The Joy of the Lord

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"And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, 'Amen, Amen,' lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.

And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, 'This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.' For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law. Then he said to them, 'Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.'"

~Nehemiah 8:6, 9-11

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I have been working on a study on the Fruit of the Spirit and had the opportunity a few weeks ago to dig into the topic of joy. The subject of joy is a favorite of mine precisely because I have been on a mission to find it over the past few years. After all, isn’t it the mark of a believer to emanate joy from “rejoicing in the Lord always?” And yet, so many times it seemed that joy eluded me. I remember my childhood self as being a sunnier and lighter version of me. When did the heaviness of self-expectation and anxiety and the pervasive need to be liked crowd out that free little girl?

A culmination of multiple factors led me on a journey to discover my hindrances to pervasive joy. As I was searching, I read this passage in Nehemiah which describes joy not just as a happy feeling, but a source of strength. The choice of words there is likely not coincidental as the Israelites were actively in the process of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem after returning from Babylonian exile. The physical walls were important for their city, but the fortitude they find in being the people of God is much more important. Notice the posture of the people. They are so convicted by hearing the Word of God which they had not heard in a long time, that they put their faces to the ground in despair. There is certainly a time and a place for that. I know my own salvation experience looked similar. However, I am increasingly convinced that this is not to be the constant posture of the Christlike life. Yes, we should be humble before our God, we should pray continually so that we are convicted when we sin, but if we are progressively being sanctified, those times are hopefully getting fewer and fewer and the posture of freedom, victory, and joy becomes more and more frequent. Ezra said to get up because the joy of the Lord is your strength.

So, what is the joy of the Lord? It is clearly not a joy that we muster up or one that is experienced based on our circumstances. When joy is listed among the attributes of the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22, the Greek word χαρά means "the awareness of God's grace and favor." The people listening to Ezra became acutely aware of God's grace which covered their cyclical sins and the favor He bestowed upon them evidenced in that very moment of their return to their homeland. This kind of joy is rooted deep down in our souls and can withstand and outlast any circumstance.

I find that most little kids have this awareness. This is why joy and abandon are so much easier to access when we are young. When I teach music to tiny kids, one of my favorite things to witness is when they make up songs with such freedom and glee that it just bursts out of them. They have no need to perform it or have it critiqued. They just do it for the love of the music in their heart. When we are young, we have not yet had the weight of the world from sin and circumstance on our shoulders crouching our posture lower and lower. One reason an upright posture is so important in singing is so the lungs can fully expand and you can flat out just breathe. When we cave inward, the breath support goes out the window. I wonder how many of us adults can hardly breathe from our posture bent over in joylessness. How do we raise up? Jesus pointed out the importance of childlikeness to his disciples in Mark 10:13-16

"And they were bringing children to Him so that He would touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Allow the children to come to Me; do not forbid them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them.

Oh, to have been one of those kids! Can you imagine? And yet, we have that opportunity as well to be held and blessed by Jesus any moment we choose to go to Him in prayer. We are called not to childishness, but to childlikeness in our faith to approach the Lord with wonder, joy, and a faith that trusts the goodness of Jesus.

I read Annie Downs' book "That Sounds Fun" last year. She has a podcast by the same name which I love to listen to because as a card-carrying Enneagram 7, Annie knows how to have fun. As a card-carrying Enneagram 3, I do not. I have to schedule fun into my life if there is any shot of having any. One of those scheduled fun events was going to see Annie's podcast tour with my friend last summer. What I remember most out of everything Annie said that night was this line: "If you chase fun, joy will follow.” I had my doubts. Surely it can not be that simple. And then, I learned a little more about childlikeness and the connection to joy last summer at Onsite. I have reached no arrival point to be sure. I still strongly feel like I have to have all my work done before I can play. It is a mindset I have to purposefully adopt to get into "fun-mode." However, my doubts have dissipated. I am beginning to believe Proverbs 22:17 that "a joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." When I put the to do list away and play the game or enjoy the food or chat with the friend, I still end up getting everything done it turns out. And my soul is the better for it. That can only happen, though, when I can rest in who I am because of the grace and favor of God.

What did Nehemiah instruct the people to do? To feast! To rejoice! To enjoy their life given by God with gratitude toward Him. Verse 12 says, "Then all the people began to eat and drink, to send out portions, and to rejoice greatly, because they understood the words that had been made known to them." Where does true joy come from? From the awareness of God's grace and favor. We make known the things of God to ourselves and others by knowing about His joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, awareness, and unending love for us. We "keep in step" with Him as Galatians 5:25 says by abiding with Him. The overflow of a life in Christ is a life like Christ. So let us "look only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2) There is strength in that joy.