Yesterday during
my prayer time, the Lord said to me, “Samson’s hair was the source of his
strength; what is the source of yours?” That made me stop and think for a
moment—what is the source of my
strength? Then I remembered the words to the famous Bible-based chorus—the joy of the Lord is my strength. It
comes from Nehemiah 8.
The people had
been listening as the book of the Law was read aloud. Verses 9-10 read: “Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law,
and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is
holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been
weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy
choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared.
This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.””
The
Hebrew word used for “joy” in this Scripture passage is “hedvah,” which is
directly connected to Yahweh. It is the
Lord’s joy which strengthens. And why would God have joy? Because He can
have fellowship with us. We are not cut off from him—through the blood of
Jesus, the veil was torn in two.
I believe that to
have the joy of the Lord is to
understand, in the depths of our spirits, the enormity of this truth—Jesus made
a way for us—He gave his life in order to set us free, and not just temporarily or for a season but free for all
eternity! Free to know Him, free to love Him, free to be part of the family of
God. We are then free to fix our eyes on Jesus, who “[f]or the joy set before him…endured
the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of
God” (Hebrews 12:2b). What was the joy
before Him? We were! Our
salvation—the work that was finished on Calvary—each one of us—we are His joy!
And because the
Spirit of God lives in us, we have access
to that joy. When we thank Him for the Cross, we tap into that joy; when we lay
our lives down for others—carry their burdens and serve them as Jesus would, we
tap into that joy; when we do not take Christ’s gift for granted but instead
make our lives a living sacrifice, we tap into that joy. And His Spirit that
allows us “to live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28)” becomes a fountain
of joy in our lives.
Let’s not keep a
cap on that fountain. In order to have the fruit of joy, we must joyfully go
about the Lord’s business. Think of a little child’s heart as he or she sings
the song “The Joy of the Lord is My Strength.” There is a verse that goes “If you want joy, you must clap for it.”
Clapping signifies enthusiasm and celebration. That’s the very spirit Nehemiah
was encouraging within the people—it was not a time for mourning. It was time
to celebrate all that God had done and His faithfulness to His people. We too
are His people—fully bought—and we have no reason to mourn. We serve a risen
Lord! Time to clap and keep on clapping.
No comments:
Post a Comment