Do you ever feel like the man in this picture looks like he is feeling, dark as you look out at a dark world? Do you fall to temptation trying to make your way out of the darkness around you?
We don't have to feel this way. God wants us to live a life of joy, but, how often do we let the things of this world steal our joy? I’m not talking about happiness here; I’m talking about joy. Happiness is fleeting. We’re happy when our lives are going well, we have enough money to pay our bills, everybody in the family, including ourselves, is healthy, our children are making good grades and excelling in the things that they like to do. But that happiness goes away when things go wrong, and it should. No, I’m talking about joy. The joy that only comes from God and that comes to us through our relationship with the Holy Spirit.
In Luke 19:37, we read about the joy that Jesus’ followers had when they saw Jesus coming down the road on a donkey. Joy comes when we are in the presence of Jesus. But, so often, we let the things of the world overtake our joy as easily as it saps our happiness. We forget, or intentionally ignore, the Holy Spirit that lives in our hearts and we move away from Jesus and do things that don’t glorify God.
King David did that with Bathsheba. Bathsheba was not a temptress out to get the king. Instead, David moved away from God; he ignored God’s commands and took what was not his to take. David had lost his way and his connection with God, and, because of that, he fell to the temptations of the world. He fell into Satan’s trap. Psalm 51 is David’s lament for his actions and in Psalm 51:12, David cried out to God to restore the joy of God’s salvation and send His Spirit to sustain him.
Have you lost your joy? Please take a few minutes to listen to this message about how you can renew it.
| Luke 19:28-40 |
| Habakkuk 2:2-11 |
| 2 Samuel 11:1-12:14 |
| Psalm 51:1-19 |