Top 12 Scripture Texts: Number 10C
Nehemiah 8:10
Bob Rakestraw
One of the best things about writing this blog is that I often discover new insights on the scriptures in my preparation. I have another one this time—something I had never seen before.
What is our Strength?
This is my third and last posting on Nehemiah 8:10, “Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” My new insight—surely a gift from God—has to do with the word “strength.” For all my adult life I have understood “strength” here to be the equivalent of inner energy and power, in the sense of “grace” when that word is used as God’s empowering Spirit.
As I did some research I found that the Hebrew word for strength in Nehemiah 8:10 also means “stronghold,” or “fortress.” In fact, this is its primary sense. The verse does not seem to be focusing on an inner boost of power but rather a rock-solid citadel in which we take refuge and into which the enemy cannot penetrate. When I first discovered this truth, I was a bit disappointed, because I had always considered the verse to be promising energy. A major health issue for me, both before and after my heart transplant, has been a lack of energy—a profound weakness and inability to work, speak and serve as I did earlier in life.
Help for the Mind and Body
The more I have meditated, however, on the joy of the Lord being my fortress, the more encouraged I have become. Let me explain. Since my heart transplant in November, 2003, I have faced two enemies that I had seldom fought before: depression and anxiety. I have also battled bodily weakness, as mentioned above, and surely have benefited from the scripture texts that teach of God’s strengthening us inwardly in order to get through the day. But depression and anxiety need a different kind of help than physical energy and strength. These involve battles of the mind as well as the body.
Satan and his forces attempt to invade my mind at times with depressing and anxiety-producing thoughts, and I find huge relief and encouragement in knowing the joy of the Lord not only offers me inner strength but is also my fortress, stronghold and protection. As such, it serves as a blockade to the invading enemy thoughts. As I praise God and focus on his greatness and goodness, and receive deep joy from doing so, this joy builds a fortress around my mind and keeps out the negatives. I have actually been experiencing this protection in recent days, and it is a major help to me. I find, however, that I may need to activate this cycle (praise – joy – mental protection) several times a day. This keeps me close to God, because I desperately want to block the invaders from creating harmful moods.
I am glad, as well, that even though the Hebrew word for “strength” (maoz) is primarily fortress, protection or stronghold, it also seems to have, at times, the idea of energy or power (as in 2 Samuel 22:33 in the Dead Sea Scrolls and some Greek versions of the Old Testament, and perhaps in Ezekiel 24:25). In any case, the Bible—using other words—clearly teaches that God is the source of our strength and power (Psalm 29:11; 2 Corinthians 12:9-10). He is both our protection and stronghold as well as the supplier of daily energy to live for Him and serve those who need help.
Joy Unspeakable
It is “the joy of the Lord” that brings the protection we need to live successfully. Several days ago a friend said she feels like she is “going out of her mind with joy.” She can’t contain the joy that God is generating in her, even though she and her family have had some very difficult issues to live through in recent years. She had been reading in the book of Isaiah when she phoned and gave my wife and I this encouraging report. God is remarkably alive to her! This is the joy of the Lord. It is God’s own inner joy as Father – Son – Spirit which God then communicates to us, and which becomes our joy in God. We receive it by praise, thanksgiving, reviewing all of God’s promises in the scriptures, and understanding and obeying God’s teachings. In Nehemiah’s day, “all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.” “From the days of Joshua son of Nun until [this seven-day feast of booths], the Israelites had not celebrated it like this. And their joy was very great” (Nehemiah 8:12, 17).
God cares about our joy—yours and mine. I used to think that joy was something optional in the Christian life—it’s nice if you can have it but it’s not absolutely necessary. Now I realize it is vital to daily living, both defensively and offensively. The fruit of the Spirit is indeed joy (Galatians 5:22).
Referring to the thrice-repeated statement in Nehemiah 8:9-12 that “this is a sacred [holy] day,” Dr. Derek Kidner makes the following remarks. I will close with them, wishing you God’s very best always.
