Join in the Joy
Through the years, I have frequently preached about joy. It is more than an emotion (although it includes emotion); rather, it is a settled attitude, a stable and sturdy approach to life that focuses us on the things that matter now and forever. Joy is much greater and much more powerful than happiness, which is event or circumstance driven. There is nothing wrong with happiness. It is certainly better than unhappiness. Also, we have different personalities. For example, my wife is happy-go-lucky. Of course, she has every reason to be, being married to me. However, not everyone can be married to me. We need something more substantial than happiness; that something is joy. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
Probably the verse I quote most frequently is Psalm 118:24: “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” It is a powerful affirmation of God’s daily goodness and a call for our reasonable response of glad gratitude. The larger context make this verse even more profound. Psalms 113 – 114 were sung before the Jewish Passover feast, with Psalms 115-118 being sung after. Thus, when we read in Matthew 26:30, “And when they had sung an hymn, they went out,” we realize that Jesus was singing, “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” He sung these words as He was headed to the Garden of Gethsemane, where the betrayal of Judas Iscariot would be completed and Jesus would be unlawfully arrested; Jesus would then be crucified that same day (for the Jewish calendar measured a day from sunset to sunset). Jesus knew exactly the full import of what He was singing. He had applied verse 22 to His own rejection by Israel in Matthew 21:42-44, and the crowds had applied verses 25-26 to Jesus during His triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:9). The inherent joy found in God the Son breaks out into song even though the immediate implications for Him were devastating. This joyful singing of Jesus should challenge us to display joy each day, even on those days which are especially difficult and distressing.