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.)
For the past several days, we have seen from the Bible that joy is a blessed part of the character of God. Let us now consider a further Biblical thought: joy motivates God. I write this with reverence and with an understanding of the limits of language. God does not need a goal, as we do, to be motivated. He is self-existent (that is what the Old Testament name Yahweh especially reveals about God). No, God does not require motivation, as we do. Rather, we should meditate on the fact that the character of God consistently and constantly is demonstrated by His actions. In other words, for God to be is to do . On Saturday, we found from Nehemiah 8:10 that “the joy of the Lord is your mountaintop.” Later, in Nehemiah 12:43, we find this joy manifested powerfully; five times in one verse we find a use of “joy” or the verb “rejoice” or “rejoiced.” Note the revelation of God’s character and motivation: “God had made them rejoice with great joy.” Because He is God of joy, He wants us to know His joy = as we know Him. He is motivated by His joy to give joy to us. We have previously studied Zephaniah 3:17, but it is worth turning to this surprising verse again. God’s character of joy is clearly revealed: “He will rejoice over thee with joy.” A specific outworking of this joyful nature of God is found in the last sentence: “He will joy over thee with singing.” Thus, God’s essential attribute of joy is specifically directed to us. Just as God will not withhold Himself from us, He will not withhold His joy.