“Three times in this short paragraph it is pointed out that holiness and gloom go ill together. What makes it rather striking, to our ears, is the calm assumption that this should go without saying. … To be ‘altogether joyful’ was the prospect held before the guests of God (Deuteronomy 16:15), and the words that went most naturally with ‘holiness’ were not only ‘justice and righteousness’ but ‘glory,’ ‘beauty,’ ‘strength’ and ‘joy’.” See, for example, Psalms 96 and 99 and Isaiah 35. [Ezra and Nehemiah, InterVarsity Press, 1979, p. 107.]
Friday, October 31, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
Who Cares about Joy? Humanity Wired by God
Top 12 Scripture Texts: Number 10B
Nehemiah 8:10
Bob Rakestraw
In the last posting on “The Benediction Project” I introduced the subject of “the joy of the Lord” from Nehemiah 8:10, our Bible text of the month. This has been one of my top twelve favorite scripture passages throughout my Christian life, and I want to look here at its biblical context and some of its practical application for today.
It is risky, I know, to try to write about joy—true, deep, inner joy—in such turbulent times as these. The world has gone mad, pure and simple. In addition, as I said in the last posting, I am struggling with some difficult health issues related to my heart transplant of five years ago. How can I be so bold as to write about joy, especially “the joy of the Lord?”
I am writing on the topic because I believe God has “wired” (created, designed, constructed) every human being to seek and experience joy, in the same way that he wired us to desire beauty, truth, love and creative expression. The Bible speaks often of joy, or uses similar terms such as rejoicing, delight, happiness, and gladness. If God’s Word mentions joy so frequently it is obvious that God intends us to understand the topic and live it out in daily life. The “fruit of the Spirit” is love, joy, peace and other virtues that radiate the presence of God from within us to others (Galatians 5:22-23). Joy is an essential mark of all Christians, not an optional quality for some special people who are naturally more optimistic than others.
The Historical Background
The date of the events in Nehemiah 8:10 was about 445-444 B.C. It was the first day of the seventh month, Tishri (September-October), the beginning of the civil new year. The time was after the captivity of the Jewish people in Babylon. Several groups of captives had traveled the four-month route (900 miles) to return to the land of Judea and to Jerusalem. When Nehemiah, the governor of the Jewish people, returned to the promised land, he viewed the broken-down walls of Jerusalem and stirred the people to rebuild them. After the walls were finished there was a great assembly in the city square before the Water Gate.
Because Ezra had been the priest, scribe and spiritual leader of the Jews in Babylon, and their ongoing spiritual guide for the 13 years since they had been back in Jerusalem, the people asked this highly-respected man to read and teach from the law of Moses. According to the scriptures,
“On the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. All the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.” (Nehemiah 8:2-3, NIV)
After a time of public worship there was a time of public teaching. The Levites “read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read.” Surprisingly “all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law” (vss. 8-9).
The scripture readings were from the first five books of the Bible, and some of it was obviously from Leviticus (compare Nehemiah 8:9-18 with Leviticus 23:23-44). The Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles all were to be observed during the seventh month, and Ezra and the Levites explained these matters in a way that touched the people powerfully.
Emotions of Sorrow and Joy
Notice the contrasting emotions of sorrow and joy as the people heard the Word of God read, interpreted and applied. Why were they mourning and weeping, and then turning from sorrow to great joy? Dr. H. G. M. Williamson, Professor of Hebrew at Oxford, offers some fine insights:
“The initial reaction [weeping] is probably not to be explained by the fact that the law was unfamiliar to them so much as that the interpretation which Ezra and the Levites provided (vss. 7-8) brought home its relevance to their situation in a fresh way…. Ezra (perhaps for the first time) developed a means of interpreting Scripture whereby parts which had been thought to be out-of-date were shown to reveal the underlying principles of God’s will which were of timeless relevance. The result of this was to stir the people’s consciences as they came to realize how far short of God’s standards their lives had fallen” [“Nehemiah,” in New Bible Commentary, 21st Century Edition, D. A. Carson, et al., eds. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994), p. 437].
I have thought for years about the words of Nehemiah, Ezra and the Levites to all the people: “Do not mourn or weep.” “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” If the people were grieving over their collective sin of neglecting the Law of Moses—in this case, observation of the feasts of Leviticus 23—then wouldn’t it be appropriate for them to grieve and mourn? After all, the Feast of Tabernacles had not been celebrated properly for 1,000 years—since the days of Joshua (Nehemiah 8:17).
