He Bears Our Burdens Daily

Psalm 1‐2, 15, 22‐24, 47, & 68

How happy is the one who does not
walk in the advice of the wicked
or stand in the pathway with sinners
or sit in the company of mockers!
Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction,
and he meditates on it day and night.
He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams
that bears its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

The wicked are not like this;
instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand up in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.
Psalm 1:1-6

The Lord is my shepherd;
I have what I need.
He lets me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside quiet waters.
He renews my life;
he leads me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even when I go through the darkest valley,
I fear no danger,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff—they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
as long as I live.
Psalm 23:1-6

God arises. His enemies scatter,
and those who hate him flee from his presence.
As smoke is blown away,
so you blow them away.
As wax melts before the fire,
so the wicked are destroyed before God.
But the righteous are glad;
they rejoice before God and celebrate with joy.

Sing to God! Sing praises to his name.
Exalt him who rides on the clouds—
his name is the Lord—and celebrate before him.
God in his holy dwelling is
a father of the fatherless
and a champion of widows.
God provides homes for those who are deserted.
He leads out the prisoners to prosperity,
but the rebellious live in a scorched land.
…
Blessed be the Lord!
Day after day he bears our burdens;
God is our salvation. Selah
…
Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth;
sing praise to the Lord, Selah
to him who rides in the ancient, highest heavens.
Look, he thunders with his powerful voice!
Ascribe power to God.
His majesty is over Israel;
his power is among the clouds.
God, you are awe-inspiring in your sanctuaries.
The God of Israel gives power and strength to his people.
Blessed be God!
Psalm 68:1-6, 19, & 32-35

Day after day He bears our burdens.

Selah.

I feel like I could end my journal entry right there! In a world that is heavily burdened, what comfort it is to know that we have a God who bears our burdens! These burdens can range from physical, emotional, or spiritual. These burdens can keep us from fully walking in the abundant life that God has promises us – IF we don’t allow Him to bear them. John Bunyan writes in Pilgrim’s Progress, “I’d advise you, then, to quickly get rid of your burden; for until then you’ll never be settled in your mind or enjoy the benefits of the blessings that God has given you.“

So often I think that I can do things on my own. Asking for help is something I struggle with. I want to prove that “I’ve got this!” But the LORD is in the business of creating dependency on Himself, and my prideful grasping for control and composure stands in the way of that. Perhaps that is what Peter begins 1 Peter 5:6-7, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you.” In order to cast our cares on the LORD, we must first humbly admit that we can’t bear them ourselves. He wants to bear them, we just have to allow Him to do so.

Jesus says in Matthew 11, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” The LORD wants to take our burdens and replace them with His yoke. The yoke I carry is heavy and cumbersome, it hinders me from fully walking in the will and purposes of God. The author of Hebrews writes in chapter 12: “let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.”

Keeping our eyes on Jesus, our Good Shepherd, allows us to quickly hand over our burdens to Him. When my eyes are fixed on my circumstances, my feelings, or situations going on around me, I’m more prone to try to bear my burdens on my own. But David gives beautiful glimpses of those who are walking with their Shepherd, laying their burdens down before Him, and allowing Him to guide their paths:
The Lord is my shepherd;
I have what I need.
He lets me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside quiet waters.
He renews my life;
he leads me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even when I go through the darkest valley,
I fear no danger,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff—they comfort me.

Green pastures. Quiet waters. Renewal. Guidance. Peace and comfort. These are the benefits of walking closely, abiding with Jesus, each day. He replaces or burdens with abundant life. Joy in the sorrow, peace in the chaos, and rest in the burdened brokenness of this weary world. AMEN!

Demonstrating His Holiness

Numbers 17-20

The entire Israelite community entered the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and they settled in Kadesh. Miriam died and was buried there.

There was no water for the community, so they assembled against Moses and Aaron. The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord. Why have you brought the Lord’s assembly into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here? Why have you led us up from Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It’s not a place of grain, figs, vines, and pomegranates, and there is no water to drink!”

Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of meeting. They fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. The Lord spoke to Moses, “Take the staff and assemble the community. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock while they watch, and it will yield its water. You will bring out water for them from the rock and provide drink for the community and their livestock.”

So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence just as he had commanded him. Moses and Aaron summoned the assembly in front of the rock, and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels! Must we bring water out of this rock for you?” Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, so that abundant water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me to demonstrate my holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land I have given them.” These are the Waters of Meribah,where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord, and he demonstrated his holiness to them.
Numbers 20:1-13

The Israelites have been wandering in the wilderness for nearly 40 years at this point. Most of the previous generation that the LORD had said would not enter the Promised Land had died off. God had provided for them and sustained them for decades, and yet they were still prone to complain when their circumstances weren’t perfectly ideal. You would think by now they would have such a strong faith that was rooted in God’s constant faithfulness, but I think that their story is more relatable than I like to admit. We are emotional creatures, and so often our emotions are rooted in our circumstances rather than in what we know to be true. It’s easy to say that we trust God on the mountaintops where everything is going well, but when crisis hits and we are we are brought down low into the valley, we have a tendency to lose faith and question, “Where are You God?”

