Joy

What is joy? That’s the question that I asked myself yesterday. Would I know joy if I found it or is it something I have to make for myself? I recently read Psalm 4:6 – 7 in The Message. It says,

“Why is everyone hungry for more? ‘More, more,’ they say. ‘More, more.’ I have God’s more-than-enough, More joy in one ordinary day Than they get in all their shopping sprees.”

I want more-than-enough joy in each ordinary day, but I don’t think I have it on a regular basis. I try to imagine what joy would look like. Would it be like happiness? Would it be like I feel when I’m proud of my children? Would it be how I feel when I’ve accomplished a hard task? Would it show on my face? Would the things I say reflect it?

After reading Psalm 4, I realized it would be something deeper than any of those things. Joy is something that comes from God. I can have joy regardless of my circumstances if I know God. It’s realizing I have more than enough of whatever it is I think I need as long as I have God. It’s about having everything that God wants for me to have – which is an incredible amount of things. It’s having a sense of security that comes only from being right with God.

Being joyful is more than a lack of sadness. A lack of sadness can be peaceful and calm, but joy is more than that. It’s having an inner sense that all is fundamentally right in the world. That is something I can have even when there is sadness in my life. My joyfulness isn’t dependent upon my moods. True joyfulness happens in spite of my mood. I view joy as a sense of peacefulness that comes from deep within because I know that all is in God’s control. I may be sad because something unhappy happened.

For instance, I was sad when my mom passed away recently. But, there was still a sense that all would be all right and that ultimately my mom was in a better place. She was no longer suffering. I miss her and am sad she is not around anymore, yet because she knew God, I have joy that she is in that better place, a place without illness and suffering. She’s with her God and I can take comfort in that knowledge and be filled with joy.

Joy is more than a mood and it is more than happiness. It’s deeper and it’s something I will take a lifetime getting to understand. I can look forward to days of joy, as the writer of the Psalms knew, because “I have God’s more-than-enough, More joy in one ordinary day.”