Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 14:28 — 19.9MB)
Presented by Lisa Bishop
It is true that joy can often feel fleeting. It can be hard to hold onto. Sometimes taking hold of joy can be like trying to grab a cloud, it slips through your fingers, evading you.
If you find yourself struggling to experience joy in your life, you are not alone. I struggle too. It’s part of being human and living on this side of eternity. But there is hope because God cares about your joy. He wants you to experience happiness and high spirits. I think sometimes we forget that. We can see life as drudgery at times and forget that God wants us to experience delight!
Speaking of happiness, sometimes we pit joy and happiness against each other. So, I am going to submit that joy and happiness aren’t exclusive to each other! A dictionary definition of happiness is “a state of well-being; a pleasurable or satisfying experience.” One definition of the word joy comes from the Greek word chara (ha-(with a rolled r)- a), which means “gladness” or “cheerfulness.”
Depending on the translation, the Bible uses the words happy and happiness about 30 times, and joy and rejoice over 300 times. We know when we see words or themes repeated in God’s Word he wants to get our attention! Your joy matters to God and when you are joyful, you feel happy! The key is what you rely on for ultimate joy and where your focus lies. If you were to look up the references to joy and rejoicing in the Bible you will see that its cause and effect are from the same source. God. He is the root of your joy and you experience joy because of him.
Psalm 94:19
When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.
Psalm 16:11
You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
God is our reason for joy and we express our joy to God when we rejoice in him.
As Philippians 4:4 instructs us: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!
God your Father is the giver of all things and he’s looking for every opportunity to bless you. He wants you to experience happiness and joy in his creation, in the things he has made. He loves to see you experiencing delight in that promotion at work, a new relationship, a vacation with friends, at the birth of your kids, in a bowl of ice cream. Yes, I did just say ice cream. God made that too.
Sometimes we complicate joy. Joy can be found in simple moments as well as in the big events of life. The important thing to remember is your source of joy, and that is Jesus. Don’t get too lured in by being distracted by the created things and lose your affection for the Creator. When you rely on external things to sustain your joy you will be misguided. When you base joy purely on your circumstances you will be sorely disappointed, which brings me to another point about joy.
In the midst of unpleasant circumstances, joy is possible. Even when life gives you a one-two punch and knocks the wind out of your sails, you can hang onto joy. Happiness and disappointment, joy and sorrow, can coexist. I know that feels counterintuitive and really HARD at times!
Yet all throughout the bible we see evidence of this and Psalm 13 gives us a real-life example as the Psalmist in his pain and despair says:
How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.
How can the Psalmist rejoice, how can he express joy in the middle of sorrow? Because ultimately joy is a long-haul perspective not one that is limited by shorter-term circumstances.
That is not to discount the longer trials we face in life; it is calling attention to the probability that many joy stealers in our lives are short-lived. The Psalmist can rejoice because ultimately he trusts God and grounds himself in the reality of the Truth of God’s unfailing love. He fixes his eyes on his salvation and as a result, is able to sing The Lord’s praise because he realizes God’s overarching goodness. The reality is, we can be tempted to let momentary troubles cloud our view of God, we can let the pain and disappointment of the moment swallow us up and take us under, causing us to lose our long-term perspective.
Notice in verse 2 of Psalm 13 what the Psalmist says. “How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart?” The Psalmist gives us an indication that his sadness, his suffering, and mourning were constant. His sorrow was happening over a period of time. “How long, Lord?”We ask the same thing.
You will need to fight hard for joy sometimes. I know that sounds kind of weird. It does to me. Fight for joy? Joy doesn’t seem like it should be so hard won sometimes but it is. And in verse 2 the Psalmist gives us another clue to being triumphant with joy in our lives rather than being overcome with despair. “How long must I wrestle with my thoughts.” Joy is impacted by where you place your attention and Psalm 13 shows us the importance of training our thoughts to turn our focus to the character of God.
But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me (2:5-6).
Joy is a mindset. A mind set on Jesus and a determination, no matter the situations you face in life, to remember the goodness of God. I realize this can feel very trite. Especially if you are currently experiencing great loss in your life. And I am not saying that you should deny your pain, stuff it down, or think you are only supposed to experience positive emotions. If you look to the Psalmists, they repeatedly poured their hearts out to God. I have had many times in my life (and still do) when joy is fleeting. From broken relationships, loneliness, disappointments, and dreams that feel delayed and sometimes even dashed, to tremendous loss. It was around this time eight years ago when my dad died unexpectedly. It was a dark time and joy was hard to grab onto. So I do not want to come across as sounding like I am advocating for you to just cheer up and be chipper in the midst of pain. We know that even the most mature of God’s people experience periods of joylessness. As we read Job’s story, we know that in the midst of great loss in his life, he wished he had never been born (Job 3:11).
