Whose Joy? And Joyful About What?

How do you picture God?  What kind of mood would you say He is in today?  Can you describe who God is to you.  These are questions I have been asked over the years in various group situations.  I usually come up with someone pretty likeable, which is why I was so surprised at my reaction the other night in our Care Group to Melanie’s statement that “the joy of the Lord is our strength” means “the Lord’s joy is our strength.”  I just never thought about it that way.  I’ve rather defined that verse to mean that when I think about the Lord, then I have joy, because He  is so awesome, which leads to a sense of strength. With this strength I can continue on, because I know who I belong to.

But hold on.  The Lord is joyful?  Why did this strike me as so phenomenal or odd.  Had my picture of him really not included the emotion of joy?  As I took a short hike in the hills this evening to enjoy nature and the sunset amongst the Disneylandish throng of people who have discovered our hills, I began contemplating how I did see God.  "Joyous" really was not my first handhold.   Geez, He has so many people to feel bad for.  Like me, I have cancer, and like several of my friends with bad diseases.  Then there’s all the starving people, and terrorists, and just lots of lost and confused people.  I guess I’ve just been picturing a pretty stressed out, saddened God, carrying all the sorrow and grief of the ages.  Silly me.

Often times when I arrive at a certain lookout on this walk I will stop and pray for the city; I just realized that at that juncture I am praying to a sad God, One Who, with me is looking out on all those miserable people who have no hope, who are working too hard, or drinking too much, are in unhappy living situations, or hate their jobs.  Poor God.  It’s a good thing I am praying for these people, just trying to share the burden with him.

But now I have this new idea… a joyful God!  There is that verse in the Bible (Hebrews12:2)  that says that Jesus decided to endure the cross for the JOY set before him.  What was that joy?  Our family recently re-watched one of our favorite movies, Hook.  And there is that struggle and suspense of wondering if Peter Banning will ever be able to think a Happy Thought so that he can fly again, fight Captain Hook, and rescue his children.  Finally it comes.  His Happy Thought is his son; and with that, he can fly, and fight and rescue.  As I think of the joy set before Jesus, I think of all of us who have chosen to follow him, and all those who still will.  We are his happy thoughts.   As I returned back home on the trail tonight, and looked out on the city to pray, everything changed.  I was now looking out on all those people who love Jesus, and all of those who may not realize it, but they will soon know Him.  My prayer was made new, strengthened by the Lord’s joy.  How had I missed that joy before?  He is exuding joy as He thinks about all of us people He loves.

I didn’t feel I could publish this without checking the original language, Hebrew, to make sure that my commentary is accurate.  But first I checked other commentaries, and they all focused, as I did until last week, on the joy we feel because of the Lord.  (So, I'm relieved to know I'm not the only one who missed out on the fact that the Lord owns joy!)  Alas, the Hebrew word for joy, used in this verse is only used one other time in the Bible.  (There is another word that is more frequently used for joy whenever it expresses emotion felt by man.) This joy, both times, is said to belong to the Lord.  His joy!  Every Hebrew word, including this word for joy, has a root word.  The pictograph assigned to those three letters is “behold, a door in the fence.”  I love how this concurs with what I was thinking.  God’s joy is us, he provides that door, that way in, for us to find Him.  (I found my info here: http://skipmoen.com/tag/nehemiah-810/, too good not to share.)  God's Joy = A way for us to find  Him!  Behold!  I love it!