Surely it was not wrong for the people to grieve over their sin. Three weeks later there would be a major time of repentance, fasting, wearing of sackcloth and confession of sin—“their sins and the wickedness of their fathers” (Nehemiah 9:1-2). But, as Dr. Williamson notes so well,
“This [awareness of God’s high standard], however, is neither the sole nor the dominant message either of the OT law or of Scripture as a whole. By reminding them that this day [Feast of Trumpets, Leviticus 23:24] was sacred (vss. 9, 11)—a day on which they were especially to recall God’s past acts of grace and salvation towards Israel—and that the joy of the Lord was the source of their strength (v. 10) as they linked themselves by faith with the experience of their ancestors, Ezra set their legitimate sense of failure within the wider context of God’s grace and invitation. Confession would have its proper place (ch. 9), but the first response to hearing God’s word should be of joyful acceptance (vss. 10-11). It is a pattern of response not unlike that in Acts 2:37-39” (Williamson, pp. 437-38).
The Fullness of Divine Joy
This is such a important point that I felt it needed to be said before moving to the more practical aspects of joy in our next posting on Nehemiah 8:10. For many years I simply lifted the key words out of the chapter—“the joy of the Lord is your strength”—and sucked on them like a piece of hard candy. I even sang them, as some of you may have. While this text does bring gladness to my heart when I simply read it, sing it or recall it, it brings much deeper confidence and delight when I reflect on the whole chapter, and the following one as well. The book of Nehemiah makes it clear that the people celebrated “with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them” (8:8, 12, 17). This proper interpretation of the law of Moses, set within the context of God’s broad invitation and deep, full river of grace, brings inner gladness to our hearts even though we cannot forget some of our past failures.
Before we come together again I truly long for you—as I long for myself—to develop an increasingly deep awareness of God’s joy becoming our strength. The gracious, loving, pure, and delightful trinitarian life of Father, Son and Spirit, when properly understood, will pull us in toward the very heart of God, “charging” us with true divine joy and grace that become our daily strength. Yes, your circumstances may be difficult and even heartbreaking in some cases, but I encourage you—from a lifetime of experience and a solid confidence in the written Word of God—to “be still,” to “not grieve,” to “eat and drink,” and to “send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy” (vss. 11-12). As you come to see ever more clearly the remarkable, amazing grace of God, his joy will be your strength!
Nehemiah 8:10
Bob Rakestraw
In the last posting on “The Benediction Project” I introduced the subject of “the joy of the Lord” from Nehemiah 8:10, our Bible text of the month. This has been one of my top twelve favorite scripture passages throughout my Christian life, and I want to look here at its biblical context and some of its practical application for today.
It is risky, I know, to try to write about joy—true, deep, inner joy—in such turbulent times as these. The world has gone mad, pure and simple. In addition, as I said in the last posting, I am struggling with some difficult health issues related to my heart transplant of five years ago. How can I be so bold as to write about joy, especially “the joy of the Lord?”
I am writing on the topic because I believe God has “wired” (created, designed, constructed) every human being to seek and experience joy, in the same way that he wired us to desire beauty, truth, love and creative expression. The Bible speaks often of joy, or uses similar terms such as rejoicing, delight, happiness, and gladness. If God’s Word mentions joy so frequently it is obvious that God intends us to understand the topic and live it out in daily life. The “fruit of the Spirit” is love, joy, peace and other virtues that radiate the presence of God from within us to others (Galatians 5:22-23). Joy is an essential mark of all Christians, not an optional quality for some special people who are naturally more optimistic than others.
The Historical Background
The date of the events in Nehemiah 8:10 was about 445-444 B.C. It was the first day of the seventh month, Tishri (September-October), the beginning of the civil new year. The time was after the captivity of the Jewish people in Babylon. Several groups of captives had traveled the four-month route (900 miles) to return to the land of Judea and to Jerusalem. When Nehemiah, the governor of the Jewish people, returned to the promised land, he viewed the broken-down walls of Jerusalem and stirred the people to rebuild them. After the walls were finished there was a great assembly in the city square before the Water Gate.
