How can we rejoice always? How can we
experience joy when we live in such a hurting, broken world? How can
we experience joy when we are such hurting, broken people? Where can
joy be found in a world where 20 children, ages 6-7, and 6 adults can be gunned down in a school? Where can joy be found in the midst of such evil?
How do we rejoice in the midst of:
Adversity, Death, Distress, Grief, Hardship, Heartache, Oppression,
Pain, Sickness, The Storm, Suffering, Terror, Tragedy, Trials, and
Trouble? (Some of the top results of a google search of the phrase, "Joy in
the midst of").
In between the two advents (Jesus'
birth and Jesus' return) we live in the midst of so much that seeks
to rob us of the Hope, Love, Joy, and Peace that is offered to us
through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of our Savior. How
in the world can we experience joy in the midst?
The Miriam Webster dictionary defines
joy as the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune, or
by the prospect of possessing what one desires; a state of happiness
or felicity; a source or cause of delight. But this makes it sound like joy is
only experienced in the midst of happiness. And yet the Bible tells
us to rejoice always. The Apostle Paul even urges us to rejoice in
our suffering.
Intuitively and experientially we know
that happiness and joy are not one and the same. Joy is more than and
often other than happiness. There are things that make us happy, give
us pleasures, that bring no joy. In fact, they can bring us
tremendous grief and pain. And we also know that in the midst of
sorrow and sadness we can experience joy. When someone we love dies,
who has lived a long and blessed life, and who we are confident had a
saving faith in Christ Jesus, we can rejoice even in the midst of the
sorrow and sadness that we experience.
If sorrow and sadness, then, aren't the
opposite of joy, what is? I'm not sure what the exact answer is, but
I think that things like despair, depression, and maybe most
importantly, distrusting God come pretty close.
In her book, Choose Joy: Because
Happines Is Not Enough, Kay Warren defines joy this way:
“Joy is the settled assurance that
God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence
that ultimately everything is going to be all right, and the
determined choice to praise God in all things.”
She goes on to write, "“Believing
that ultimately everything is going to be all right takes into
account … [all the pain and suffering and tragedy and heartache
and brokenness] ... Choosing to believe that God is always working,
knitting together the fragments of our lives, always in control of it
all, means that life will work together for our good and his glory.”
The bottom line is, joy can be experienced if we truly trust God, no
matter what we are experiencing in the midst. But it isn't easy. At least
for me.
While I'm not a big fan of Robert Schuller,
I like what he says about joy: "Joy is not the absence of
suffering.
It is the presence of God." And
Paul Sailhamer writes, “Joy comes from knowing God is in control of
our lives.” For his part, Dr. Rober P. Martin
writes that joy comes from our present possession of God's blessings
[because of what God has done and is doing] and a well-grounded hope
of possessing ALL that God has promised us in God's word.
Three of this week's lectionary texts
have much to say about joy in the midst.
Philippians 4:4-7
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will
say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The
Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every
situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your
requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all
understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
We are to rejoice always! How? By
taking all of our needs and concerns to God in prayer. And we are to
do so with thanksgiving, knowing that God is able to do abundantly
more than we ask. And what happens when we do? We are promised that
the peace of God, which is far greater than anything we can
comprehend, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. And so,
as we mourn with those who lost love ones at Sandy Hook elementary
school, we are called to rejoice, bringing our prayers and petitions
for those who died and those who mourn, bringing our own fears and
heartaches, to God in prayer. I don't know about you, but I confess
that it is still hard to believe in God's transcendence and
omnipotence in the midst of such tragedy. But where would we be
without this hope? Where would we be without these words of promise?
Isaiah 12:2-6
Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The Lord, the Lord himself,
is my
strength and my defense;
he has become my salvation.”
With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation.
In that day you will say:
“Give praise to the Lord, proclaim
his name;
make known among the nations what he
has done,
and proclaim that his name is exalted.
Sing to the Lord, for he has done
glorious things;
let this be known to all the world.
Shout aloud and sing for joy, people
of Zion,
for great is the Holy One of Israel
among you.”
We can experience joy in the midst,
because God is our salvation. God is our strength and our defense.
We can experience joy because we draw water, we draw life itself,
from the wells of salvation. And God is our well of salvation. I am
reminded that Jesus is the living water which has been offered to us.
