joy

I remember driving to church one Sunday morning and seeing an old man on one of the side streets behind the church. He was barefoot, shirtless, wearing only a pair of pants that stopped mid-calf.  He was leaning on a cane. What made me curious about him was that he was carrying a frisbee. You don’t often see old men leaning on canes carrying frisbees.

Then I noticed there was someone else in the picture … a black and white furball that came running around the corner, bouncing up and down urging the old man to throw the frisbee. Leaning on his cane, the old man reared back and threw the frisbee down the side street. With great joy, the dog sped after it. It seemed this was a familiar routine for both.  Watching them made me smile. I thought of the joy that can be found in the most simple of pleasures.

“Lord, you are my portion and my cup of blessing, you hold my future. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places: indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance …. You reveal the path of life to me, in your presence is abundant joy, at your right hand are eternal pleasures.” [Psalm 16:5, 11 HCSB]

Across my almost 76 years, I have experienced trials, just like most of us. Yet, despite trials, my life has been resplendent with pleasures. The greatest of these have been the simple ones, and perhaps none so great as simply experiencing the presence of the LORD amid the trials. There were times when I felt as if God had pulled me onto His great lap and hugged me, wiping away my tears and softly whispering that He was with me and always would be.

And to know that the “lines have fallen for me in pleasant places,” that God has given me salvation and a promised inheritance is the best pleasure of all.

I keep coming back to the NT doxologies found in Ephesians, Jude, and Romans. The one that has been ministering to my heart during those long hours at night when I cannot sleep is the one found in Jude.

“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen.” [Jude 24]

Last night I was focused on that little phrase “with exceeding joy.”

The word for exceeding joy is “agalliasis” and it means wild joy, ecstatic delight, exultation, exhilaration.

Our God is willing and able to keep us from stumbling in this life. We can remain steady in our Christ-like walk by the power of His Holy Spirit.

AND, our God is willing and able to present us faultless in the next life. One day we will stand in the glory of His presence … all because of God’s will, Christ’s sacrifice, and the power of the Holy Spirit.

AND, on that day, we will experience an exceeding joy, a wild, ecstatic delight unlike anything we have ever known. I do not know about you but I can hardly wait to see that day.

AND, while I wait for its appearance I can sing to “God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both Now and forever. Amen”

Even so, come quickly, LORD Jesus.

At one point in Jesus’ ministry, he took 72 disciples and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. When they completed their assignment, they came back to Jesus to report. They were extremely excited, as we all would be, that even the demons had “to submit to us in [Jesus’] name.”

Jesus’ response was that He had given them all power to trample the power of the enemy, but if they were going to rejoice it should be rejoicing that their names were written in heaven. [Luke 10:1-20]

Then Luke reports Jesus began to pray.  “At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.’” [v21]

Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, praised His Father. That Greek word for “full of joy” means “to jump for joy, be exceedingly glad, and rejoice greatly.”

What made Jesus jump for joy? His Father’s pleasure in revealing great spiritual truths to those who come to Him as little children. It was not the wise, the religious counsellors, the kings, the rulers, or the priests who saw the power of the enemy submitting to the name of Jesus, it was the common, every-day people who came to Jesus and trusted Him when He sent them out “like lambs among wolves.”  [vs 3]

Beloved, it may seem like we are “lambs among the wolves” and that the wolves have all the power, but when Jesus sends His lambs into the battlefield, He gives them all the power they need to trample the works of the enemy. And while we rejoice in that, our greatest rejoicing – our jumping for joy – comes because our names are written in heaven.