Because Ezra had been the priest, scribe and spiritual leader of the Jews in Babylon, and their ongoing spiritual guide for the 13 years since they had been back in Jerusalem, the people asked this highly-respected man to read and teach from the law of Moses. According to the scriptures,
“On the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. All the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.” (Nehemiah 8:2-3, NIV)
After a time of public worship there was a time of public teaching. The Levites “read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read.” Surprisingly “all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law” (vss. 8-9).
The scripture readings were from the first five books of the Bible, and some of it was obviously from Leviticus (compare Nehemiah 8:9-18 with Leviticus 23:23-44). The Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles all were to be observed during the seventh month, and Ezra and the Levites explained these matters in a way that touched the people powerfully.
Emotions of Sorrow and Joy
Notice the contrasting emotions of sorrow and joy as the people heard the Word of God read, interpreted and applied. Why were they mourning and weeping, and then turning from sorrow to great joy? Dr. H. G. M. Williamson, Professor of Hebrew at Oxford, offers some fine insights:
“The initial reaction [weeping] is probably not to be explained by the fact that the law was unfamiliar to them so much as that the interpretation which Ezra and the Levites provided (vss. 7-8) brought home its relevance to their situation in a fresh way…. Ezra (perhaps for the first time) developed a means of interpreting Scripture whereby parts which had been thought to be out-of-date were shown to reveal the underlying principles of God’s will which were of timeless relevance. The result of this was to stir the people’s consciences as they came to realize how far short of God’s standards their lives had fallen” [“Nehemiah,” in New Bible Commentary, 21st Century Edition, D. A. Carson, et al., eds. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994), p. 437].
I have thought for years about the words of Nehemiah, Ezra and the Levites to all the people: “Do not mourn or weep.” “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” If the people were grieving over their collective sin of neglecting the Law of Moses—in this case, observation of the feasts of Leviticus 23—then wouldn’t it be appropriate for them to grieve and mourn? After all, the Feast of Tabernacles had not been celebrated properly for 1,000 years—since the days of Joshua (Nehemiah 8:17).
Surely it was not wrong for the people to grieve over their sin. Three weeks later there would be a major time of repentance, fasting, wearing of sackcloth and confession of sin—“their sins and the wickedness of their fathers” (Nehemiah 9:1-2). But, as Dr. Williamson notes so well,
“This [awareness of God’s high standard], however, is neither the sole nor the dominant message either of the OT law or of Scripture as a whole. By reminding them that this day [Feast of Trumpets, Leviticus 23:24] was sacred (vss. 9, 11)—a day on which they were especially to recall God’s past acts of grace and salvation towards Israel—and that the joy of the Lord was the source of their strength (v. 10) as they linked themselves by faith with the experience of their ancestors, Ezra set their legitimate sense of failure within the wider context of God’s grace and invitation. Confession would have its proper place (ch. 9), but the first response to hearing God’s word should be of joyful acceptance (vss. 10-11). It is a pattern of response not unlike that in Acts 2:37-39” (Williamson, pp. 437-38).
The Fullness of Divine Joy
This is such a important point that I felt it needed to be said before moving to the more practical aspects of joy in our next posting on Nehemiah 8:10. For many years I simply lifted the key words out of the chapter—“the joy of the Lord is your strength”—and sucked on them like a piece of hard candy. I even sang them, as some of you may have. While this text does bring gladness to my heart when I simply read it, sing it or recall it, it brings much deeper confidence and delight when I reflect on the whole chapter, and the following one as well. The book of Nehemiah makes it clear that the people celebrated “with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them” (8:8, 12, 17). This proper interpretation of the law of Moses, set within the context of God’s broad invitation and deep, full river of grace, brings inner gladness to our hearts even though we cannot forget some of our past failures.
