Friend, is your heart leaping in anticipation? Do you get butterflies tingling in your tummy with the heartbeat racing at the idea of something new? New is exciting. New comes with expectation. Some days, when our eyes open in the morning, it is easy to see the freshness and beauty. But other days may not seem so glorious as bad news spreads, world upsets are made prominent, and the disease of sin runs rampant. On days like this, one can almost hear the unpleasant groaning of creation (Rom. 8:22), and you can almost hear the cry for restored order and healing. And it will come. Any ugliness and dreariness of sin and decay today will all give way to the promise of the new that is to come. We are encouraged that things will not remain as they are now, with the Word encouraging us, saying, “And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.'” (Revelation 21:5, ESV). We will, without a doubt, see the promise of the new.
“The joy of the LORD is your strength.” Those words penned from Nehemiah 8:10 we generally claim or hear quoted when people are experiencing adversities or may have a monumental task ahead of them. Sometimes they are even expressed in moments of celebration. For days of sorrow or for days of peace, any day is a good day where a child of God can declare, “The joy of the LORD is your strength.”
One thing I have learned in life is that we do go through many different seasons and circumstances. Some good. And yet, some which can make one feel a little void or empty. Happiness and joy can’t seem to be found in any activity or normal pleasure.
During these seasons, one must remember that life will always act as a variable. It may seem a simple thing to say or write, but in the midst of the challenges and sorrows, yes, it is sometimes hard for us to see these truths, therefore, we must be gently reminded of how things really are at times. And that is life changes. Things get added and taken away. Some changes affect how we feel and when we base our feelings on these variables we experience many ups and downs.
What then? It is the unchanging, the solid, the constant that we need to build everything else upon. As long as we live in this world things will always change. One hundred percent of our time will not stay in a state of sameness. We will have times of exaltation, growth, and increase. But, we will also experience those things that grieve us, break our hearts, and spend our energies with the multitude of tears flowing from us (see Ecclesiastes 3:1-11).
Therefore, since we are susceptible to these changes we must base our life, our joy, our foundation to everything else upon Him who never changes.
God is our constant! “For I am the Lord, I change not,” He exclaimed in Malachi 3:6. We also have this promise written through James: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning,” (James 1:17; emphasis added).
Our Heavenly Father will always be the wonderful, Heavenly Father that He has always been. No matter how your circumstances may feel to you right now, that truth will never change.
That being said, if the happiness and joy you once felt or usually feel have escaped you today, perhaps it is because we have become more dependent on too many changing factors rather than filling our heart, mind, soul, and life with the true joy of Him and from Him that never changes.
In dealing with many sorrows and afflictions himself, David penned his own beautiful words, declaring the assurance of his joy. He stated, “And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: it shall rejoice in his salvation,” (Psalm 35:9).
When we bring our all to focus on God… When we tune our souls into the proper source, we will find that situations may still be adverse, but because I have Him, because I have a relationship with God, and because His salvation has raised me from far worse than where my soul would be without Him, I can still rejoice!
I think it’s safe to say that we all want it to feel good all the time. But feeling good and have everything go our way or turn out just as we desire is not a prerequisite for true joy because those things and feelings will also and always change. But my God won’t, and when it is He that I open my heart to and allow all that He is to shine on me and everything that I am feeling, then I can experience that true, unchanging joy!
I recently attended an event where the fathers of our organization were looked to, recognized, appreciated, and honored for their contributions to the faith and the church body. In an age, where sadly, there seems to be an absence of good, godly role models, I am reminded, currently speaking, that we are never without wholesome examples to pattern our lives and walks of faith after.
In the Bible, the children of Israel did not always have current, good representatives to follow. King Hezekiah, for example, had the wicked King Ahaz as his biological father. But as Hezekiah grew and came to reigning as king at the age of twenty-five, he didn’t follow in his birth father’s footsteps. Through him, a great reformation took place in the land because his heart was stirred to do more and for that, he looked to better examples. 2 Kings 18:3 says, “And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did.”
Hezekiah reached beyond the experience of those around him and those who raised him to find a good life to pattern his ways after. And yes, David, like all humans, had his moments of weakness and frailty, but in the end, was still dubbed a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). David’s heart was directed toward God and this is what Hezekiah wanted for himself and for the people.
He recited to the people the evil their fathers have done (2 Chronicles 29:6-9; 30:6-9) and pled with them to return to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel – the same God who the faithful fathers followed and not the practicing of current affairs or political influences.
Even if one is devoid of what we would call a good example in their present life and circumstances, we have what the Bible calls a great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:) whose lives we can look to as a holy example to follow after. And of course, Jesus Christ is the litmus test that everyone should judge their steps by and seek to represent in their own lives and order their steps after (Hebrews 12:2).
“For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.” 1 Peter 2:21
“Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.” Philippians 3:17
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