What I am saying is that joy and pain can cohabitate and there is not only light at the end of the tunnel, there is light in the tunnel because Jesus is with you. It’s true. And I need reminders just as much as you do. That is why it is so incredibly important that you are in the Word of God daily, to remind you of God’s goodness and faithfulness.
Psalm 30:5 reminds us, For his anger is but for a moment, his favor is for life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.
In the midst of pain, there is hope.
Now, we can take this Psalm to literally mean that joy will come the next morning, and sometimes it does. But in a broader sense this is a reminder that after a time of spiritual darkness, joy will be restored. Even at times when the sadness seems like it will last a lifetime, the sorrows we face in this life are temporary. As painful as a season may be, it is a season. Life has twists, turns, ups, and downs, and, although you may suffer through dark nights, morning will come. Heartaches, disappointments, and betrayals can leave you feeling shattered, and you may wonder if hope will never come again. So God reminds us that joy comes in the morning. Dark nights can last a long time, but they are never permanent for those who are in Christ Jesus. This is why it is so important to have your mind set on him. To remember him and his goodness to be with you in, and pull you through the challenging times.
Rejoicing, having joy, is a byproduct of your relationship with God. It is a result of your relationship with Jesus and a response to your ultimate hope in him.
Psalm 28:7 says, The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.
And Psalm 34:5, 8: Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy… Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!
Your level of joy, the amount of gladness you experience on a daily basis, will be determined by your focus. And your ability to focus on God’s grace even in the difficult and joy-defying times in life; your intentionality in creating the habit of fixing your eyes on Jesus not on external experiences, this will cultivate joy for even the most difficult stretches. While external experiences will bring happiness and joy, you just cannot rely on them for your ultimate fulfillment. The key is to stay connected to your ultimate source of joy, Jesus. So when adversity and loss try to overcome you and take you into a downward spiral, you can remain hopeful, even if it’s a glimmer.
When we reduce joy to a feeling it will be fleeting. When you focus on joy as a mindset and heart set on Jesus it is unfailing. Remember, joy and sadness can coexist. Joy is a discipline, sometimes you will have to fight for joy, training your eyes and heart to see through the darkness and trust in your ultimate source, Jesus.
So here are some tips when it feels like your joy is teetering.
Develop a Heart of Gratitude
Gratitude is a key factor in experiencing joy. By focusing on the blessings and provision of God, you can cultivate a heart of gratitude and joy. God is always providing, even in hard times, so even if you have to strain to find something to be grateful for, do it. An incredible thing about gratitude is that when you are grateful for something, it actually releases the chemicals serotonin and dopamine in your brain that boost your mood. God designed our minds to produce joy when we focus on reasons to praise him. Make developing a heart of gratitude a practice now. Don’t wait until the hard times come.
Do Something Nice for Someone
When you take the focus off of yourself and go out of your way to serve and bless someone else, it has an incredible impact on your mood. Run an errand for your neighbor, cook a meal for a friend, volunteer for a good cause. In helping others, you help yourself.
Seek God’s Presence
Spending time in God’s presence through prayer, worship, and studying the Bible is essential for experiencing joy. It can be so easy in today’s distracted world not to make time to be with God and dwell in His presence. To be overstimulated with social media, gaming, or Hulu, and underwhelmed with Jesus. If you think you don’t have time, take a week to log how you spend your time each day. I bet you will find some time leaks, things you are giving precious minutes in your day to that are not producing fruit in your life. Take back time wasted on things that do not yield a good return and give that time to God. Do things that remind you of God’s nearness. Take a walk in nature, by the lake, the beach, or in the mountains. If there is a place that reminds you of His presence, make time to connect with him. When you seek God’s presence, you will experience His love, peace, and comfort, which will bring joy to your heart.
Trust in God’s Promises
Trusting in God’s promises is also important for experiencing joy. When you believe in God’s promises of salvation, provision, and protection, when you remind yourself of his goodness, his character, you can experience joy even in the midst of trials and challenges.
God cares about your joy.
Receive this prayer from Romans 15:13. Let it penetrate your heart and mind.
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Remember where your source of hope comes from and that because joy is a fruit of the Spirit, as a follower of Jesus, no matter your circumstances in life, joy is with you because the Holy Spirit dwells in you. Ask God to help you experience the joy you have in him.
And also remember that you are deeply loved and highly favored. God will never leave you nor forsake you. He is always with you. He delights in you. He cares about your joy.