Before we come together again I truly long for you—as I long for myself—to develop an increasingly deep awareness of God’s joy becoming our strength. The gracious, loving, pure, and delightful trinitarian life of Father, Son and Spirit, when properly understood, will pull us in toward the very heart of God, “charging” us with true divine joy and grace that become our daily strength. Yes, your circumstances may be difficult and even heartbreaking in some cases, but I encourage you—from a lifetime of experience and a solid confidence in the written Word of God—to “be still,” to “not grieve,” to “eat and drink,” and to “send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy” (vss. 11-12). As you come to see ever more clearly the remarkable, amazing grace of God, his joy will be your strength!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Who Cares about Joy? Is Anyone Really Happy?
Top 12 Scripture Texts: Number 10A
Nehemiah 8:10
Bob Rakestraw
I have just finished listening to the news. I had planned to catch a brief summary of national and international events and then start working on this piece about “the joy of the Lord.” I am doing that, but now I am more hesitant as I begin. The news was wretched: economics, wars, violence, politics, ethics, horrible crimes against persons, and the travail of nations. Not only does the news make me hesitate to write about joy, but my personal circumstances do as well.
Why Write about Joy?
This is a difficult time for me—health-wise and in several other ways—and I would rather write on just about any other scripture text than this one. Of all times, why am I now choosing to write on the joy of the Lord? The reason is twofold.
1. I am coming to the end of calendar year 2008, and there are only three months remaining to write on my top twelve all-time favorite scripture passages, and I know Nehemiah 8:10 has to be covered soon if I am going to write honestly on what the most crucial texts have been throughout my Christian life.
2. This really is the best time to write on this Bible verse because if it is true, as I believe in my head it is, it must apply in the down times as well as the upbeat times. I need to write on this promise precisely at this difficult time in my life, not when I am in easier circumstances or in a happier frame of mind. In this way I believe my words will be most real and helpful to you, my readers.
Lots of Questions
It is a fascinating sentence from the Bible that I wish to focus on this month: “Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). While I will be looking at the historical context of these words in another posting, I want to raise some questions linking the ancient text with the present day.
• What is the joy of the Lord?
• In what sense is this joy one’s strength?
• Is grieving always forbidden?
• How can we experience the joy of the Lord when the world is filled with so much suffering, sadness, and evil?
• Is this Bible verse simply a literary device to comfort us, or is there real substance behind it?
• How do circumstances—positive or negative—affect our mood?
• Is this a conditional or unconditional promise?
• Are there certain steps or beliefs one must follow in order to obtain this joy?
• Does it work in my own life and in the lives of those I know well?
I do not intend to answer all of these questions now, but hope to address them in a subsequent essay. However, simply to raise questions such as these is in itself a significant step in the direction of understanding and benefiting from our text of the month.
Real Problems and Real Joy
Last evening was a rough time, as evenings often are for me. Here is what I wrote.
"I am lying here in bed, frustrated with life. I am irritable, discouraged, burning hot (but have no fever), nauseated, weak, headachy, angry at my circumstances, and feel like yelling and crying at the same time. An hour or so ago, sitting on the sofa with my wife, I blurted out, ‘I want to die.’ She said, ‘No.’ I answered ‘Yes.’ Then I repeated the words. What prompted my outburst was a question Judy asked about something. I didn’t feel like discussing anything, or living any longer, so I said so. I’ve said this often (mostly within my own mind) during the past five years since my heart transplant, but probably not for a couple of months."
I hope I have not disappointed you by printing the above. I always want to be honest in this blog, and if I am discussing joy, I need to say it as it is. I have never claimed to float on some cloud above the storms of life. I know I wrote in July that I believe firmly in Christ’s yoke being easy and his burden light (Matthew 11:30). Am I now contradicting myself, and saying that I don’t believe that? No, but I am saying that I sometimes find the circumstances of life to be very difficult, especially regarding my health, and I do not always do as well with my attitude as I would like to, and believe possible by God’s grace.
I want to close by holding out this amazing scripture text to you (and to myself) with the confidence I have developed in it over many years. Joy is not the same as happiness, since people tend to measure their happiness by the circumstances in their lives. The more pleasant the circumstances the greater the happiness. This is a fact of life. Christian joy, however, is a deep delight and satisfaction with the person and mission of God, and increases more and more as one identifies with and enters into the heart and mission of God. Joy is the atmosphere of the Godhead: Father, Son and Spirit celebrating and loving one another and inviting the people of this world into that love. Until next time, ask God sincerely and expectantly to make the joy of the Lord your strength.
