I have been sitting here for the past hour trying to figure out what to write about and so far this is all I have got, so bear with me—okay? Joy is something we fight for tooth and nail in this world. We want it, we crave it. Without joy we are floating around with no hope. All of your life you spend your time, consciously or not, trying to find things to bring you joy. For me, joy is a new pack of pens, autumn in the Smokey’s, and holding hands. I mean what more could you need than that, really? What is your joy, where do you find it? Is it in the sunset or a person, a new movie or good book? All of these things are well and good, lovely in fact but what happens when they are stripped from you; are you still joyful or are you left with a dull ache you can’t quite place? All of my life I have looked to the world for my joy and in the end, pens run out of ink, autumn passes, and peoples’ hands get sweaty and let go.
In Psalm 4 it says, “You have put more joy in my heart than they when their grain and wine abound.” God put things on the earth to bring us joy, to energize us. He made us so that when we see something beautiful we feel joy, when we read a good book we feel joy, when we buy something we really wanted we feel joy. But He made that joy temporary and fleeting, and no matter how much we wish it were, not filling. Something I have learned lately is that God wants us to find joy in the things and people He created, yourself included, but most of all He wants us to find joy in Him. God’s joy is so fulfilling that it is better than the best worldly joy. Think of what would make you the happiest in all of the world—go on, think a second. Okay, now take how happy you think you would feel when you got that thing and picture as a drop of water. Compared to your drop of joy, God’s joy is the four oceans. Personally, I would rather drown in His oceans than be parched, constantly grasping at dew drops.
In the end though, it is a daily decision to choose the joy of the Lord and to not eat a tub of ice cream when you are sad or run down your credit score on some trite thing you thought would make you feel better. Some days I wake up and think to myself, I really want to wallow, watch trashy TV, and eat a whole pie to feel better instead of praying and asking the Lord for his joy and peace. Each day you have to wake up and choose which joy to fill yourself with, and it is hard. Why is it hard? Because pie and TV—or whatever you try to fill yourself with—are right there and don’t require humility for asking or opening yourself up to be filled; one takes vulnerability one doesn’t. It’s amazing how quickly we choose what is easy and instant over what requires bending a knee and lasts. I have gotten to the point in my life where easy doesn’t suit me and instant gratification has become shallow. I seek joy from the Lord in earnest and any worldly joy I experience I take as a gift from Him not as an alternative for Him.