The LORD could have made the wilderness journey easy. He could have provided a gushing oasis, fruitful vines, and flocks of birds for the people to feast upon. He could have had them lie down in a carpet of cool grass with a pleasant breeze always at their back. Yet throughout the narrative of the Israelites journey, we see that there were times when the food was scarce, the water ran out, and the people were sick and tired of the same old manna every day. While on the surface, it could seem that God just didn’t care enough to make sure that they were constantly provided for and kept comfortable. Isn’t that what a good, caring Father would do? Yet the cycle we see in these instances points us to the greater purpose of God. Every time the people would cry out and complain about their circumstances, Moses and Aaron would fall down before the LORD. The glory of the LORD would then appear to them and give them instructions on how to provide for the people’s needs. God desires our dependence on Him, because dependence increases our faith. It’s why Jesus says that we must have faith like a child – a child knows they are incapable, but they trust that their mother or father will take care of them and provide for their needs, even if they don’t fully understand how.

Without these seasons of need, we would be prone to begin trusting in ourselves, or perhaps our “good fortune” that things just seem to always work out for us. It’s in our valleys that we have the opportunity to draw closer to our Heavenly Father, to trust that He is there with us, and that He will provide and demonstrate His holiness to us in far more intimate ways than He does on the mountaintops.

It can be hard to be thankful and trust when our circumstances are difficult. I think I am more like the Israelites than I like to admit in these moments, allowing my emotions and feelings to cause me to grumble and complain and lash out at people rather than turning to the Father. I love this quote from the wise Elizabeth Elliot, “The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.”

LORD, help me to not allow my circumstances to dictate my heart, but rather let my heart cry out to You to be the One Who sustains me in every circumstance, good or bad – because ultimately, You are working everything together for my good – and that includes my sanctification! AMEN!

2021 – Rest

“Come to me, all of you who are struggling and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30

Like many, for the past several years I have chosen a word of the year. Last year my word was joy, which looking back seems like an ironic word to have chosen just months before the world spiraled into chaos with the COVID-19 pandemic; yet at the same time, it was the perfect word, because joy is not dependent on our circumstances, but comes from a deep abiding with the LORD.

This year I chose the word rest – partially because it seemed to be a recurring theme as I read through Isaiah over the past year***, but also because it is something I find myself being horrible at. One of my ditches that I can fall into is self-reliance fueled by self-righteousness and pride. I will wear myself down trying to do all the things before looking outside of myself to ask for help. And as a believer, this is a posture and attitude that displeases the LORD. Ultimately, when I am putting my faith in myself rather than in Christ, I am making myself into a mini god who will never be able to achieve in myself what only God can do. It comes from a lack of faith and trust in Him as I instead try to insist that I am enough. The truth is I am not enough, I will never be enough…and that’s OKAY! In fact, I’ve been reading Allie Stuckey’s book on this very topic and it has been a tremendous help in recognizing this truth. She writes, “The first step to getting out of whatever unhealthy cycle you’re currently in is realizing just how not enough you are. That means letting go of the responsibility to be your own source of fulfillment – a responsibility that was never yours in the first place…Our desperation is exacerbated because of a reason we’ve already named: the self can’t be both our problem and our solution. If the self is the source of ur desperation or despair or insecurity or fear, it can’t also be the source of our ultimate fulfillment. That means loving ourselves more doesn’t satiate us. We need something else – something bigger. Simply, we need Jesus…The yoke of the god of self is difficult and its burden heavy, but God’s yoke is easy and his burden light.”

The rest God gives through Christ is so much better than the rest that I struggle to give myself or that I feel entitled to. He is not only the Giver of rest but the example of rest, as He Himself established rest on the seventh day of creation, when He ceased from his work. The Hebrew word for rest is nuach (נוּחַ) and it is the same word we get the name Noah from. Interestingly enough, if you reverse the order of these words, you get the word chen which means grace. In God’s grace we find rest and when we rest we experience His grace.

I love these verses from the Psalms:

Adonai, my assigned portion, my cup:
you safeguard my share.
Pleasant places were measured out for me;
I am content with my heritage.

I bless Adonai, my counselor;
at night my inmost being instructs me.
I always set Adonai before me;
with him at my right hand, I can never be moved;
so my heart is glad, my glory rejoices,
and my body too rests in safety;
for you will not abandon me to Sh’ol,
you will not let your faithful one see the Abyss.
You make me know the path of life;
in your presence is unbounded joy,
in your right hand eternal delight.
Psalm 16:5-11

I love that Adonai heard
my voice when I prayed;
because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.

