Give Me Happiness, er, I Mean Joy

Often times I confuse happiness with joy. I’ve heard the differences between the two emotional experiences from pastors and teachers, but I still find it difficult to alter my desires. I want happiness more than I want joy. See, happiness tends to be based on our circumstances, whereas, joy occurs in spite of our surroundings. Most days, I want peace in my world, not just peace in my heart.

But I must face reality. God assures us we will struggle while on earth. I cannot trust then that I will find happiness. Perhaps there is more to joy than I realize.

Paul, who wrote much of the New Testament, was a man well acquainted with grief and with joy. He had a sense of peace, contentment, well-being that sustained him more than his circumstances rattled him. Daily Paul faced trials such as beatings, imprisonments, hunger, poverty, shipwrecks. Yet he had peace. He had hope. He had assurance.

In his letter to the Philippians he shines the light on his pathway to joy. He writes, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (4:13). His source of contentment? His relationship with Jesus.

Many of us have experienced relationships that gave us strength to endure struggles. Perhaps a close friend, parent, mentor, coach, spouse. Paul had the relationship of all relationships. He knew intimately the Son of God.

Knowing Jesus surpasses the experience we have with our closest connections on earth. In making Him our travel guide, spending time with Him in His Word and in prayer, relying on the mystery of His Spirit in us, we too can have enduring joy through any and all trials.

James, the half-brother of Jesus, says, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials; knowing the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (1:2-3). In all trials then we can experience this peace and joy that surpasses knowledge.

Life brings pain. Christ brings joy. We receive it as we learn to walk through life clinging to His hand.

Thought for the day: What are some circumstances in your life that have you down? How can you enter into the presence of Christ with your struggles?

One of Those Days

You know those days when everything seems to go wrong? Today was one such day for me. I had problems at work, issues with peers, frustrations over broken appliances. Even the sprinkler system soaked me as it watered the autumn ground. Nothing went right; everything went wrong.

In my angst, I turned to God, “God, how can I deal with this?” In that moment I realized I spoke to One who knew my struggle. Not much has gone right for God either, so to speak.* He made us to image Him, to enjoy Him, to know and share His love. But ever since the bite of the forbidden fruit, this divine call and gift shattered. God’s world broke, His creation started decaying, death took over. He subjected His creation to futility. Ever since then He pursues us, broken and rebellious image-bearers, many of whom refuse to acknowledge His presence.

How did He respond when things didn’t go His way? One word: redemptively. Even though He subjected His creation to futility, He did so in hope. Starting in Eden, He began fixing what went awry, what we broke. He initiated. He pursued. He engaged. He forgave. He loved. He went so far as to send His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins, to restore His image in us.

God didn’t and doesn’t give up. What He started, He will finish. When people failed to respond correctly to Him, He refused to abandon us. Instead He engaged with the broken pieces, seeking out restoration, and will one day finalize His glorious redemptive masterpiece. That’s what God does; He restores. In a broken world full of broken people, God brings hope through His creative redemptive work in Christ.

A recipient of this restorative love, I want to respond as my Maker. Today that means forgiving and loving those who hurt me. It means I interact with friends and family in view of God’s grace imparted to me. It means when the heater fails to usher out heat, I look to heaven where moth, rust, time cannot destroy.

When things go wrong, we can find hope through knowing we have Savior who empathizes with our groanings. Through His Spirit, we learn to respond as He does—in engaged love in view of the hope of restoration.

*It should be noted that from the beginning, God determined to carry out His plan of salvation. Humanity’s rebellion did not catch God off guard and cause Him to rethink His plans. His plan has always been a plan of redemption culminating in Christ’s return and entrance into the eschaton. Eden is not perfection; heaven is perfection. It is a great mystery that God should plan to create the human race with the ability to rebel, only to have a salvific plan installed from the beginning. Surely His wisdom, His grace, His love none can fathom.

For Your Love: A Psalm of Lament

O Lord, do not hide Yourself from me;
do not be silent forever.
I long for Your voice;
as the ocean caresses the sand,
for Your words to wash over me.
You hover above
and Your lips are sealed.
My vision is blurry
and my ears are deaf.
O God, when will You break through?

I long for Your presence;
the peace Your strength brings,
the delight in Your grace
and the joy in Your love.
When will You come?
According to Your mercy
You will answer me.
You take all those who come
and You remember Your beloved.

O, hear my heart’s longing
and do not delay!
Illuminate my mind
and rescue me from my thoughts.
Look upon me
and act according to Your ever-pursuing love.
There are many lovers who steal people’s gaze;
that those may know Your love
is better than all,
come to me!

You are the God who hears,
the God who acts, the God who speaks.
I will wait, for You will come.
I will delight again in Your love
and will tell of the intoxication of Your presence.
Your love is the water to my thirsty soul
and in You I am happy.
I will praise You
for You have heard and You will come.

Modern Day Psalm of Praise

Come with me to sing His praise;
join as one to voice His love.
The stars whisper His grace at night,
the sun awakens us to worship;
so come, let us open our mouths
to sing His praise.

For You, my God, have not forgotten
Your faithfulness to me everyday;
grace to sustain and keep me close,
Your redemptive hand at work
in me.

You alone have a relentless love;
You alone remain to pursue.
O love that mind cannot confine,
But stretches to the depth
of my being!
And love that still surprises me!

