The Word of God as the Joy of God!

‘neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.’ Nehemiah 8:10

For years I had struggled to understand what Nehemiah meant by the term ‘the joy of the LORD’, but now thank God I understand! A week ago I made a poor decision, and, at the time it seemed so bad that I ranted, I puffed, and I huffed but to no avail! Yes it was a stupid decision initially and from all standpoints, though at the time I made it I never saw this (and isn’t this the road we travel all the time in life?) Sometimes revelations only follow after a failure and never before! And yet, later, that poor decision proved quite profitable in the end! So it wasn’t fate or bad luck, but God’s providence which was in full work after all! And suddenly I recalled something even more liberating... Over the last two weeks what had I been preaching on, if it wasn’t joy? So where had my sorrow come from? And suddenly I saw how Satan had craftily played me! For two weeks I had sang about joy, so where was mine? Why could I not live with the same medicine I was so enthusiastically prescribing to others? And with that flash of light my joy was restored!

And from that time the Holy Spirit just began to rain on me these wonderful nuggets of encouragement (pray, why had I not seen them before?)

Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. 2Co 2:11  

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations. Jas 1:2

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Rom 8:28

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1Th 5:18 

Pray without ceasing. 1Th 5:17 

Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer. Rom 12:12

Rejoice evermore. 1Th 5:16 

Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 1Pe 1:6-8

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 2Co 4:7-9

And that was how the same medicine that I had dispensed to others came back to heal me! Trials are good because they also check our pride, as Paul pointedly noted, ‘And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure’ (2Co 12:7). In the end I learnt that there was nothing special about me, but that I was just another ‘unprofitable servant’ before him!

So what is ‘the joy of the LORD’? It is everything his word says he is! He says ‘I AM’ so whatever one lacks in life God declares that he is precisely THAT THING at that time… and so he is love, joy, peace, patience, mercy, comfort, wisdom, protection, shelter in storms, shelter for weary souls, provider, protector, rest, savior, teacher… Father…shepherd, joy, bread, he is life, the way, and the truth! – ‘And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free’ (Joh 8:32). And so ‘the joy of the LORD’ tends towards liberation of a person always, unlike Satan’s which always leans towards sorrow and enslavement. Ah God! That I would be free for life! And how true is your word that I can do nothing without you! So now fill me O God with this joy now and forever more!