November 25, 2022If you are an American or someone who was in the United States yesterday, I trust that you enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. For those of us who know the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour, we have so much for which to be thankful. This fall we have looked at seven Biblical strategies for a lifetime of purpose, as explained by Robert J. Morgan in his book “Mastering Life Before It’s Too Late.” In the eighth pattern – “Bathe in the Dead Sea” – Morgan recounts floating in the Dead Sea, which occupies the lowest elevation in the world at 1,400 feet below sea level. “It has no outlet except evaporation … is nearly ten times as salty as the ocean and much denser than the human body … To me, floating in the Dead Sea is a picture of the unsinkable density of the waters of joy described in Scripture. The body of Bible verses about joy represents a virtual ocean of encouragement – a living one, to be sure, but just as buoyant to the soul as the Dead Sea is to the body. The joy of the Lord pushes us upward, keeps us afloat on choppy waters, refreshes us in desert places, and helps us resurface when pulled down by the undertows of life.”
Morgan continues: “We sometimes face circumstances that overwhelm us. The prophet Jeremiah, melancholic to the core, once cried in distress: ‘The waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to perish’ (Lamentations 3:54). But he knew the secret of unsinkability, as he told us elsewhere: ‘Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart’ (Jeremiah 15:16). Cheerful Christians have an unsinkable quality because we’re supported by the joy of the Lord and by the salient waters of His Word.”
Morgan recounts looking up 751 references to joy in the Bible and shares the following principles:
- God’s very personality is full of joy – “When the Bible talks about the joy of the Lord, it’s not just referring to the joy God gives but the joy He possesses within Himself.”
- God’s home is a place of joyful place – “Heaven is everlastingly happy. In His presence is fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11).”
- We should pay attention to the joy God has woven into all His creation – “Joy is the natural state of the creation, for its Maker is the God who dwells in uninterrupted and infinite joy.”
- Jesus came to reinstate joy to His creation – “In his sermon on the Day of Pentecost, Peter referred to Jesus as a man filled with joy (Acts 2:28). Those who received His message were seized with joy.”
- Christians therefore have a sacred obligation to live joyfully – “Joy is the duty of the Christian. According to Ecclesiastes 5:20, we should be ‘occupied with joy.’ Psalm 33:1 says, ‘Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise Him.’”
- We should become specialists in joyology, in the theology of joy, or, as Christians of earlier eras called it, “cheerful piety” – “We must guard our minds against chronic despondency like a Roman sentry protecting his hometown … The joy of the Lord is concentrated, intense, and powerful; and as we continue in our Christian walk, bend our knees in prayer, and feel God’s presence around us, we come to a place of relaxation and letting the joy of the Lord carry us. It’s not a matter of trying to work up happiness, but of letting Him bear our weight and lift us upward.”
May we take all of our burdens to the One who alone can carry them and we will experience the joy that only God can provide.
Scripture for the weekend: “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to tread on the heights.” Habakkuk 3:17-19 (NIV)
Thought for the weekend: “Though we do not understand all that happens in life, and we might even experience deep fear and persistent anxiety, we are to trust and worship God.” – Life Essentials Study Bible