My brothers and sister, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4, NRSV)
Nehemiah 8:10
Bob Rakestraw
I have just finished listening to the news. I had planned to catch a brief summary of national and international events and then start working on this piece about “the joy of the Lord.” I am doing that, but now I am more hesitant as I begin. The news was wretched: economics, wars, violence, politics, ethics, horrible crimes against persons, and the travail of nations. Not only does the news make me hesitate to write about joy, but my personal circumstances do as well.
Why Write about Joy?
This is a difficult time for me—health-wise and in several other ways—and I would rather write on just about any other scripture text than this one. Of all times, why am I now choosing to write on the joy of the Lord? The reason is twofold.
1. I am coming to the end of calendar year 2008, and there are only three months remaining to write on my top twelve all-time favorite scripture passages, and I know Nehemiah 8:10 has to be covered soon if I am going to write honestly on what the most crucial texts have been throughout my Christian life.
2. This really is the best time to write on this Bible verse because if it is true, as I believe in my head it is, it must apply in the down times as well as the upbeat times. I need to write on this promise precisely at this difficult time in my life, not when I am in easier circumstances or in a happier frame of mind. In this way I believe my words will be most real and helpful to you, my readers.
Lots of Questions
It is a fascinating sentence from the Bible that I wish to focus on this month: “Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). While I will be looking at the historical context of these words in another posting, I want to raise some questions linking the ancient text with the present day.
• What is the joy of the Lord?
• In what sense is this joy one’s strength?
• Is grieving always forbidden?
• How can we experience the joy of the Lord when the world is filled with so much suffering, sadness, and evil?
• Is this Bible verse simply a literary device to comfort us, or is there real substance behind it?
• How do circumstances—positive or negative—affect our mood?
• Is this a conditional or unconditional promise?
• Are there certain steps or beliefs one must follow in order to obtain this joy?
• Does it work in my own life and in the lives of those I know well?
I do not intend to answer all of these questions now, but hope to address them in a subsequent essay. However, simply to raise questions such as these is in itself a significant step in the direction of understanding and benefiting from our text of the month.
Real Problems and Real Joy
Last evening was a rough time, as evenings often are for me. Here is what I wrote.
"I am lying here in bed, frustrated with life. I am irritable, discouraged, burning hot (but have no fever), nauseated, weak, headachy, angry at my circumstances, and feel like yelling and crying at the same time. An hour or so ago, sitting on the sofa with my wife, I blurted out, ‘I want to die.’ She said, ‘No.’ I answered ‘Yes.’ Then I repeated the words. What prompted my outburst was a question Judy asked about something. I didn’t feel like discussing anything, or living any longer, so I said so. I’ve said this often (mostly within my own mind) during the past five years since my heart transplant, but probably not for a couple of months."
I hope I have not disappointed you by printing the above. I always want to be honest in this blog, and if I am discussing joy, I need to say it as it is. I have never claimed to float on some cloud above the storms of life. I know I wrote in July that I believe firmly in Christ’s yoke being easy and his burden light (Matthew 11:30). Am I now contradicting myself, and saying that I don’t believe that? No, but I am saying that I sometimes find the circumstances of life to be very difficult, especially regarding my health, and I do not always do as well with my attitude as I would like to, and believe possible by God’s grace.
I want to close by holding out this amazing scripture text to you (and to myself) with the confidence I have developed in it over many years. Joy is not the same as happiness, since people tend to measure their happiness by the circumstances in their lives. The more pleasant the circumstances the greater the happiness. This is a fact of life. Christian joy, however, is a deep delight and satisfaction with the person and mission of God, and increases more and more as one identifies with and enters into the heart and mission of God. Joy is the atmosphere of the Godhead: Father, Son and Spirit celebrating and loving one another and inviting the people of this world into that love. Until next time, ask God sincerely and expectantly to make the joy of the Lord your strength.
My brothers and sister, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4, NRSV)
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