Finding Joy in God

The husband of a quilting friend dropped into our gathering with their first grandchild. She is four months old and quickly became the delight of the day. She didn’t perform or do anything for us but just be herself and we enjoyed her.

This is the kind of joy that yesterday’s post described, a joy in God simply for who He is, whether He is doing anything for us or not. But unlike the baby, we cannot see Him. We can see what He does and when that seems right or feels good, it is easy to be joyful for that reason, yet when life is full of rotten apples and we know He is sovereign, then what? How can the glory of God be my source of joy when the evidence is not there?

Faith says it. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 1:11) but if this is missing, then Jesus is that evidence. He said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:6–7)

The Holy Spirit is the source of ‘knowing’ what God is like, but also the source of the joy that goes with this knowledge:

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. (Colossians 1:9–10)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22–23)

I see in the Colossians verses that knowing must result in obedience and in the fruit bearing of the Galatians verses. Putting this together, seeking the will of God and doing what He says is a big part of ‘increasing in the knowledge of Him’ so that I can find my joy in who He is, along with what He does.

Obedience is important. It is like walking a dark path with a flashlight; the only way to see what is ahead is to take the next step, and the next, and the next. His Word outlines this:

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:3–8)

If I add to my faith virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly affection and love, then my knowledge of God increases too, just as John says:

And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, (1 John 2:3–4)

The bottom line is this: if I want to know God better so that my joy is in Him and not just in what He does for me, then I need to do as He says. This involves spiritual growth and focus, not ever doing ‘my thing’ but obeying Him.

PRAY: So simple, Jesus, yet that ‘my’ stuff can be hard to shake. Only You can save me from myself and the peril of ignoring, neglecting, or not even knowing what You want from me. I hear You saying, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13) Increase that desire in my heart.

My heart’s desires...

 

My sister, now with Jesus, was my best friend. One time she went with me to take art lessons. She was not good at it, but supported me entirely. Later her work as a store owner became tiresome at times so she decided to take art lessons. Her instructor was strict and made her erase mistakes until she got it right. Eventually she was teaching classes to children and after one still life class she decided to draw a set-up none of the class had selected. It was an arrangement of hockey equipment and her drawing impressed a young man and also one of her sons. He had connections and eventually secured a contract with the NHL for his mom to do hockey art featuring major league jerseys. She wound up with a website and doing work for home teams as well.

In the meantime, I painted wildlife and animal portraits. I had an agent who sold my work, but eventually the desire to paint dwindled and I started writing. Several thousand articles later, most of them published, eventually became less of a desire. One day I saw a quilt on a magazine cover that depicted golfing and decided to make it as a gift for my husband. When finished, I was amazed at the satisfaction of creating and giving away the result. Years later, I’m still quilting and although I’ve won ribbons, I seldom show my quilts, mostly making them for people who need them. The satisfaction of giving them away has been a continual delight.

All this to say that for my sister, who loved Jesus passionately, and for myself whose delight in the Lord grew to the same, we both found the truth of this verse:

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)

This does not say He will give me whatever I want, but that He gives me the ‘I wants’ — that the desires that come into my heart are from Him. For that, sis and I both knew we were doing what God wanted us to do. That didn’t mean we understood it! I was amazed at the development of her skill in both oils and pen and ink and she could not understand why I quit painting and writing to work with fabric. But since we both delighted ourselves in Jesus, it was a mutual appreciation.

Both of us learned contentment with life from our mother too. She often said, “We must need this or we would not be getting it.” The “this” was weather, hardship, good times, whatever came along. It marked her trust in Almighty God who is sovereign and her faith resulted in not fighting life but taking it as it comes. The context of the above verse is today’s praise:

Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. (Psalm 37:1–6)

It goes on, mostly encouragement to not envy the prosperity of wicked people, but also has snatches of why this contentment is possible. We have a God who makes incredible promises of prosperity and blessing. He upholds us, grants abundance, generosity, and picks us up when we fall. He makes our children a blessing, gives us wisdom, puts His will in our hearts, and is our stronghold. In life is over here, we have eternal life with Him.

PRAY: Lord, my relationship with my sister is one of many examples of Your amazing goodness. It and so many other blessings fill me with wonder of You. How could I not delight in You and the  assurance I have from knowing that when this delight (that You also give me) is part of my life, then I know that what I want is from You also. You are a gracious God who puts good desires in my heart. Thank You.
 

Thankful for Thanksgiving . . .

 

READ 1 Thessalonians 1–5, 2 Thessalonians 1–3

Yesterday, three generations in one house, differences in ideas, ambitions and preference but obvious unity in making that day special. No arguments, everyone pitching in regarding the meal and other activities, and a great deal of laughter and joy along with sharing life’s stories. As I read the Scriptures for today, the sense of Paul’s desire to share life with his readers was strengthened by the way our family shared life with one another on Thanksgiving Day. They are also very dear to us.

So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. (1 Thessalonians 2:8)

Sharing ourselves is often expressed in the words said, words that tell others how important they are to us and to others. The following verses are examples of how to build others up by talking about them instead of talking about me:

For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy. (2:19–20)

Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. (4:9)

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. (5:23–24)

We repeatedly thanked our son and his wife who hosted our gathering with such warm grace and obvious love for each guest, from the four-year-old up to my hubby and I, their parents and his great grandparents. My thoughts of them today are much like Paul’s words to the Thessalonians:

We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith . . . . (2 Thessalonians 1:3–4)

We are also thankful to God for His choice to bring them to salvation “through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth . . . .that they may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2:13–14) and rejoice knowing that “the Lord is faithful. He will establish them and guard them against the evil one. . . .” and “have confidence in the Lord . . .” that they are doing and will do what He asks of them. (3:3–4)

This delight in family is one thing, yet what do these readings say to me? How am I to apply them? Paul told his NT readers that he and his coworkers “were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you.” As the oldest and as the parents, grandparents, and great grandparents in the group, we could have claimed the right to sit on the sofa while everyone else was working in the kitchen, but that is not what God says. Not only are we to set an example for others to imitate, we know that God wants everyone to pitch in, not be idle. He says:

For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. (3:7–12)

Participation, like bringing some of the meal, helping to cook and serve it, assisting in the clean-up and enjoying what the other guests have to say is part of what it means to show the love of God to others. Yet it is more than that. I don’t know who said it or when, but I keep hearing the words, “There is a special feeling in this place.” That is what the Spirit of the Lord brings when His people give of themselves by giving up self-seeking and are totally tuned into those around them. God enabled all, even those who don’t believe yet, to do that, and that topped the list of everything for which I am thankful.