The Joy of The Lord

Would you be happy and joyful if you were told that you inherited a million dollars fortune? How about 100 million dollars? Well I could do with 50 million, which would be quite all right in my case.

There is an amount of joy overwhelming enough to receive this amount of money, isn’t it? For the average humans it is, yet there are plenty of cases when money do not represent big deal, in fact this sum would mean absolutely nothing, regardless how poor or rich a person might be.

What can do billions of dollars laid around the bed of a person for whom medicine has no more solutions? They can’t buy life, they can’t buy the health back therefore, in such cases they become useless.
It doesn’t necessarily take a terminal disease to bring a person in a state where money are not the solution. There are those pains that medicine cannot detect even with the highest of technologies: the hurts of the heart, of one’s soul.

All the money in the world will not make up for the loss of a dear one, will not resolve the difficult problems of a marriage, will not pay for the amount of guilt or hard feelings and rejection.

God knows that, that’s why, even if He will provide for His children, He is not primarily focused on the joy material possessions can bring. As everything in this world, they are subject to decay, therefore God wants to set our eyes on the eternal values, ones that will remain forever.
There is one verse that made me think about the importance God places on joy. It is striking:

"Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you." Deuteronomy 28:47, 48

God expects us to take joy in everything He gives us, He wants us to serve Him gladly! The following verses emphasize the same idea, the fact that we are to serve God joyfully, just like you would be working for the best paying Company in the world, a Company you know will never come to bankruptcy and will always want you to work for them, appreciating what you are as a human and also rewarding you for your work for them.

"There you and all your families are to make a feast before the Lord your God, with joy in everything to which you put your hand, because the Lord has given you his blessing. "Deuteronomy 12:7

"You are to keep the feast with joy, you and your son and your daughter, your man-servant and your woman-servant, and the Levite, and the man from a strange country, and the child without a father, and the widow, who are living among you." Deuteronomy 16:14

"And you are to make your peace-offerings, feasting there with joy before the Lord your God." Deuteronomy 27:7

The Lord does not force anyone to worship Him, just like a human being cannot force you to respect him/her. You can’t respect someone unless they’ve earned your respect. The same way, God opens our eyes, repeatedly showering us with His love and blessings, loving us for who we are. No, God does not love sin, but God loves us humans and wants to show us a better way, the way of righteousness, the pathway of life which is not a bunch of rules and regulations but a Person, a real Person namely His Son, Jesus Christ.

For Christianity out of all religions, the fact that Jesus Christ is real and alive is the core of belief. As the Bible says, without this truth, our faith is in vain and we are still dying in our sins. Whereas for all others religions and religious leaders is not important whether they are dead or alive as long as you keep the principles or ideas they have implemented trough their belief.

This is one reason I chose Christianity, it is the most practical and "hands on" from all other ideas, concepts and theories. Yes, the joy we receive from our God that is very much alive, the appreciation and blessings, all the manifestations of love that He showers upon us, give us no other way but to gladly and joyfully serve the God of Jesus Christ, His Father and our Father, Adonai. He gave us His Holy Spirit and a facet of His fruit is JOY, joy regardless of circumstances.

"And the Lord your God will make you fertile in all good things, blessing the work of your hands, and the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your cattle, and the fruit of your land: for the Lord will have joy in you, as he had in your fathers…"Deuteronomy 30:9

May you have the joy of the Lord in your heart in everything you do, in all your actions and thoughts, words and attitudes, and more than anything may you have His joy upon you when you praise Him! Rejoice always!