Where Do I Find This Elusive Joy?

Where do joyful people get off? Don't they have troubles like me?
How can somebody STAY JOYFUL?
 
James 1:2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,..

what!?

1 Peter 4:13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice...

How does that work?

Okay, so the word JOY is used 165 times in the bible (KJV) and I have heard this word used to describe the christian experience in sermons and even in twelve step groups. We are told to have JOY while we are suffering or grieving or being crushed by injustice.

I don't know about you but trials and  hardships produce feelings in me that are quite the opposite of joy. Life hurts and is often unfair so how or why am I to find joy in the middle of a firestorm? How can someone who is in acute physical pain be joyful? Who can rejoice at a death of a loved one or loss of a job? Where is Joy to be found? Do I understand what I am looking for? I struggle with this as I write today!

I can only turn to the scriptures that contain this word JOY and try to figure out what the secret is...


King Solomon ponders in Ecclesiastes 11: 7-8 (MSG) Oh, how sweet the light of day, And how wonderful to live in the sunshine! Even if you live a long time, don’t take a single day for granted. Take delight in each light-filled hour, Remembering that there will also be many dark days And that most of what comes your way is smoke.

He says in Ecclesiastes 8:15 (ESV) And I commend joy, for man has nothing better under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun.

This seems to tell us to rejoice in good days and good TIMES because there will be bad days and many of them. So I can't find consistent Joy in my daily life itself. This is a fallen world. It's broken. Doesn't work right. Some days and times are going to really be dark! I have to look elsewhere.

How about relationships. Maybe if I can find the right person to be my soul-mate I can derive joy from that relationship? Maybe they can make me happy?

Psalm 118: 8-9 (ESV) It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes. 

Jeremiah 17:5 Thus says the Lord:
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
    and makes flesh his strength, 
   whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a shrub in the desert,
    and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
    in an uninhabited salt land.

 

Okay so the bible is pretty clear that putting all our faith and hope in another fallible human being is not wise. Nor are we to look to others for happiness or serenity. Now, we can find joy in fellow-shipping with like minded believers and serving others outside our circles...but I am not always with these people!

Remember my dilemma is finding that consistent, under-girding, sustainable JOY that the saints refer to!

A joy that is always supposed to be there!

Ok so I wanna hear from Jesus himself and I found this passage in John chapter 16 that is full of clues!

He is talking to the disciples about His ascension to heaven and the hardships they will endure when He leaves the earth: 

 ²⁰ Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy....²¹ When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. ²² So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. ²³ In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. ²⁴ Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. (ESV)

So clearly joy can be taken from us today, verse 22, as Jesus was taken from His friends and crucified to death. This produces sorrow because the disciple found JOY in HIM! he explains that like a mother giving birth, the current pain will turn into joy as she meets her child face to face! Jesus is not on the earth with me but He promises He is coming back! When He comes back we won't have all these questions or doubts and he says our Joy will THEN be full. 

What does that mean?  "that your joy may be full; go cheerfully through your work, find much pleasure in it, and with great satisfaction see the Gospel spread, souls converted, Satan's kingdom weakened, and the interest of your Redeemer thrive and flourish; than which nothing can more contribute to complete the joy of the ministers of Christ."  Gill, John. "Commentary on John 16:24". "The New John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible". //www.studylight.org/commentary. 1999

So if I am to find JOY in Christ COMING BACK to make earth and heaven whole again and my joy complete... where do I find joy in the meantime?

 David sings in Psalm 16:

Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
² I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
    I have no good apart from you.”

³ As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
    in whom is all my delight.

⁴ The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;
    their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
    or take their names on my lips.

⁵ The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
    you hold my lot.
⁶ The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
    indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

⁷ I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
    in the night also my heart instructs me.
⁸ I have set the Lord always before me;
    because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

⁹ Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
    my flesh also dwells secure.
¹⁰ For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
    or let your holy one see corruption.

¹¹ You make known to me the path of life;
    in your presence there is fullness of joy;
    at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

David finds this solid JOY in the anticipation and expectation of Jesus coming as a child pines for the doll or rocking horse that (they feel) will make them complete! he is referring to his inheritance of a Kingdom of God! (he was already King of an earthly kingdom).

When I started this, I was looking for a "feel good everyday" and a "nothing bothers me" kind of joy, which is indeed elusive in this world. As soon as we feel our lives are safe and secure, something can come along and upset the stability and security of our lives. so we have to find our joy in WHO is coming and WHAT He is bringing, not what surrounds us here on earth.

It is about having JOY in knowing...

 ...in knowing the outcome is beautiful when the story is dark and scary.
Knowing that satan has already been defeated on the cross and my sins are cleared out forever! 

Knowing I have been redeemed from hell. Knowing that even if my flesh is destroyed, I will live eternally in ecstasy and knowing that God can and has met my needs when I trusted Him.

Psalm 30:5

⁵ For his anger is but for a moment,
    and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
    but joy comes with the morning.

I conclude that REAL BIBLICAL JOY is not something I can seek outside of the works of God through Jesus Christ. That other joy is temporary and dependent on circumstances. This true joy lies ahead and until I see His shining face, set the world right again the joy's gotta be in just believing and sharing the good news with others.

1 Peter 3:8-9  Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,  obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

-Luke Sullivan