"Surely you have granted him unending blessings
and made him glad with the joy of Your presence." (NIV)
We were having a discussion at Bible study the other night about having joy in our lives. I kept wondering: "Are we looking for joy in our circumstances or are we looking for joy in God’s presence?" For most of us we look for joy in our circumstances.
America---perhaps the entire Western world---is consumed with the idea of happiness. While our history hints at this idea ("the pursuit of happiness"), I’m not sure that our founders wanted us to be absorbed with being happy as much as they wanted the right to pursue happiness where it might be found, including pursuing it worship of the Lord. I’ve become convinced that the Lord cares much less about our happiness in the moment and is much more concerned about our character which will result in happiness in eternity.
This world is a failing place. The Lord Jesus described it like this:
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal" (Matthew 6:19-20 NIV).
You know, imagine someone asking you to come visit a resort for your vacation and describing it like this:
You wouldn’t want to go there. Certainly this wouldn’t be a place that you would want to put down permanent roots. You’d want to do whatever it was you had to do and then leave as soon as possible.
Think about that.
That’s exactly how this world is. It’s exactly how the Lord Jesus describes this life, this earth. And yet we do our level best not only to stay here, but to grab onto the things of this world and try to convince ourselves that in this kind of environment, we can find happiness.
The psalmist was so much wiser than us, for he wrote: "You have . . . made him glad with the joy of Your presence." (v. 6b). The joy of His presence. Not the joy of our circumstances here in this corrupted creation that will soon be destroyed. Not the joy of the stuff around us that is, even now, deteriorating and which, at any moment, thieves might steal. But rather the joy of His presence. Read that slowly and let it sink into your heart: The. Joy. Of. His. Presence.
Do we even know what that is? Do we even know what it’s like to be in God’s wonderful and magnificent presence? And yet, we can experience that, even here, in this life. We can know the presence of the Almighty God.
The psalmist gives us three ways to learn how to be in God’s presence:
(1) We need to rejoice in God’s strength and in His victories (v. 1).
That seems so simple, but it’s not. Not really. You see, to rejoice in God’s strength and in His victories means that we admit that we can’t do anything and that we must rely on Him to do everything. It also means that we rely on Him to provide and . . . (here’s the crux of the matter) if He doesn’t provide it, we don’t need it.
Did you ever think about that? The Lord’s Prayer says, "Give us today our daily bread." Daily bread. Not bread for the future, for the month, not even for tomorrow, but only what we need for this day, for this moment. And bread. The basic necessity for today. Father, give me today what I need. Do you know why? Because we might not even be here tomorrow.
Why do we fret and worry about what might happen this afternoon or tomorrow or next week? Every victory belongs to the Lord and He is well able to accomplish it. We need to rejoice in His strength and in His victories.
(2) We need to trust in the Lord (v. 7a).
Trusting God means actually trusting Him. It means walking calmly through the mess of our lives and not trying to fix or change or alter or manipulate. It means walking into the fiery furnace even if He doesn’t save us! Do you know that story? The story of the three young men who were thrown into the furnace because they refused to worship an idol? Their response to the king, prior to being thrown in, was this:
"If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and He will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if He does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." (Daniel 3:17-18 NIV).
Trusting God means actually trusting Him. It means walking through the darkness if that’s where He leads. It means learning what He wants and doing it, over everything else. It means doing His will, even if it’s the worst thing that could befall you in this life.
The Lord Jesus, in the garden, prayed: "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will." (Matthew 26:39b NIV). The worst possible thing that could happen to the Lord Jesus was the torture and death He was facing at Calvary. And the best thing that could happen to us was the torture and death that the Lord Jesus was facing at Calvary. He had to die so that we could live.
God’s will is complex, but it is always for our good. Our. Good. Not just my good, but for our good. For the good of us all. The writer to the Hebrews, after accounting all the wonderful things done by the Old Testament saints through faith, wrote this:
"These [saints] were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect." (Hebrews 11:39-40 NIV).
We need to trust God because His plan is larger and far better than anything we could ever dream of. His plan goes beyond the confines of this creation and are always for our good! We need to trust Him completely, and in that trust, learn what joy really is.
(3) Joy comes when we sing and praise about God’s might (v. 13b).
We delude ourselves that we are in control of anything! Do you realize that we can’t even hold the very atoms of our bodies together? Our cells are held together, not by any laws of science (those laws simply observe and report on how things appear to work), but rather by the very power and presence of our Father God! We aren’t in control of squat! And once we understand that simple fact, we can begin to experience the joy that comes in truly understanding God’s might. God’s love. God’s plan. God’s wisdom.
Happiness is a fleeting thing. Happiness is that weird combination of hormones that is produced by our brains as a result of some learned response. Our bodies produce those hormones because, at some point in our past, a similar experience "felt" pleasurable. But that kind of pleasure, that kind of happiness, doesn’t last. This world is on its way to being destroyed and our hormones along with it! Why do we search after happiness with almost a frenetic craziness? And why, as Christians, do we try to make ourselves believe that joy and happiness are the same thing?
Joy isn’t about a feeling; it’s about a truth. Joy isn’t about our circumstances; it’s about God’s character. Joy isn’t about what’s happening now, but is rather about how God’s plan is working out through eternity.
Joy is about God and being in His presence. Joy is about God’s strength, about our trust in that strength, and about rejoicing in His might! Joy is about our Father. All about Him and nothing else. If we want joy, we need to go into His presence: "You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand." (Psalm 16:11 NIV).
© 2017 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
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