I have mentioned previously that my word for the year is JOY. I knew when I picked this word back in November that it would be a hard word to focus on for 2025, considering all that was coming. I could not have predicted, however, all that has happened these past three months. It has been even more imaginably difficult than I initially thought.
So, where is joy?
Last night, I was reading the Bible with my boys before bedtime, which we do every night, and we were reading Acts 5. In this chapter, Peter and John, two of Jesus' disciples, had already been warned by the Jewish leadership to stop speaking the name of Jesus, and yet, they continued to preach His name and many of the people were believing in Jesus and joining their community. The leadership had thrown them in prison, but an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and now they were once more at the temple, telling people about Jesus. The leaders find them there and bring them back into the Sanhedrin, the Jewish court, to decide what to do with them. In the end of the chapter, they are whipped and then released with a warning.
What is most astonishing about this chapter is verse 41, "The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name."
What? They were imprisoned, whipped, and strictly warned to stop what they were doing, and yet, they went away "rejoicing"?
What a different perspective on joy! Oftentimes, we make our joy conditional. If I get that job or if this relationship works out or if this situation changes... then I'll feel joy. We want good things to happen so that joy will come. Perhaps it's because we confuse "joy" with "happiness". Happiness is "a state of well-being" or "a state of feeling happy". "State" implies this is a temporary condition, dependent upon our circumstances. "Joy" may well be something else entirely.
In Habakkuk 3:17-18 (one of the Old Testament prophet writings), we find this jewel:
"Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior."
Even when everything is going wrong - still, even then, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
A different perspective.
Joy is not related to our circumstances. It is related to our faith and trust in God, in His promises, and in the future He has laid out for us. It is found in understanding that no matter what is happening around us or to us, God is still on His throne, God is still good, and we are still infinitely loved by Him.
This is not meant to minimize or be dismissive of our suffering. It is not meant to put a "silver lining" around our experiences. We do this sometimes, especially when quoting Romans 8:28, "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose." This verse has often been interpreted as God will only send us good things, or God will work good out of every bad situation. But I don't think that's what this verse is saying.
First, the verse is addressing believers, "those who love God." It is also talking about God's calling and purpose. One might theorize, therefore, that this verse references that which believers do according to God's calling and purpose. If we sin, or if others sin against us, that is not God's calling and purpose. Those actions may not fit under the qualification of this verse. Sin does not produce good.
Second, the verse says "all things work together" for good. In other words, a sum of things. This does not mean everything that happens to us will be good or have good come from it, but that the sum of our experiences results in good for God's purposes. Perhaps the resulting good is the witness of our life, or our salvation, or the salvation of others around us. God has a bigger view than we do and sees a bigger picture. His priorities, what He sees as good, frequently differ from our own. He is less worried about our circumstances than He is about our soul.
That's a different way of looking at it, isn't it.
I mean, Jesus sweat drops of blood and endured the cross! He was not immune to suffering, and neither will we be. Not everything we go through will be "good".
But we can still find joy.
We find joy in Him. In our faith. In our relationship with our Creator. In walking out our purpose. In understanding who we are created to be. In bringing Him all the honor and praise He deserves. And in recognizing, as the apostles did, that suffering draws us closer to Christ, because He, too, suffered.
If we focus on the storm, we will be dismayed. We must keep our eyes focused on God. He is our horizon, our anchor, our everything.
Tips for finding joy? I'm still learning them! So far, I know this: remember who you are in Christ. Remember who He is. Remind yourself... even when democracy is burning to the ground around us, God is still God. And one day, good will triumph.
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