Recently I shared a message about joy with the women of my church. During college and my young adult years, I graced a stage or two doing skits for one event or another, but never spoke more than a few lines. This time I spoke, spoke, as in, THE speaker. I still cannot believe I did that. I feel humbled and grateful they asked. The event was a first for me, a BIG first.
Our focus scripture for this series of monthly ladies’ breakfasts is Galatians 5:22-23 (quoted here from CSB).
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.
I picked joy as my topic because I find joy elusive and hard to grasp. Joy and happiness get jumbled up in my mind. The words, though extremely similar, have a very important difference. In my life, happiness enjoys more of the spotlight. Then, when trials come I quickly turn into a whiny brat.
I identify, unfortunately, with the Israelites in Exodus. God parted the Red Sea so they could walk through on dry land. He lead them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. In Exodus, we see the click list prototype for grocery delivery. Though the variety proved nonexistent, delivery happened daily without delay. God provided quail and manna for 40 years.
In spite of all God did to care for the Israelites, they whined and struggled with unbelief. Even in the midst of the miraculous, they forgot how good God was to them.
A Time to Live by Doug Wead tells the story of the Goad family. I hung out with them several summers during childhood. I always assumed, because of how they behaved, they led a charmed life. Those people brought life into every room. I realized, after reading their story, the difference God makes in the lives of people when they allow Him to be their source of joy. When I hung out with them, I witnessed joy firsthand.
In the book, I read about the horrific accident that badly injured their father and little sister and took the life of their mother. At the scene of the accident two children, ages 17 and 23, stopped to pray a prayer of thanksgiving and trust after realizing their mother was with Jesus. I have never forgotten that scene. They took time, in the midst of chaos, pain, and loss to seek God.
Intellectually, I understand the difference between happiness and joy, but circumstantially, I forget. I forget to remember all that God has already done for me. “God help me!” is not my first thought anywhere near enough.
When I was in my mid-twenties with no husband in sight… I wasn’t happy. I felt unseen, ugly, unwanted, and broken. And, I forgot to remember all God had done for me. At 32, I married Hubby Guy, THE PERFECT man for me. At my wedding, God reminded me and I felt joy unspeakable.
After we married, we found out early on that biological children were an impossibility for us. I wasn’t happy. I felt angry, sad, unworthy, and less than. And, I forgot to remember all God had done for me. Four years after marrying, we fostered and adopted two beautiful girls. They call me Mom. Every time I hear, “Hey, Mom”, I remember everything God has done for me. In those moments, I recognize the joy in my life.
In the Tony Evans Bible Commentary, he defines joy two ways:
- Joy is internal stability in spite of external circumstances because of the knowledge that God is in control.
- Joy is the settled celebration of the soul within us, even when circumstances don’t make us happy.
Can you look back and find those mile markers on your life map where you were reminded of all that God has done for you?
As we press on, putting one foot in front of the other, weathering trial after trial, we need not forget to remember all God has done for us. We will find joy neatly tucked into the difficult patches. We just need to adopt a settled celebration of our souls so that we can find the Father’s hand to lead us through the hard times.
John 15: 5 (CSV) “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.”
A few verses later in the same chapter it says: (vs 11) “I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.”
We have such a loving and patient God. He is our source of joy. When our joy tank is lacking, He fills it up with His. When we learn to stay attached to the source, our joy fruit grows healthy, plump, and visible to those around us.
I want to be a person that models a settled celebration of the soul, the way the Goad family did for me. I also want to be a person with visible fruit of the Holy Spirit’s ongoing work in my life as listed in Galatians 5:22-23.
What fruit from the list do you find hard to grasp? I encourage you to consider what qualities people notice in you that point to Jesus and to identify other areas where you may struggle. That type of soul care helps maintain our connection to our source, the Savior.
When I do GOD’s will, HE gives me a shot of peace and joy! I have learned to pay attention to that and praise HIM! It’s great that you remember the Goads. They are special people.
Another thing is that the Galatians 5 quote is one of my favorite. I like to start with verse 13 and go to the end of the chapter. What I have used in the SS class is verses 19-21 and ask, “Which of these do you love?” and then verses 22-26 and ask, “Which of these do you hate?”
GOD gives us these gifts when we do HIS will. Serving others and accomplishing HIS commands, usually only with HIS strength still brings us gifts. They usually are not the world’s version of gifts.