What Is Joy?

 

What Is Joy?

John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

Acts 16:25 “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.”

Mark 6:51a “And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased:”

     Living in the Midwest, I have witnessed many summer storms.  The advancing cold front appears on the darkened horizon.  The wind shifts direction from a friendly warm breeze to a foretelling chill.  As the sun races away and hides, ominous clouds billow in agony telling the churning atmosphere beneath them.  Great prophets marching with arms locked announce reality.  Dropping precipitation in successive waves, the full brunt is felt under the storm’s hand.  There is no escape as either direction is enveloped with a whipping lashing tear.

     As quickly as the army came to trample, it gallops away leaving sodden earth and a curious sun peeking out to dry again.  The wind stills and questions why we ever feared her before.  Water drips from sagging trees and vegetation.  Sounds are deadened with the storm’s perspiration.  We peer from under our shelter and see the landscape changed.

     Peace with God lies after the storm.  When we say yes and commit to follow, Jesus commands abatement.  It is only His voice that the wind obeys.  The destruction seen yet a great reconstruction is promised.  Fear is bound and we understand the menace will no longer dominate and excise anxieties.  We rest.

     If peace is the stillness following wind’s altercation, then the sweet singing of songbirds describe joy.  Peace first, then joy.

     But what is joy?  Joy is simply the awareness of God’s presence.  “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  With this promise, we are content.  We will no longer be alone.  He is with us wherever we walk.  This is what Paul and Silas found out.  In the depth of prison, they rejoiced in Him.  Were they happy?  No.  They desired to be elsewhere.  But for the time being, their Savior was with them and knew their condition.  In this they had joy.

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