June 17 – Joy (Nehemiah 8:1-12)

“The joy of the Lord is your strength.”(Nehemiah 8:10)

IN WORD:
It was a day of grief and repentance, that day the scribe Ezra read “the Book of the Law of God” in the hearing of the assembly. A generation of Israelites suddenly realized what many previous generations had forsaken — a covenant of love with the great and mighty God. And, according to Nehemiah, they wept.
Have you ever wept over your failures? It’s a humbling experience, pouring out your heart over grievous sins that can’t be undone. The human heart never feels weaker than when it is faced with its undeniable shortcomings. Our humanity is shot through with sin, and there’s nothing we can do about it. We’re weak and helpless.
Believe it or not, that’s a great place to be. God meets us in our weakness and He exalts the humble. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). It is a blessed frailty to have no claim before God, no words with which to justify ourselves, no bargaining power whatsoever. When we can accept that, we can accept His provision; and there is no greater joy than His provision. It is all we need. It takes us from weakness to strength because God’s power — His very presence — is greatest when we are most visibly vulnerable. We can lay down our stressful, painful attempts at self-sufficiency, and we can accept his sufficiency instead. What greater joy is there than to realize it all falls on His shoulders and not on ours?

IN DEED:
Do you know God’s joy? Have you ever heard him speak into your grief and say with Ezra, “This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength?” The joyless Christian is bearing burdens no human is capable of bearing. The joyful Christian has come to grips with his weakness and accepted God’s strength by casting all burdens on Him. Learn the art of casting those burdens; be joyful and be strong.

“Joy is the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved.” -Henri Nouwen-