Joy of the Lord

Nehemiah 8:9-12, "'This day is sacred to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.' For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. Nehemiah said, 'Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.' ...because they now understood the words that had been made known to them."

There was a time when someone laid their hands on me and spoke these words over me, "for the joy of the LORD is your strength." I did not really understand it, but now I do. Once we have been set free and we understand the true love of our God, His law and love is our joy. But, in order to have His joy we must first understand His love. So often we have done so wrong in our own life that we cannot see past our own sin in order to hear His voice of hope. There is a time for tears, but what is its role?

Nehemiah 9:1-3, "...the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and having dust on their heads. Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the wickedness of their fathers. They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the LORD their God."

There is a time of mourning for what we have done. There is this time and there must be, for in our time of sin, something very valuable has died. When we look at God's law there is no way that we can get away from the truth of our sin and this is a very daunting awareness. But, we cannot live in the sadness of our sin. There is hope that has been given and we are once again not living in God's will if we continue to mourn. There is a very needed time of mourning, but there is also a promise that God has given us. We need to learn to take hold of His promises.

God's promises, His hope, His reality, our strength:
Psalm 43:5, "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God." 2 Thessalonians 2:16, "May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope..." John 11:25-26, "Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?" Psalm 146:5, "Happy is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God..." Romans 15:13, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Have we faced our past and had our time of mourning? Have we learned to read and understand His law so that we can find true joy? Oswald Chambers, "'Come to Me... and I will give you rest' ( Matthew 11:28 ). It is only after we have begun to experience what salvation really means that we surrender our will to Jesus for rest. Whatever is causing us a sense of uncertainty is actually a call to our will— “Come to Me.” And it is a voluntary coming. ...And after you surrender— then what? Your entire life should be characterized by an eagerness to maintain unbroken fellowship and oneness with God." Do you know what the joy of the Lord is? After you have received the love of Christ, do you still weep with bitter tears before Him, or have your tears turned to tears of joy? "...for the joy of the LORD is your strength.' ...because they now understood the words that had been made known to them."