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I'm taking today and tomorrow to focus in on a topic that I believe is really important for us to consider. Forgive me for taking two days to land the plane on this one, but there was so much material here I just couldn't shrink it down enough to cover it in one day. So, let's jump right in.
In today's reading, we will be looking at two sets of passages from the Old Testament. They are connected in a way that I think those of us looking to live this life as the victor we want to be need to understand. The first verse is from the book of Psalms. It says...
You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand. Psalm 16:11 (NIV)
The second reading goes like this.
The Lord bless you
and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace. Numbers 6:23-26 (NIV)
The reading from Numbers is a pretty familiar one for those of us who have heard ministers bless large events. These words are often quoted as a benediction, stated over the lives of those people who have gathered for some function or another. I have never really paid much attention to those verses from Numbers, until today. Heck, I really didn’t know this familiar prayer was an actual Bible verse. So much for my scholarly ability!
Both these verses were used in a presentation I attended a couple weeks ago. I have taken the opportunity to dig in to the Psalm verse in the past. It was during a particularly difficult time that the issue of joy was something I was desperate to try and understand. You see, for reasons I'm still figuring out, depression had really taken a hold of my life. Joy was something that seemed like such a foreign subject to me. Day in and day out, I saw people who looked to exude joy. It was all I could do to just put one foot in front of the other, let alone be able to experience the kinds of joy that seemed to come so easily to others.
Victim thinking was in the driver's seat at that time in my life. I didn't think I would ever be in a place where I could call myself a victor. My wife asked me one day, "Why can't you just choose joy?" That question haunted me in profound ways. It wasn't wrong of her to ask that question. In fact, I now see the diving inspiration behind spurring her into getting that question in my mind and now, into my heart. So much of what I have learned since that time has come as I have dug into God's Word to try and figure out this thing called joy.
When I was studying what “joy” meant, our reading from Psalm 16 was a cornerstone for me. As I studied the places in the Bible where the word "joy" was used I came into the realization that that true joy can only happen in the “presence” of God. That's what our reading from Psalms is saying.
You see, Joy isn't about being happy. It is about being in a place of contentment, acceptance, surrender and peace. I have found that things of this world just can't bring that kind of joy in my life like being close to this God that loves. me. Sure nice things I can make happen in my world can come close at times. What I have found is that the joy that comes from worldly pleasures and accomplishments can change like the shifting wind, making joy that much harder to understand and live out in this life.
I started to see a theme running through the Bible when it came to joy. People who were able to recognize the fact that God was with them had joy that seemed to last. That joy looked to be there whether times in their lives were good or bad. That same joy looked to me to be in the lives of those we would consider saints as well as those we might classify as being sinners. What I saw was that the potential for that joy is there all the time. If God lives up to his promise to not leave us and to not forsake us, then knowing that joy comes when we recognize the presence of the Lord means that His constant presence promises the hope of continuous joy.
Believe me, I know how absurd the last part of that sentence sounds. Continuous joy - are you kidding me? Am I really delusional enough to believe that I can live in a state of continuous joy? I can hardly believe I'm saying this, but my answer to that question is becoming a stronger and stronger, "YES!"
What I'm learning is that it is up to us to recognize and hold on to that joy. It comes when we recognize and hold onto the presence of God. Remember, I'm not talking about happiness here. It is so easy to confuse heavenly joy with what the world has taught us joy is suppose to be about. Joy isn't about us getting our way. It isn't about us living the comfortable life we desire. It isn't even about settling for the kinds of worldly peace that I often go after in victim making ways. The joy I have tasted and want more of is a joy that quenches the thirst of my soul in ways nothing else in this world has ever been able to do.
If you find joy in money, what will happen if your money was gone? If your joy is found in your family, what happens to that joy when your family grows up and moves away? If your joy is found in the identity you gain from your job, what happens when you retire? See the dangers of connecting joy to the things of this world? Those things are destined to change. God doesn't change! I believe that's why the Bible is filled with story after story of people expressing joy as they recognized the ever presence of God all around them.
That's my prayer for you today. I pray that you will recognize God in every action you take today. I pray that that recognition will open your eyes to the fact that continuous joy is something that isn't pie-in-the-sky. I pray that you taste a new kind of joy that ruins the taste for a wordy joy that just can't last. God longs for you to experience that kind of joy. He longs for that because He knows that it can only happen as He and His Children come together and live out an intimate relationship today and for all eternity. Let the joy of the Lord empower you to live out the fullness of the victor God sees you to be.
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