Our Personal, Perpetual Pursuit of Joy

“Joy to the world, the Lord has come!” These are the hope-filled words of the hymn, an old favorite we often hear this time of year in church, Christmas programs on TV, on radio stations and streaming services. It literally has spanned the centuries, written by Isaac Watts in 1719. In music jargon, it’s ‘an oldie but a goodie.’ 

In case you’ve decided to boycott holiday programming to avoid other seasonal classics like “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” and “All I Want for Christmas Is a Hippopotamus,” here’s a refresher: 

Joy to the world; the Lord is come;

Let Earth receive her King; 

Let ev’ry heart prepare Him room,

And heav’n and nature sing…

 

Joy to the Earth, the Savior reigns;

Our mortal songs employ, 

While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains,

Repeat the sounding joy….

 

Don’t you just love joy? The mere sound of the word, “joy,” brings a smile to many faces. The experience of joy in one’s life also is an oldie but a goodie. Sadly, it’s not something everyone is familiar with. While some folks wear a perpetual smile, apparently unfazed by life’s inevitable ups and downs, for others a frown is a more realistic expression, reflecting inward troubles and turmoil.

 

Where can we find this joy? It’s not a commodity we can take off the shelves at some big-box store or purchase from Amazon. As precious as it is, it can also be as elusive.

 

For starters, we need to understand the difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is basically determined by happenings, meaning it can depart just as quickly as it arrives. For instance, a lot of people are looking forward to a Christmas bonus from their employers. Their happiness will be predicated upon how large the bonus is – or whether they receive one at all.

 

Joy, on the other hand, has an internal source, an inward sense of peace and contentment regardless of whether things turn out as we had hoped or not. You might not be happy about not receiving a promotion, or pay raise, or year-end bonus that you had hoped for, but you can still experience joy in knowing your personal well-being isn’t dependent on such things.

 

This is where faith in God comes in. In Isaiah 49:13 the Lord said, speaking through the prophet, “Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; burst into some, O mountains! For the Lord comforts His people and will have compassion on His afflicted ones.” If you’re in need of comfort or feeling afflicted, it’s obvious that things haven’t been going well. There’s not a lot to feel happy about. But having faith in God, trusting He’s fully aware of the circumstances and able to work through them for His – and our –  best, we can experience joy.

 

Later in the same prophetic book we read God’s declaration, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways…. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”Knowing this, and because our confidence is not in our own capacities but in the Lord, He then adds, “You will go out with joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands” (Isaiah 55:8-12).

 

The Scriptures tell us Jesus Christ is our ultimate source of joy. After speaking to His closest disciples about their deeply personal, eternal relationship with Him, Jesus said, “I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11). He wasn’t promising them unending happiness – far from it. 

 

They soon would be having to endure great sorrow, intense opposition and persecution. Of the original 12, only one – John – would not have to face a violent death. But through Christ they could experience joy independent of external factors, along with a sense of purpose: “You did not chooser Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bar fruit – fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in My name” (John 15:16).

 

This wasn’t a promise limited to His closest followers. The apostle Paul, converted from persecutor to an ardent preacher of the Gospel, also experienced this unshakable joy. As a result, he could write things like, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4). Also, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13). Paul also had to endure great suffering and many trials, but they could not destroy the joy he had in Christ. 

We all hope to enjoy happy times this Christmas, exchanging gifts and spending time with beloved family members and friends. But beyond the happiness – and even in the midst of sad moments we might also experience – may you also find much joy. As the apostle Peter wrote, “Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy” (1 Peter 1:8). 

Joy Emerges from the Refinery of Adversity

When I was a boy, we could always find Joy in our home. But I don’t mean the exhilarating human emotion. I’m talking about the liquid dishwashing detergent, the one that promised, “From grease to shine in half the time.”  