O let us worship Him with our lips;
let us dance for Him with our lives.
He alone has come;
He alone is strong for salvation.
To Him alone give your heart;
on Christ alone fix your gaze.

Only His love is pure
and complete with good intent;
only His love can redeem.
Oh, let us sing with the sun
and dance with the moon;
to worship the God of love
with our being.

Transforming Questions

Recently I read Sue Monk Kidd’s When the Heart Waits. In this book she discusses the importance of creatively waiting in dark, painful times, so that a transformed life will eventually come forth, much like a cocoon gives birth to a butterfly. In particular, she mentions the artistic usefulness of questions, of allowing ourselves the freedom to ask and to ponder.

I find this thought liberating. I have what seems like a million questions that I tend to run from. I get bogged down in the unknown. I don’t like feeling lost, confused, helpless. Existential questions remind me of my limited understanding as a human being in God’s created universe.

I agree with Kidd that the notion of asking questions is central in our transformation. Questions prompt seeking and seeking leads to discovery and discovery reveals God. Jesus put it this way, “Seek and you shall find.”

But there is something vulnerable in asking questions. We must admit that we do not know it all, that we need another to help us make sense of ourselves, of our lives, and the life we encounter. We seek out of weakness, out of human frailty, out of God-ordained dependency.

Maybe then we shouldn’t let our questions hinder us. Perhaps they are clues along the road, leading us to the ultimate prize, directing us toward heaven, guiding us to the arms of God.

While seeking can be frightening, it’s worth the risk. Once we release ourselves to the journey we feel freer, purposeful, more ourselves. And if we seek, we shall find. When we discover Him, His light will bring our hearts hope, peace, new life. Though we encounter Him on this life's journey, the reality remains that the cocoon of earth will veil our eyes until the day Christ calls us forth to into His presence once for always, where forever we will receive knowledge, understanding, discovery.


Clues for the journey:
What does it mean to live, to truly live?
What is the abundant life of which Christ speaks?
How do I walk by the Spirit?
What does He expect of me, one made of dust with a heart bent on rebellion against Him?
Does He know the struggle of sin that rages on in my heart?
Does He expect me to struggle?
Is He okay with the struggle?
What does God feel?

God's Liberator

Luke 4:16-21

Picture this scene. The Jews have gathered in the temple on the Sabbath, just like many of us now gather at church on Sunday morning. Jesus, the One who everyone in town is talking about (v. 15), comes to the front stage to speak. All eyes focus on Him. Finally, they get to hear Him speak.

He takes the scroll of Isaiah and reads Isaiah 61:1, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners.” As He speaks, the people's hearts excite over what Jesus will teach them. How does this verse apply to us? Who will God send? Will Jesus explain these matters?

But Jesus doesn’t start teaching when He finishes reading. He steps back from the podium and sits down. No wonder "the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him."

Perhaps picking up on the cue that He should say something else, Jesus adds, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." Attendees exchange glances. What does He mean the verse has been fulfilled? By whom? Where is the liberator?

Slowly, they begin to understand. It's Him. Jesus is the One God has sent to help, to heal, to liberate. He is the One they have been waiting for. Finally, help has come.

Could you imagine sitting in the room that day, listening, thinking about what holds you captive, the issues that plague your mind, the darkness you live in. And, as if to only you, He says, "I’m here to rescue you. I’ve heard your pleas, felt your tears, known your fears. And I’ve come to break you out of the prison that's keeping you from Me. I have come to liberate you, to love you, to show you the light of day. I am He.”

And He is still here. His mission has not changed. He has come to set us, the captives, free. Jesus came to deliver us from the bondage of sin, the very thing that causes our pains, our fears, our addictions. The cross that brought freedom then provides freedom today.

The grace of Christ in His death and resurrection is the very hope and good news for us in our daily struggles. Let us allow Him entrance into our places of weakness, temptation, sorrow. He can deliver us from any prison, no matter the length of confinement or the strength of the prison bars. Nothing is too difficult for Jesus, God’s liberator.

Prayer of Repentance

O Lord, I repent of my ways, of how I used my body this day.

I gave my eyes to sights of stumbling.
I watched sitcoms full of sexual innuendos,
Actions full of guns and bombs, blood and death,
Dramas full of murder, rape and injustice.
Instead of light, I perused darkness.

I gave my ears to worthless sounds.
I turned up the music of this world,
Heeded the advice of the deceiver,
Attended to the pleas of the old me.
Instead of truth, I listened to lies.

I gave my lips to rotten words.
I berated, degraded, castigated
Men and women made in Your image.
Instead of hope, I spoke ruin.

O Lord, I repent of my ways, of how I used my body this day.

I gave my hands to creating a shelter from reality.
I made a house without mirrors, windows, or doors—
Safe from myself, my neighbor, and my God;
No evidence of depravity,
Free of social responsibility,
Ignoring God-dependency.
Instead of Your Church, I built protective walls.

I gave my feet to a gait of comfort and ease.
I fled the rugged streets of the inner-city.
Stepping over the homeless man,
Stepping on the prostitute,
Stepping by the dirty children,
I ran to the suburbs of safety, beauty, prosperity.
Instead of You, I followed the American Dream.

O Lord, I repent of my ways, of how I used my body this day.

I gave my heart to loving idols.
I exchanged Your glory
For humanity’s praise,
For pleasure over pain,
For freedom to choose my own way.
Instead of rhythms of devotion, my heart beat for other lovers.

O Lord, I repent of such ways, of how I used my body this day.