The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in James 1:2,
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers..."
Joy is found within those who have embraced Jesus Christ as their savior in faith. Having trusted in him, believers find themselves immersed in a community where joy is experienced, even in the difficult aspects of being a child of God. James here speaks of "trials" encountered in this life as something to be faced with joy.
The on-line Merriam-Webster dictionary defines joy as "the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires : delight." It also goes on to say that joy is "a state of happiness", a "source or cause of delight."
It appears to me that the world lacks much of this wonderful emotion. Although we have all been created in God's image and have a capacity for joy, it seems many desperately seek it and fail to find it. They look in all the wrong places.
Joy is something believers experience in their new-found life with their Creator. Becoming united with the One who created us, who is the source of life, provides us the purpose and fulfillment we were designed for. Who, but our Designer can provide us that fulfillment? As we find it, as we look forward to the wonderful inheritance that will be ours in the resurrection, we become filled with what Peter calls "an inexpressible and glorious joy", 1 Peter 1:8. And, James tells us, that joy is ours, even in the midst of the painful part of maturing as God's children!
As the psalmist says, even in the midst of his mourning, while feeling "disturbed", while feeling a need for vindication and feeling threatened: "... God, my joy and my delight." Psalm 43:4.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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