Increasing Joy

When I discovered the “wildlife preserve” within a few hundred yards of our new home, I was excited to explore the trail that winds around and through it. As I started to walk, I was smiling. My delight increased as I went on. By the time I was back at the beginning, I didn’t want to go home. 

Today’s devotional verse describes the same increasing of pleasure as I walk with Jesus, only instead of enjoying trees and singing birds, my source of joy is the One who created these things!

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11)

Those on the path of life (meaning eternal life) live in the presence of a joy-giving God. While I am responsible to stay on that path, God promises increasing and deeper joy as I go on my journey. As John Piper says in his book, The Pleasures of God, God is a happy God. Simply being around happy people is contagious; imagine being around this happy God, walking through life at His side, feeling His joy and experiencing His peace, even His laughter!

The path covers all of life’s experiences. Some of them are pleasant; some of them are difficult. Yet in all, God is with me and remains joy-giving, no matter what I experience. He knows the end of the trail and when I reach it, I will not want to go back. He knows what delights lie ahead and I can sense His anticipation, His eagerness to give me all that He has for me.

Someday my joy will be complete, without any sorrow or pain to threaten or suppress it. For now, I look forward to this greater joy when “that higher world shall be reached, and the shadows of time have passed away forever” because then I will be standing at His right hand, fully in His presence — where there are pleasures forevermore.

To Live is Christ — Enjoying the journey — with our eyes on home

Yesterday after my hubby golfed eighteen holes and I had a good workout, we decided to take a little drive. It started innocently enough. We took a road north to a community we hadn’t yet seen. That wasn’t very impressive so we decided to go east to a small city we’d driven through on our way to this vacation place. We did some shopping there, then decided it was too early to go home, so we drove to another city farther south.

This next city is on a large lake and we checked the map. There was a road that went around the other side of the lake so we decided to take it. We didn’t bother packing a snack. It was early and the road didn’t look too long.

However, we wound back and forth, up and down, for miles — with a cliff up on one side and almost straight down on the other. As my hubby said, if anyone drove off the road, they would plunge through the roof of a house below. People actually lived just under the shoulder of the road and as close to the water as they could get, their houses perched like stone outcrops on the sides of the cliffs.

We got hungry on this day trip, but drove most of it without seeing any place to grab some food. At one point, DH joked that the tree bark might be our only hope.

Finally we rediscovered civilization, found a restaurant and had a good meal. It was another hour to our resort where we turned in for the night. What started out as a casual drive turned out to be an eight-hour journey with more twists and turns than we anticipated. As we drove, I thought of some ways our journey resembled the Christian life.

When I became a Christian, I thought it would be a “walk in the park” but soon the unanticipated began. Part of my journey has been astoundingly beautiful and filled with pleasant surprises (like a deer, and some wild turkeys on the roadside). However, other stretches along the way have turned my knuckles white as I hung on for dear life, afraid to look down and afraid not to.

Sometime I’ve been up high and the world seemed small and unthreatening. Other times my view has been murky and the journey marked with hairpin curves and narrow passageways. At times, it seemed I had it all, but there have been those stretches where life was so lean that my head ached.

I read my Bible verses for today using a modern version that says pretty much the same thing as the older Bibles. This passage tells me what awaits me when this journey is over. 

But here on this mountain, God-of-the-Angel-Armies will throw a feast for all the people of the world, a feast of the finest foods, a feast with vintage wines, a feast of seven courses, a feast lavish with gourmet desserts. And here on this mountain, God will banish the pall of doom hanging over all peoples, the shadow of doom darkening all nations. Yes, he’ll banish death forever. And God will wipe the tears from every face. He’ll remove every sign of disgrace from his people, wherever they are. Yes! God says so! (Isaiah 25:6–8, The Message)

I like that God says His feast will be on a mountain. There is no place on earth that sings to my heart more than the mountains. I also like the idea of feasting with all the people of the world. We ate Mexican last night, but Italian, French, Asian, Moroccan, it is all good. The gourmet desserts couldn’t be a better finish. But there is more.

Aside from the feast, when I get to my final destination, God will banish death and the doom that threatens everyone. I will never have white knuckles again. Nor will I ever cry (I didn’t yesterday, unless a yelp or two counts). I will not be sad. Nothing can make me feel shame or disgraced.

We haven’t been away long, but are already homesick. Being here is nice, but home has a great appeal. We can choose to leave this place early if we wish. However, the decision to leave this earth and go to our heavenly home is not in our hands. Instead, our Father, the one this Bible calls the God of angel armies, will make that call. When He does, we will not need to pack a thing, nor need to remember a snack for the road. Instead, we will gladly meet Him there, where a feast and much more is waiting for us.

A simple flashlight won't do it

A friend told me that living the Christian life should get easier as one gets older. I know I’m getting older, but the easy part seems to be missing. Walking with God is more difficult now, with more tests, more struggles, more temptation to quit.

Proverbs 4:18 says, “But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.”

In less figurative language, that means the older I get, as I walk in the light God gives me, His light will increase as I go on my way. His light not only shows the path ahead, but also reveals all sorts of other stuff, some of which is painful to see and difficult to deal with. There are days when I’d like to turn around and run back the way I came.

But the next verse says, “The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.”

I don’t want that. I stumble too, but the light from God reveals why. He shows me sinful attitudes and selfish tendencies, and gets quite specific about it. Whoever said ignorance is bliss might have had this in mind, but when I consider what life would be like without this bright light that won’t leave me alone, I’m thankful.

At least with God’s light, the Lord also gives the power to change. Proverbs 24:5 says, “A wise man is strong, yes, a man of knowledge increases strength.” If God didn’t give me the knowledge of my sin and weaknesses, I could never overcome it or be strong.

My dad often said, “There is no fool like an old fool.” He was right. What a shame to go through life and never learn any of its lessons. With God, the light for learning is always available, and like walking a path with a flashlight, as soon as I step into the light I have, I get more for the path ahead.

The path is never what I expect, though. We joke about being over the hill, but I don’t see that metaphor in the Bible. Our journey is never downhill, but upward toward God, at least if we belong to Him.

Scripture talks of aged people as perhaps physically feeble, but we can be either foolish or wise. In our life journey, if we walk with God, He says we are wise. As for the feeble part, God promises this: “Even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.”

Getting older might mean a decline in memory, muscles and mobility, but with God I can rely on two things: light for the path and strength to walk it. The light helps me see my growing need of His strength for a path that is uphill and requires a constant battle if I am to “fight the good fight, finish the race, and keep the faith.”

The opposite to increasing light is increasing darkness, not knowing why I fail and fall, and eventually giving up and forgetting about God. No matter how bright the light and steep the path, I’d rather have these uphill challenges (God, keep me from complaining) than drift to the alternatives.