He said, “This living room stinks!” He went into the kitchen and said, “This kitchen stinks!” He went into the backyard and said, “Our backyard stinks!” He went into the front yard and yelled, “The whole world stinks!” Unless one has the joy of the Lord, the preaching is sad; the church is sad; other Christians are sad; nothing is what it ought to be in the estimation of those who don’t have the joy of the Lord!
The joy of the Lord is the fruit of the Holy Spirit within, rather than the happiness from circumstances without. God has joy Himself. Up in heaven right now there is joy. God’s will is for His joy to be shed abroad in our hearts by His Holy Spirit. The more Christ-like we strive to be, the more of the Lord’s joy we will have in our hearts. Carnal living quenches the work of the Holy Spirit within and there goes the joy and the strength that joy affords.
A man went to a mechanic complaining that some of his lights were no longer working on his car. When he went to pick it up, the mechanic explained that it had taken him several hours to locate the problem and that that the bill would be $100. The customer asked what the problem was that caused such an expensive bill. The mechanic held up a penny. He said, “You put pennies in your ash tray. When you closed your ash tray, a penny went down into your cigarette lighter socket and shorted it out, blowing the electrical circuit.” So, one penny had cost him $100! Christian, one sin has the potential to short circuit your whole life. Like David, it can rob you of the joy of the Lord. It can leave you broken inside, with a heavy burden of guilt and sorrow. Unconfessed sin can just keep bearing down on you until you are so beat down that you can no longer function as a Christian.
God, with His joy, stands at our heart’s door and knocks. But it is up to us, whether or not He and His joy enters.
SHARING
