Gateway to Joy

Do you ever just get tired of being in that same spot again? Maybe it's because the swell of grief has you back in the same pit of despair you just escaped a few hours earlier. Or it's the fight with your loved one about the same issues. Or it's that same stinkin' sin you've stumbled on. And you just.... get .... sad. 

There's an absurdity to the sadness because at the same time you're grieving, you're beating yourself up with "Really? I'm here again?". This opens the gate for pathetic Miss Self Pity who is happy to come sit in your pit right along with you whispering "Oh, poor you. You really have such a desperate situation here. It really does look hopeless, doesn't it? And no one really knows that you feel this way, do they?" She murmurs the lies to your soul and like a captive audience, you eat up every deceptive word.

I was there this morning. Ms. Pity and I were going several rounds in a spiritual wrestling match when Nehemiah marched right into the ring. This is what I heard, the crystal clear words echoed in the chambers of my pity soaked heart. "The joy of the Lord is your strength."

Hmmmmm. I am NOT feeling joyful right now, Lord. But I know that voice. So I grab a hold of Nehemiah and dig into the promise of joy, because I could use some of that here in my corner of the  ring.

In chapter 8 the Israelites are standing listening to the Levites (priestly tribe) read the Word of the Lord. They have been in captivity and have come back to find the Jerusalem wall in smithereens. After rebuilding the wall, the families assemble together from the youngest to the oldest and listen to a public reading of the Word they have neglected while in exile.

They weep and grieve as they listen. They know they have broken God's law and His Word cuts them to the quick. But rather than focus on their repentance, the main point here is God's response to their tears. (Hold onto your tissues because this is where it gets good.)

The reading of God's Word brings the Israelites to a breaking point. They are confronted with their own sin. God does not respond with, "Chin up! All you need to do is focus on the good in your lives. That will bring you joy." He doesn't say, "Oh, poor you! Too bad nobody understands your grief." God's response is "I know you are weak right now. I see your tears and your grief. I have joy and I can give it to you. All you need to do is to receive it. My joy will be your strength."

The Hebrew word for joy in Nehemiah 8:10 is hedvah and it's only found in one other place in the bible. This particular version of joy is linked to YHWH, the Lord. It's not the same joy in all the Psalms that command us to rejoice in the Lord. This joy belongs to the Lord. To better understand what the Lord's joy looks like, we'll examine the word itself.

Let's take a look at the Hebrew characters that form the verb hadah (from which the noun hedvah is derived). When ancient Hebrew was first written, each letter represented both a sound and a picture. According to one source, the three pictures respresented by the consonants in hadah might represent “behold, a door in the fence.”  Another writer interprets the three as a man joined to a crowned man that forms a wall, a doorway made of broken humility, and the Spirit that comes through the door. Both interpretations agree that this joy points to a gate or opening in the wall between us and God. The Lord is joyful because our sin no longer separates us from Him, thanks be to Jesus Christ!

So I need not continue to grieve, moan and wail that my sin has landed me right back in that same pit again. I take that self pity, that grief and that despair and confess it. I agree with what the Lord has to say about it. If He says, "Yes, I agree it is wrong that you did that, but I forgive you," I forgive myself and let His joy invade my soul.

What grieves the Lord is when I carry around burdens of guilt, shame and despair without looking for the gate in the wall between us. I walk in circles behind the wall and all the while He waits for me to unlatch the gate and trade my shame for His joy. What blows me away is that "the joy of the Lord" is derived from fellowship with me! He delights in His children so greatly that He "rejoices over us." Literally translated: he circles around us with zealous love.

It's as if our Father God is saying, "Not only do I want you to give me your junk so I can trade it for my joy. I also want to remind you that YOU ARE MY JOY!" You may not feel like you could possibly delight the Creator of the Universe. That's ok. We don't have to feel it for it to be true. God simply asks us to take Him at His Word.

That is the secret to having strength in the face of despair and hopelessness: knowing joy. Knowing that His joy is ours for the taking. And when we receive it, God is overjoyed!