There Is Joy in the Lord
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Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength! A day devoted to the Lord should be a glad day. It is a day full of the presence of God, and the presence of God should not make us sad. It should not inspire dread and terror. There is nothing in God to make us fear or to cause us to grieve.
He is not our enemy; he is our friend. He does not cherish thoughts of anger toward us—but thoughts of peace. It does not distress us to meet a human friend who has in his heart peace and good will toward us. A day with such a one, would never sadden us.
There Is Joy In The Lord
We would not spend it weeping. It would seem strange indeed if when we enter our friend's presence, we should break out into wailing. The presence of God is sunshine; it is brightness. It hides no dangers. Its every influence is joy. It should inspire joy. Some people are indeed afraid of God, but it is because they have wrong thoughts of him. God was terror to her because she thought of him only as anger, justice, fury.
She thought of God only as an avenger.
Be the Lord's in this place. Let all glory be given to Him. Verse 1. There is joy in the Lord. There is love in His Spirit. There is hope in the knowledge of Him. There is joy in the Lord There is love in His Spirit There is hope in the knowledge of Him There's a fountain that flows. Like a river from heaven. Abounding in.
She thought of Jesus as mercy and love. She supposed he had come to take us out of the hands of a wrathful God. She hated God—but loved Jesus Christ. Yet this is not the truth about God. It was God who loved the world and gave his Son to be its Savior. God and Christ are one. Christ is God revealed in human life. Christ is the mercy of God. God is our Father , having in him all tenderness, all compassion, all goodness. It is only when we misunderstand God, that we can be afraid of him.
We cannot weep when we are in the presence of God, if we have the true thought of his gracious love to his people.
This is a lesson we cannot learn too well, nor fix too deeply in our hearts. It is this spirit which glorifies true Christmas giving. It works miracles of love all over the world. Within a generation of entering the promised land, God's people had forgotten the annual feast of tabernacles. At the close of this beautiful home incident, we have a word which has become classical in the Scriptures because of its far-reaching meaning.
Our sorrow will be swallowed up in the joy that the divine presence inspires in us. We need to think of this when we are in grief. Perhaps the fact that we are Christians, does not always mean as much to us as it should in such experiences. Do we bear pain and trial differently from the way in which unbelievers do? When we have a great sorrow—do we stop to think of our relation to Christ and ask how we ought to bear ourselves as his friends? Does it ever occur to us that our excessive grief may not please God, that it may mar the beauty of our fellowship with him, that we may sin by indulging it overmuch?
We know that sorrow is sacred with God. To those who are in sorrow, he gives the assurance, "As one whom his mother comforts—so will I comfort you. The Bible is full of divine sympathy with human grief. When we lay our head upon God's Word, we feel the beating of a heart of infinite love and compassion. God hears our songs of joy—but He hears also the dropping of our tears, and the throbbing of our hearts when we suffer. He hears the cries and groans of His child—every pang of distress. It is a measureless comfort to us—to know that our Savior is able to sympathize with our weaknesses.
The gentle sympathy of God with our human weakness and pain—is one of the most marvelous qualities of the divine character, and is infinite in its comfort. To know that God sympathizes with us in our every pang, that He cares when we are in distress, brings Him very near to us and makes our pain very sacred. We must not think that God is angry with our tears, or forbids us to grieve. Jesus Himself wept when His friend had died and when He sat with the sorrowing ones and saw their anguish.
He sympathizes with us all in our pain. It is not grief which He condemns or forbids—but excessive grief, grief that is unsubmissive to His holy and sovereign will. Even the grace of God does not make our hearts less tender. It does not dull our feelings so that pain hurts us less. We do not suffer less in our sorrow—because we love Christ. One way God helps us—is by making us strong to bear pain and to endure suffering. He also brings the great truths and facts of Scripture before us, in such a way that we see how blessing and good will come to us out of pain and loss, and receive the strength that divine grace imparts.
Comfort is a reality —not a mere sentiment.
Sorrow is not actually taken away—it is turned into joy. Our trouble is not removed from us, and our senses are not dulled and made incapable of pain. We weep still—but our tears are struck through now with the light of heaven. We sin, therefore, in our sorrow—if we refuse to be comforted. We are God's children and our Father's love includes all the affairs of our lives.
He watches over us with infinite affection. When He ordains us to suffer—He will not let the suffering hurt us, however painful the experience may be. In all times of danger—He hides us away in the secret of His love where no evil can touch us. His purpose always is to use pain to make us better, to purify and enrich our lives, to mature our graces. He wants us to submit ourselves in confidence and trust, to His holy will and to accept our sufferings with cheerful spirit.
Sadness should never be the mood of God's children, however painful their experiences. Refusing to be comforted, is never Christlike. Nehemiah marked out for the people, a way of duty. Instead of giving way to weeping, when they thought of their sins—he sent them to a service that would lead them to joy. Passive grief is not the penitence which God desires us to nourish when we have sinned.
He desires repentance , and then turning to him in joyful obedience. We are not to waste our time in vain regret and idle grieving, when we have done foolishly. Instead, we are to begin at once to rebuild what sin has destroyed, and enter at once upon a beautiful life. A poet tells of walking in his garden one morning after a storm. There he saw a torn bird's nest lying on the ground—part of the ruin the storm had wrought. The poet had a gentle heart and began to pity the birds in the loss they had suffered.
