Cally Logan
Joy Is the Quiet Assurance that God Is Who He Says He Is
We can find our rooted peace and joy in knowing that God is exactly who He says He is, and that is never changing. (Hebrews 13:8) reminds us that He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Rick Warren once concluded and shared that “Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be alright and the determined choice to praise God in every situation.” When we stop assigning joy to the category of happiness, we can then experience the peace that flows from knowing, no matter how difficult the storm is around us, that God is ever-present and can be trusted as faithful.
Joy from God Is Strength
(Nehemiah 8:10) reminds us that “the joy of the Lord is your strength” and something we can hold firm to when we feel our own inner strength dwindling. We are flawed humans made of flesh and bone with a spirit and soul within, and as such we need a Savior. Through Christ, we can find true salvation and, in Him, the strength to endure whatever comes our way. In saying that the joy of the Lord is our strength, we are recalling that it is not something within of our own cultivating or doing, but rather through the Spirit of God that we can find that strength and joy in the process.
Count it All as Joy
Joy is also a choice we can make. (James 1:2-4) reminds us that we can count it all as joy, even the trials, for they serve a greater purpose in our lives, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
Trials will come no matter how rich, successful, or powerful you may be; there is no avoiding them. When trials do come, instead of having a victim mentality and succumbing to the depths of wallowing sadness within, we can count them as joy because it is through such trials that our perseverance grows. In that, we mature, learn, and become refined by the fire. We can count it all as joy, the mountain tops, and the valleys, for all serve a purpose in the span of the story of life.
Joy Comes in the Morning
King David in the Bible knew much of life, in both victory and sadness. Through the Psalms, we can relate to his depth of feeling and emotion, but we can also become inspired by the life he led and how he saw God move on his behalf. (Psalm 30:5) reminds us that “weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning.”
Most all of us can relate to nights where we have cried ourselves to sleep, where we have ached within so deeply it is shocking that our bodies still have the capacity for the function of breath, but as David reminds us, there is a joy that can come in the morning. That dawn may not be a literal span of hours after, but there is a hope that morning will come and, with it, a newfound joy peeking through to dry our tears and to surround us with a warm embrace of hope to come.
