LET JOY CARRY US THROUGH
Isaiah 55:12: “You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountain and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”
“I can’t wait until my birthday!” ten-year-old Shakira sang, clapping her hands and dancing around the picnic table.
“Why, what do you hope to get on your birthday?” twelve-year-old Cassie asked.
Shakira laughed. “Lots of stuff! You’re invited, too.”
“Then I can’t wait for your birthday, either!” Cassie admitted.
Growing up, I often heard my dad say, “Every day is “Children’s Day.” My parents used to give us kids small gifts on ”Children’s Day,” one particular Sunday in spring between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.
Remember that today is called the present. “Right now” is a gift to be opened and enjoyed to the fullest. God actually commands in Psalm 118:24: “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
Joy is not a destination, but a way. We never go to joy. We go through life with joy. Happiness doesn’t happen when ________ (fill in the blank). Happiness is now.
Isaiah wrote the opening Scripture to the Jewish people as they came out of exile toward the Promised Land. The play on words is fun: “Exile” is both a state of mind (figurative) and a physical (literal) place.
Both meanings of exile represent something less than awesome.
Everyone is striving toward a personal promised land. Once there, we can be our true selves and live our best lives. Isaiah teaches that the way from exile to redemption—or from broken to redeemed lives or even from awful to awesome lives—is through joy.
Joy is a state of happiness—the key that unlocks all doors. People can decide to make joy a way of life. Let’s never waste one day searching for joy. Joy can’t be found in any place, event, or future time!
Take Home Nugget
Not everyone understands this. The world is full of nonbelievers who demand that circumstance must be awesome before people can be happy. But living joyful lives CAN exist even when personal circumstances are awful.
We can wake up each day drawing close to God through prayer. That inner joy is significant because it WILL carry us through each day happily. When people begin each day with happy thoughts, joy becomes the way from awful lives towards awesome.
God wants His kids to live happy lives, even during awful circumstance. He graciously offers us joy to carry us from awful through to awesome.
Thank You Father, for Your Spirit empowering us to begin each day with joy!
Adapted from “Go Through Joy” by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein. June 1, 2016. www.HolyLandMomentsDaily devotional.
J.D. Griffith
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My background is a life time of worship, but seriously following Jesus came with age. Spiritual maturity is a leap of faith. Sometimes we don’t know what we’re missing until living on the edge of God’s leading. My life of self sufficiency ended abruptly when losing my job as an analytical chemist after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Now living on the edge of God’s leading has become a way of life that I wouldn’t trade for anything else.
Surrendering one’s will to the Lord can be scary. Why did I wait so long to do it? Diving into an intimate relation with the sovereign God of creation is the most secure position in the universe. Will you share your experience with me? Will you let me give you my testimony? May I introduce you to the Jesus I know?