But as he stood there under the tree, thinking sadly of what had happened, he heard chattering voices above him, and looking up he saw the birds busy at the rebuilding of their ruined nest. So it should be with us, when disaster has come to us. We should not waste a moment in grieving over the ruin—but should quickly begin to rebuild our place with joy and trust.
The days are holy unto the Lord, and the only way to spend holy days—is to devote them to ministries of love. That is what Nehemiah bade his people to do. They had sinned—but they were not to give a moment to grieving over their folly and evil. There was not an instant to waste. The only true thing to do, was to set about the doing of their duty.
First, they were to celebrate the festival in their own homes.
He wants his children to be happy. Worship in Old Testament days was to find its expression in feasting. Certain parts of the offerings brought to the altar were to be consumed in the holy fire, and then certain parts were to be given back to the worshiper to be eaten by himself and his family. With these portions, sacred because they had been given to God, he was to hold a feast in his own house, not a feast of revelry—but of pure feasting. A holy day was not a solemn, sad day—but a day bright with joy, a festival day.
Too often, even in the Christian church, religion has been misrepresented as something somber and without gladness. Men have thought of God as terrible, not a happy friend to whom they could come with glad heart—but one before whom they could appear only with awe and dread. Children have been frightened with the warning that God saw them, and would punish them—as if that was God's chief business with them.
The worship of God has been represented as observed without joy. But this is an utterly false representation of the divine character. God is love, and love is joy. He is the blessed God, the happy God. The religion of Christ is all gladness. We are taught to rejoice in the Lord. There are more calls in the Bible to praise —than there are even to pray. Jesus Christ was ushered into the world with a burst of angels' songs.
His life on the earth was full of joy. He was a sufferer—but he illumined every sorrow he endured, with shining gladness. He was the light of the world. His teaching was full of beatitudes, blesseds. All the highest expressions of the religious spirit are in song. The Jews here at Jerusalem were commanded to cease their weeping and in their own homes to celebrate with a feast of choice foods and sweet drinks.
Emphasis was thus put upon the true holiness of home. It was there, and not in the temple, that they were to celebrate the essential part of the worship. It was to be celebrated, too, as a glad family meal—and not as a burdensome, solemn ritual. They were to find the gladness, not the sorrow; the sweetness, not the bitterness; the best of everything, not the worst. The day was holy to the Lord and there were not to be tears —but songs. Another feature of the day, was loving thought of others. They were to eat the fat and drink the sweet at home—but they were also to send portions unto those for whom nothing had been prepared, for the day was holy.
Part of the holiness is always loving service. We are never to eat our bread alone; we are to share it.
In Job's self-justification, when his friends had spoken bitterly against him, he says, among other things: Have I been stingy with my food and refused to share it with hungry orphans? Whenever I saw someone who was homeless and without clothes, did they not praise me for providing wool clothing to keep them warm?
If my arm has abused an orphan because I thought I could get away with it, then let my shoulder be wrenched out of place! Let my arm be torn from its socket! We may never eat our morsel alone—while others are hungry. This lesson was taught thus emphatically in the Old Testament, and still more earnestly in the New Testament.
In the Lord's Prayer we are taught to pray not for our own bread alone—but for bread for others as well. The days are holy—all the days are holy, and no day set aside for God, must be stained by selfishness. The direction to the people was, "Go and celebrate with a feast of choice foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. The poor were always to be remembered.
The stranger was never to be forgotten. He who let the needy go hungry when he had plenty on his own table—was severely condemned. In the New Testament the lesson was taught with marked emphasis. Generosity is a quality of all true Christian character. To think only of ourselves, and give no thought to others—is contrary to the spirit of Christ, which teaches us always to share our plenty with those who lack. Stinginess is always condemned. Generosity is always praised. Generosity is a large word.
It has a root which means excellence, goodness. It is a noble word. Its first definition in the dictionary is "nobility; the order of nobles. The word generous was applied only to the good, the brave, the noble. He had largeness of heart, magnanimity. He taught his followers to be generous. The lack of generosity in one who calls himself a Christian, is a blot on his name! It marks him as unworthy. It dishonors him—as cowardice dishonors the name of him who calls himself a man.
The brightest deeds that shine in the story of humanity, are the deeds of generosity. Generosity does not merely return good for good ; does not merely measure its giving— by what it has received. Like Christly love, it blesses the hand that has smitten, it repays cruelty with gentleness, it serves most unselfishly, those who have done the sorest wrong.
Generosity is the perfect flower of love. It does not think who it is that needs—but gives and serves the unworthiest. It thinks only of the fact there is one for whom nothing has been prepared, and sends a portion to him, that he may share the feast of choice foods and sweet drinks. It is this spirit which glorifies true Christmas giving. Christmas is a wonderful day. It works miracles of love all over the world. Its feast is kept with joy and song in countless Christian homes.
But the true glory of Christmas, is seen in what it does among the poor , in prisons and hospitals and orphanages and refuges of all kinds, where it brings its portion for those for whom nothing has been prepared. Make a joyful noise to the Lord , all the earth! And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord , God of hosts.
You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God.
There Is Joy In The Lord – Cheri Keaggy Lyrics and Chords | Worship Together
This also is vanity and a striving after wind. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation.
But take heart; I have overcome the world. Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete. As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything. Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Be glad in the Lord , and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart! I will greatly rejoice in the Lord ; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,. Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. And they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced.
And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away. On the second day the heads of fathers' houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites, came together to Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the Law. For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God,. You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
And they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for the Lord had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, so that he aided them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! You will say in that day: And you will say in that day: For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.
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May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!