We didn’t have a dishwasher back then – hardly anyone did – so I guess people tried to find joy in the task any way they could. Maybe that’s why Proctor & Gamble introduced the product in 1949 – literally to put Joy in dishwashing. But unless going from grease to shine as quickly as possible is your passion, washing dishes isn’t where I’d expect to find much joy.

Curiously, Joy was a major sponsor for soap operas like “Search for Tomorrow.” If you’ve ever watched a soap opera, you know joy doesn’t figure prominently in many of the scripts. Anger, angst, fear, frustration, envy, jealousy, disappointment, and despair? Of course. But joy? Not so much.

 

What exactly is joy? And how do we achieve it? 

 

For starters, joy isn’t synonymous with happiness. I might feel happy when something nice or fun happens to me. Because happiness and happenings are tightly intertwined. Take football games, for example. Fans experience happiness when their team scores. They’re all smiles, high-fiving, clapping and cheering. But that sense of jubilation quickly fades when the opposing team returns the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown.

 

Joy is different. It’s an inner quality that endures despite external circumstances. In fact, the most difficult situations can result in the greatest joy. This is why the apostle James started his letter with this admonition: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4).

 

Note that James didn’t direct his readers to be happy. God doesn’t command a happy response when we receive a scary health diagnosis, encounter financial struggles, lose a job, or fail to receive the expected promotion. When a relationship with a beloved family member or close friend is broken, “Don’t Worry. Be Happy” probably isn’t the song that comes to mind.

 

Instead, the apostle exhorts us to regard it as “pure joy” when adversity becomes an ever-present companion. James clearly isn’t talking about happiness.

 

He and another apostle, Paul, concurred. Writing to believers in ancient Rome, Paul offered a similar perspective. He said, “…we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us” (Romans 5:3-5).

 

We’re to “rejoice,” Paul declared. In other words, to find joy in the midst of suffering. But how?

 

I remember my friend Dave, who early in his walk with Christ would often confide his struggles with his mentor. That mentor, also named Dave, would listen attentively, then smile and respond, “Dave, you’re in a great position.” In view of his challenges, my friend Dave didn’t regard those as being in “a great position.” But over time he came to understand what his mentor meant.

 

There’s a saying that “the strongest steel is forged in the hottest fire.” This isn’t a simplistic aphorism. In terms of metallurgy, heating metal up to high temperatures promotes necessary chemical reactions that transform iron into steel. Similarly, the fires of adversity and suffering can prove beneficial by forging resilient spiritual qualities such as perseverance, character, hope, unwavering faith – and joy.

 

We have no greater example of this seeming paradox than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Hebrews 12:2-3 points to Him: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:2-3). This says Jesus endured the cross “for the joy set before Him.” Wow!

 

The night before, when He would be betrayed, Jesus went to the garden of Gethsemane, taking with Him the disciples Peter, James and John. We’re told, “He began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then He said to them, ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death…” (Matthew 26:37-38). You don’t have to read between the lines to recognize that happiness wasn’t an emotion Jesus was experiencing.

 

Joy, however, prevailed. In spite of false accusations, brutal torture, being forced to Golgotha, and then experiencing the most horrific form of execution, Jesus’ joy was undiminished. Because He was fulfilling His ultimate mission: To become the atoning sacrifice for the sins – yours and mine, and countless others who would place their faith in Him. In ways we can’t humanly comprehend, all that Jesus went through was entirely worth it.

 

Someone reading this might be thinking, ‘I get it. Happiness isn’t the same as joy. But what if I can’t seem to find joy either? I had it once, but seem to have lost it.' In that case I’d recommend adopting the prayer of King David who, devastated by the guilt of his sins with Bathsheba, was desperate to be restored to a right relationship with God.

 

David prayed, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me” (Psalm 51:10-12).

 

As we discover in reading the rest of David’s life, God heard and answered his prayer. Spiritually cast in the refining fire, he emerged stronger and more faithful than ever. The Lord will do the same for you and me as well, if we sincerely seek Him.