Where's the Joy?

I must warn you--this is my longest post ever.  I tried; I really did.  I sat on this post for several days, but I just couldn't smash it into fewer words.  So here's what's on my heart. . . .

Do you find yourself wanting to experience more of God, to be closer to Him?  Do you feel like something is missing from your everyday life?  There must be more, and you know it.  The joy you thought you were supposed to have as a Christian just isn’t there.

It’s easy, I know, to begin to think, “A vibrant Christian life just isn’t possible in my situation.  My life is so mundane.  Where’s the joy here?  I just don’t see the possibility of a joy-filled life.  I’m not at the cutting edge of trusting God through some exciting adventure.”  You are not alone, friend.  Plenty of people are out there searching for someplace else, or someone else, to give them an exciting experience of deeper spirituality, an amazing encounter with God.

Over the years, I’ve seen and heard promises of one-of–a-kind experiences, where you can get away without distractions, where scripture is more alive, fellowship and worship more meaningful, and where you'll cherish Christ more than anywhere else.

Sounds attractive doesn’t it?

It sounds great—until you think about the implications of what that says about the rest of your life!  If I buy what they’re saying, I'm conceding that, in the rest of my life outside the special environment, Christ will always mean less to me, scripture will be duller, fellowship more empty, and worship can never be as rich.  What?!!  Wait a minute?  How can that be?!!

Who do we think He is?

Is He limited by our circumstances?  Honestly, do we believe there are places on earth where He cannot make Himself fully known?  Is God’s ability to reveal Himself, through His Word and in our lives, limited by our environment, surroundings, or circumstances?

Just what do we need to love Christ wholeheartedly?  For worship to be meaningful?  To find more life-changing insight in the scriptures?  Do we need an ideal environment?  God is God where ever we are.   His love endures forever, whether I am Corrie ten Boom in a German concentration camp or I'm in my own home buried under a mountain of dirty laundry.

If my spiritual life seems deeper and my joy more full when my circumstances are more ideally arranged, then that only proves that my environment must be having more impact on my outlook than the presence of God is.  I don't know about you, but that really scares me.  If we weren’t distracted by and focused on externals, the 'perfect' environment wouldn’t have any significant or profound effect.  What if the things we think would make worship sweeter and scripture more profound have nothing to do with Christ and everything to do with a beautiful sensual experience we could create for ourselves?

Granted, almost everybody is more cheerful in a carefully controlled, ideal atmosphere; we seem to be created with a need for order, and our minds appreciate, and thrive in, order and beauty.  That doesn’t mean, though, that we’re more deeply experiencing the presence of God--just because we're more cheerful--when our surroundings are more 'pleasant'.   Actually, I'm afraid it’s a telltale sign that something besides the presence of God is controlling our outlook.  If we experience more of a spiritual high in a protected environment, then we clearly haven’t yet learned to depend on God alone for our joy—sadly, the depth of our spiritual walk still depends on our outward circumstances and environment.  

Now, I’m not advocating turning our homes into chaotic garbage heaps just to prove that God is our only source of joy.   (And, definitely, there is a place for Bible college or other specialized training, or even retreat kind of events with an intentionally intense focus for a time on spiritual things, seen, with a healthy, Scripture-informed perspective, as optional supplements to our spiritual development.)   I’m just saying that if we think we would need to go somewhere other than where God has placed us in our normal life, to some different, somehow 'better', environment, in order to love Christ more deeply, for God's Word to be more alive to us, or to affect any other improvement in our spiritual life, something is very wrong.  We’ve bought a lie.  

So here comes the challenge, and I issue it to myself, too.  This issue of joy really all boils down to an understanding of Who God is.  Do we really believe He is all-powerful?  Do we really believe that fullness of joy is found in His presence?  That He will never leave or forsake us?  Do we really believe He is truth?  Psalm 16:11 says, “In Your presence is fullness of joy”.   I think it’s incredibly significant what it doesn’t say.  It doesn’t say there is fullness of joy when the house is neat, when the children are behaving perfectly, when the dinner isn’t burnt, when the car is running perfectly, when all at work goes smoothly, when Congress votes right, when the sun is shining on your private mountaintop retreat, when all the laundry is clean, or when you are married to a perfect man.

Are we willing to take the Bible for truth when it says that, “The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. . .The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.”? (Psalm 19)  Those words were written down, at God’s direction, by a man who spent part of his life running for his life from a powerful, jealous man, and who experienced huge, tragic personal losses.  But, in the midst of it all, he knew where real joy comes from.

In fact, the Scriptures are full of the stories of ordinary people, in less than ideal circumstances, with real problems, and major distractions, who found joy in knowing God.  They didn’t seek a different life or a different locale to find joy in the Lord.  They found that God’s presence brought fullness of joy, in even the darkest of moments.

We don’t need altered circumstances to know real joy.  The heavens declare the glory of God, but He doesn't need a 'mountaintop' to make Himself known.  We've got His Word in our hands.  The Creator of the universe and lover of our souls will meet us in His Word wherever we are, whatever our surroundings.  If we believe any less, we don’t yet understand Who He is!

I, for one, want to dig deeper in His Word, to know and understand His heart, to let the joy that comes from His Spirit permeate my life against all odds and in spite of any of my circumstances, not because of them!  How about you?

P.S.   I find encouragement on this journey in the words of Paul in Philippians, especially. . . which he wrote as a prisoner (for his faith), by the way. . .(If you haven't paused there lately, you're missing out.)  And in the themes of thanksgiving woven through so much of Scripture.  More on being thankful soon. . . .