You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11) Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. (Psalm 51:12)
The word happy is not used very often in scripture, and when it is used, it usually refers to a temporary feeling a person has once they receive or achieve a specific thing. The most lasting feeling of happiness described is when a person receives wisdom: Happy is the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains understanding;... She [wisdom] is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are all who retain her. (Proverbs 3:13-18) Wisdom is being able to make the right choices based on our knowledge and understanding. Therefore, we should be happy when we receive wisdom.
But joy goes deeper than just happiness. Joy never ends, it's a state of existence that brings us deep pleasure because of our relationship with God through Christ and our comfort in knowing where we will spend eternity, in heaven with the Father and the Son. Even when we may not feel happy, we can still have, experience and exist with joy. The Word teaches us that we can even have joy when we're going through very difficult and challenging situations: Those who sow in tears Shall reap in joy. (Psalm 126:5) Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man’s sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets. (Luke 6:22-23) My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. (James 1:2-4)
In life, we will and should desire to have moments of happiness, especially when we receive a promise from God's Word. But because we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we can live everyday with joy, knowing that when this life is over, our souls will spend eternity with Him in heaven: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.(Habakkuk 3:18) His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ (Matthew 25:23)
No comments:
Post a Comment