All Joy

I have a mug that tells me “the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). Joy that strengthens: this sounds good to me! But then in James 1:2 it says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.”  All joy found in trials and struggles: what is that?!

So what exactly is this joy of the Lord? And how on earth am I supposed to count everything all joy?

First, it's important to note joy isn't happiness. Webster’s old 1828 Dictionary defines happiness as “the agreeable sensations which spring from the enjoyment of good.” Joy, on the other hand, is defined as “the passion or emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good.”

Notice the word “expectation": Joy does not need current tense good experiences in order to exist. Joy can come from the sheer expectation of good. Happiness, though, is a direct result of the enjoyment of good; i.e. it is circumstantial. Joy is bigger than that.

This joy comes from knowing Christ, abiding in Him, and being in His Word and in prayer. (Psalm 16:11 “In your presence there is fullness of joy.”)

Jesus is the perfect example of finding joy in the expectation of good to come. When Jesus was on the cross, there was definitely no enjoyment of good in that particular circumstance, but Hebrews 12:2 says that he still found joy. “Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Seeing beyond his current [most awful] circumstances to the joy of reconciliation and redemption and resurrection enabled Jesus to have joy.

2 Corinthians 6:10 - “As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.”

I think those two words “possessing everything” are one of the biggest keys to finding joy in all things. You see, as Christians, we can find joy in all things because we possess Christ, and no one can take Him from us. Not only that, but Romans 8:28 gives us the comfort that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him.”

Put these things together, and I believe we will be able to find joy even in the most difficult dark times. As Oswald Chambers said, “A saint doesn’t know the joy of the Lord in spite of tribulation, but because of it.”

The joy of the Lord is simply the expectation of the perfectly good God always at work in our lives and in our worlds. And he is always there, so there is always joy. All joy, all the time.