The Stubbornness of Joy

And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. John 16:22

The Preponderance of Joy

Joy.

She may be described as a beautiful girl. And as it is in physical life so it is in poetry. Beauty is something you work at. Like a mineral which is hid deep in the earth, so it is with joy.

You have to dig for it.

You have to fight for it.  

Joy is the other side of wisdom.

Like a piece of good music (or painting) it may involve looking beyond the surface. Sometimes you have to launch deep, where the fish are in hiding. The bread is gotten on land, but for fish you have to get into the boat.

Joy is stubborn, it raises its head even in the middle of battle.

Happiness may imitate it, but it’s not joy. Joy is hard, like the Rock of Ages, which is Christ Jesus. Happiness can sometimes sink, like sand.

Not so joy.

Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold where they fine it.  Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is molten out of the stone. Job 28:1-2 

 

The Eloquence of Joy: Felt But not Seen

It’s there in the mercy of God.

And the name of Bartimeus has rang throughout history because of it.

Joy is a peculiar embodiment of God. It’s a peculiar inheritance of his saints.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 

To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 

Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 

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. Pe 1:3-8  

It’s carried in his love, it lifts up in praise, it is augmented by his peace. It’s there in the providence of God.

He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills. 

They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst. 

By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches. 

He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works. 

He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; 

And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart. 

The trees of the LORD are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted; 

Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house. 

The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies. 

He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down. 

Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. 

The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God. 

Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening. 

LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. 

So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. 

There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein. 

These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season.

Psa 104:10-27  

It climaxes in Psalm 23.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 

Nature proclaims the glory of God. The poets see it, and the poets declare it. Trees clap their hands at the preponderance of this joy.

Joy and Sorrow

Carrying sheaves. Shedding tears.

People think it strange, but that is a form of unbelief.

Don’t think it strange, warns Peter.

Rejoice, and again I say, rejoice.

That takes a divine hand, it takes the grace of God.

No, it’s not a throwback at masochism and sadism. Those are worldly attributes, lifting worldly virtues. Glorying in flesh.

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 

But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

1Pe 4:12-13  

 The Perfection of Joy

 “Be ye perfect, as your father in heaven is perfect.”

“Ye are complete in him.”

“And your joy no man taketh.”

There is joy in believing. There is joy in being in him whether it is by day or by night, him in me, and me in him, together as one.

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. 

My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. 

He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. 

Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. Psa 121:1-4  

 

O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. 

Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes. 

My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.

Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether. Son 2:14-17 

 

The Mystery of Joy

 It can make a man scorn riches.

“Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?” (Pro 8:1).  

There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture’s eye hath not seen. Job 28:7

But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?

Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living. Job 28:12-13

And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the LORD, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding. Job 28:28

 

The Enemy of Joy

The joy of God is our strength.

Its markedly different from the joy of the world.

“I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.”

And yet it is a joy which is infused with all the contradictions and eccentricities which attend to man.

From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

James 4:1-5

There can’t be joy without contentment, and there can’t be contentment without Christ. Therein is the rub. The contentment of the world changes with seasons. It’s high at Christmas time, and very low in the middle of January.

This world is not my home, I’m just a-passing through/ My treasures are laid up/ Somewhere beyond the blue…

And a man’s sorrow will increase just in proportion as the world owns him, or he tries to own it (the downside of social media, the social pressure (or tyranny, or the ache of conformity).

It is the craving after another god. They wanted to be like other nations (and their neighbours), and that was the beginning of their apostasy.

Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. Psa 16:4  

They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel: 

But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. 

And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. 

Psa 106:13-15  

 

Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;

Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High:

Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help.

Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.

He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.

Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Ps 107:10-15

 

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. John 8:32

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. John 8:36.

 

May the joy of Christ find you, persuade you, strengthen you, and establish you in every good work, through Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour. Amen.

He stands at the door right now. Will you let him in?