Wednesday 2nd
This Mystery Called Joy 2.
Joy has the capacity to make you celebrate in the face of pain, you can keep advancing in the face of trouble when joy dominates your life. Chaos and confusion don’t have what it takes to stop you when joy is present in your life. So, what exactly is this thing called joy?
In trying to understand the exact meaning of joy from different people and sources, my discovery confirmed the fact that love is indeed mysterious. Many believe joy and happiness are the same, even some dictionaries use joy and happiness interchangeably. The word happy is from “hap” which is also the root for the word “happen”. The word “hap” could mean; chance, fortune, situation, coincidence or luck. It generally carries the idea of some external impact acting on a person or a particular situation. For example, you may be happy because you secured a new job or excel in a particular examination. Joy on the other hand has absolutely nothing to do with all that is happening externally, it’s all about what is happening within.
Habakkuk 3 vs 17-18 (NLT), 17 Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
The picture shown in verse 17 of this passage is not a pleasant picture at all. How can anyone be joyful in such a state? How can you be talking about joy in the face of hopelessness? Happiness has to do with pleasant external factors while joy does not. In Romans 8, Apostle Paul spoke two types of hope; the hope that disappoints and hope that does not make you ashamed. Jesus also spoke about two types of peace; the peace that the world gives and the peace that He gives. Clearly the joy expressed in God's kingdom is different from the joy that the world talks about which is the same as happiness. When it takes external factors to be pleasant before you are excited, lively and jubilant then you are happy and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
If life always serves us pleasant events, how wonderful it would be, but the truth is that a number of times, the pain and disappointments that life brings can be quite mean. That is when we need to reach within and pull on this mysterious gift from God called joy.
I wish you happiness in your life but I pray that you will experience the continuous flow of joy in your life in Jesus’ Name.
God bless you, enjoy your day.