Look at all that God has done and is
doing! Consider all the blessings of God! Consider the birth of our
Savior! Consider the salvation we are offered through his death and
resurrection! Consider his promised return. And consider that in
the midst we are not alone! God, the Holy One of Israel, is among
us. As we sing, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" let us remember
that Jesus is God With Us. And let us not forget that Jesus has, as
promised, sent the Holy Spirit to abide with us.
Zephaniah 3:14-17 (18-20)
Sing, Daughter Zion;
shout aloud, Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your
heart,
Daughter Jerusalem!
The Lord has taken away your
punishment,
he has turned back your enemy.
The Lord, the King of Israel, is with
you;
never again will you fear any harm.
On that day
they will say to Jerusalem,
“Do not fear, Zion;
do not let your hands hang limp.
The Lord your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke
you,
but will rejoice over you with
singing.”
We can rejoice in the midst, because of
what God has done, what God is doing, and what God has promised to
do. God has taken away our punishment. God is with us in the midst
and we need not fear any harm. We need not fear, we need not give
up, why? Because God is with us in the midst! It is God, the Mighty
Warrior, who saves.
And even when we feel unable to
experience joy ... even when joy seems so completely absent ... God
delights in us, God loves us and will no longer rebuke us, but will
rejoice over us with singing. I believe that God can rejoice over us
even now ... even now as we find ourselves in the midst ... because
God knows the end of our story. God knows how he will deliver us, in
this life or in the next, from all that seeks to rob us of joy.
Indeed, we also ought to remember that
though we may often struggle to experience joy, the joy that we ought
to experience is not "our" joy, but rather the joy of the
Lord. In Nehemiah we are reminded that "the joy of the Lord is
our strength." Whatever our circumstance, however difficult it
is to experience joy, we need to remember that God is our strength
and salvation.
If you find yourself in the midst,
struggling to experience joy, know that God can rejoice over you
because God knows the end of your story. These are easy words for me
to write, but far harder words for me to cling to and believe. But I
must, for without these words of promise, what hope is there?
I once read that "Some things are
best learned in calm, others in storm." I wonder if the same
might be said of joy. The joy that seems to come easiest is the joy
experienced in calm. But maybe the most profound joy can be
experienced in the storms of life. Maybe it is only in the midst
that we can experience true joy, the joy of the Lord.
This all, yet again, takes me back to
the fundamental question that I believe God asks each of us every
day, at every moment. "Do you trust me?" You see, if we
truly trust God we can rejoice in the midst, because God knows the
end our story. But I confess, it isn't easy. It isn't always easy
to trust God in the midst. And it certainly isn't easy to always be
joyful.
Kay Warren writes that she once thought
of life as consisting of waves of sorrow and joy. But she has come
to think of life as a train track, with one rail being sorrow and one
being joy. There may be sadness and sorrow at all times in the
midst, but there also is joy. She urges us to choose the joy that we
have been offered by God. She urges us to be assured that God is in
control, no matter what the circumstance; to be confident that
ultimately (maybe not as soon as we want, but ultimately) everything
is going to be alright; and to choose to praise God regardless of
what we are experiencing in the midst.
Jesus once told his disciples that they
should "rejoice because their names are written in heaven."
Now one could read these words as an escapist excuse to not
experience the pain and sadness and sorrow in the midst. But I don't
think this is at all what Jesus meant. In fact, Jesus was seeking to
reorient his disciples' joy. Instead of rejoicing over the things we
can accomplish in this world, instead of merely rejoicing over our
present successes and happiness, we have something far greater to
rejoice about: that our names are written in heaven!
There will come a time, we are told in
the book of revelation, when all the pain and heartache and distress
of life in the midst will be wiped away.
Revelation 21:3-4
And I heard a loud voice from the
throne saying,
“Look! God’s dwelling place
is now among the people,
and he will dwell with them.
They will be his people,
and God himself will be with them
and be their God.
He will wipe every tear from their
eyes.
There will be no more death
or mourning or crying or pain,
for the old order of things
has passed away.”
If you find yourself in the midst, as I
do, finding it hard to rejoice, I urge you to cling to your faith in
God. Seek to trust God with your past, present, and future. And even if
you are unable to rejoice in the moment, know that God rejoices over
you with singing, because God knows the end of your story. And know,
that whether it is in this life or in the life to come, God will wipe away
every tear, there will be no more death, or mourning or crying or
pain.
