Now, heart focused on the Godhead,
love makes the air too dense to breathe.
His presence bathes the world in light.
My eyes must squint against the glare:
his holy essence, who he is.
Joy jolts me unexpectedly.
Reality is so rock-heavy
only my lightness of being
keeps me from going under.
If, astonished at this transformation,
my sensors pull back, quivering,
and turn to safer foci like
the joy that slipped in sideways,
it diffuses into aftermath
and I am left still wishing
that the feeling could remain
without the threat of intimacy
and all that light exposing me.
The truth is that this pulsing joy
refuses to be idolized,
to take one jot of radiance
from the One, the holy Other.
Its impulse is my brush against
the edges of his ways, and only comes
when heart’s eyes center on my God
and I burst open like a flower.
Joy registers the shock.
Have you experienced those moments of ecstatic joy when you suddenly find your very soul leaping to a new level of worship? When it happens, you want to cling to it for as long as possible. It feels like a taste of what it will be like to see our Lord God in person and know him in a whole new way. If only it would last! The temptation is to focus on that feeling and pursue it rather than the Person that inspires it.
When we are truly worshiping him, hearts lifted to him, joy may embrace us within. One place where I experience it is when I join his people in songs of praise, remembering who he is; it can bring tears of joy to my eyes. Going to his temple, there is protection from the storms outside, real peace. Psalm 84 uses the imagery of a bird finding a safe place for her nests right there where God’s people are singing his praise:
2 I desperately want to be in the courts of the LORD’s temple. My heart and my entire being shout for joy to the living God. 3 Even the birds find a home there, and the swallow builds a nest, where she can protect her young near your altars, O LORD WHO RULES OVER ALL, my king and my God. 4 How blessed are those who live in your temple and praise you continually! (Ps. 84:2-4 NET)
There we remember his blessings and the wonders he has done. We reflect on salvation, and on his ongoing outreach past all the barriers people around the world have put in place. We rejoice when we hear about those who have been going through trouble but continue to flourish and bear fruit—like when a global worker (missionary) shares how the Lord has been at work in a tough place.
For you, O LORD, have made me happy by your work. I will sing for joy because of what you have done. (Ps. 92:4 NET)
Even when we have not yet seen the answer to our prayers and our community includes those who oppose our Lord, who turn against us, we can go with the psalmist to petition God for the blessing of joy: he is our source of real joy:
Vindicate me, O God! Fight for me against an ungodly nation! Deliver me from deceitful and evil men! 2 For you are the God who shelters me. Why do you reject me? Why must I walk around mourning because my enemies oppress me? 3 Reveal your light and your faithfulness! They will lead me, they will escort me back to your holy hill, and to the place where you live. 4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to the God who gives me ecstatic joy, so that I express my thanks to you, O God, my God, with a harp. 5 Why are you depressed, O my soul? Why are you upset? Wait for God! For I will again give thanks to my God for his saving intervention. (Ps. 43:1-5 NET)
At times what is needed is to confess our sin, every failing. Repentance brings us into God’s presence with confidence in forgiveness, and then joy erupts in praise:
By David; a well-written song. How blessed is the one whose rebellious acts are forgiven, whose sin is pardoned! 2 How blessed is the one whose wrongdoing the LORD does not punish, in whose spirit there is no deceit. 3 When I refused to confess my sin, my whole body wasted away, while I groaned in pain all day long. . . . 5 Then I confessed my sin; I no longer covered up my wrongdoing. I said, “I will confess my rebellious acts to the LORD.” And then you forgave my sins . . . 10 An evil person suffers much pain, but the LORD’s faithfulness overwhelms the one who trusts in him. 11 Rejoice in the LORD and be happy, you who are godly! Shout for joy, all you who are morally upright! (Ps. 32:1-3,5,10-11 NET)
Jesus himself underlined this to his disciples: obedience to his commands results in joy. This is not temporary joy, but joy that accompanies our ongoing deep fellowship with him as we live in his love and live out his love. What an amazing gift that is, joy that does not depend on a circumstance or a momentary emotion but on union with him that expresses itself in genuine self-giving love!
9 “Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you; remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete. 12 My commandment is this– to love one another just as I have loved you. 1 (Jn. 15:9-12 NET)
Yes, those moments of exultant joy are genuine results of worship and thanksgiving. Yet there is also a continuous joy embedded in our souls when we remain linked to our Lord, filled with his love and living it out in our relationships. That is “complete” joy that is not dependent on circumstances but on union with him. It does not only pulse within in us for a moment, but is living there inside us when we are truly attached to him. When we obey his commands, walk by faith and trust in him, we cling to his loving character as our never-ending assurance. It is that complete joy. What a gift!
Do not be agitated by evildoers; do not envy those who do wrong. 2 For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender green plants. 3 Trust in the LORD and do what is good; dwell in the land and live securely. 4 Take delight in the LORD, and He will give you your heart’s desires. (Ps. 37:1-4 CSB)
Let’s desire joy!