The cords of death were all around me,
Sh’ol’s constrictions held me fast;
I was finding only distress and anguish.
But I called on the name of Adonai:
“Please, Adonai! Save me!”

Adonai is merciful and righteous;
yes, our God is compassionate.
Adonai preserves the thoughtless;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
My soul, return to your rest!
For Adonai has been generous toward you.
Yes, you have rescued me from death,
my eyes from tears and my feet from falling.
I will go on walking in the presence of Adonai
in the lands of the living.
I will keep on trusting even when I say,
“I am utterly miserable,”
even when, in my panic, I declare,
“Everything human is deceptive.”
Psalm 116:1-11

When we set the LORD always before us, when we call out to Him, when we rejoice in His mercy and righteousness, when we keep trusting even when we are miserable, distressed, overwhelmed, and anxious, we can find the rest for our souls that Jesus promises those who come to Him. Jesus is actually quoting from Jeremiah when He says this. Jeremiah 6 says,
“This is what the Lord says:
‘Stand at the crossroads and look;
    ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
    and you will find rest for your souls.
    But you said, “We will not walk in it.””

The good way is trust and dependence in the LORD and His ways over our own.

It’s funny that our church’s email devotional actually focused on rest today. The key take away was, “At its best, an unwillingness to rest is a sign that we simply don’t know or understand one of the key themes in all of Scripture. At its worst, an unwillingness to rest reflects a belief (likely unspoken) that God desires or is impressed by an unceasing drive for activity.” Wow. That second part truly hits me in the gut. I so often allow myself to believe (what I know is a lie) that I can earn God’s love, favor, blessing, or even forgiveness. The devotion writer goes on to say, “‘Rest’ is a big deal in Scripture—so it should be a big deal to us. [Let’s remember] that God is not looking for us to run ourselves into the ground. The eternal God of the universe rested after He created the heavens and the earth…We won’t get a gold star for running ourselves into the ground. God doesn’t esteem that behavior; therefore, we shouldn’t either. The Lord loves us, created us, and offers us the gift of salvation through Jesus, but not so we’ll spend our years on earth going 100 mph all day, every day. His desire is that we would grow in our love for Him, increasingly enjoy being in relationship with Him, and rest regularly in Him. Put another way, we have permission from the Lord to rest. No apology or justification needed; we can delight in and be refreshed by the God-ordained call to rest.“

LORD, help me to find my rest in YOU this year! I repent of my lack of rest and my constant striving. I want to be more at peace, to stop trying to have it “all together” (or at least to look like it do), to give over my self-reliance and pride and need for control. As I rest in You more, may more of You rest on me so that I can be a light to my family, friends, and others who You place in my path this year. AMEN!

Comfort, Comfort

Isaiah 39-40

Your God says to you,
   “Comfort, comfort my people with gentle, compassionate words.
Speak tenderly from the heart to revive those in Jerusalem,
    and proclaim that their warfare is over.
    Her debt of sin is paid for, and she will not be treated as guilty.
    Prophesy to her that she has received from the hand of Yahweh
    twice as many blessings as all her sins.”
A thunderous voice cries out in the wilderness:
    “Prepare the way for Yahweh’s arrival!
    Make a highway straight through the desert for our God!
Every valley will be raised up, every mountain brought low.
    The rugged terrain will become level ground
    and the rough places a plain.
Then Yahweh’s radiant glory will be unveiled,
    and all humanity will experience it together.
    Believe it, for Yahweh has spoken his decree!”
…
Go up on a high mountain, you joyful messengers of Zion,
    and lift up your voices with power.
    You who proclaim joyous news to Jerusalem,
    shout it out and don’t be afraid.
    Say to the cities of Judah,
    “Here is your God!”
Look! Here comes Lord Yahweh as a victorious warrior;
    he triumphs with his awesome power.
    Watch as he brings with him his reward
    and the spoils of victory to give to his people.
He will care for you as a shepherd tends his flock,
    gathering the weak lambs and taking them in his arms.
    He carries them close to his heart
    and gently leads those that have young.
…
Why, then, O Jacob’s tribes, would you ever complain?
    And my chosen Israel, why would you say,
    “Yahweh isn’t paying attention to my situation.
    He has lost all interest in what happens to me.”
Don’t you know? Haven’t you been listening?
    Yahweh is the one and only everlasting God,
    the Creator of all you can see and imagine!
    He never gets weary or worn out.
    His intelligence is unlimited;
    he is never puzzled over what to do!
He empowers the feeble
    and infuses the powerless with increasing strength.
Even young people faint and get exhausted;
    athletic ones may stumble and fall.
But those who wait for Yahweh’s grace
    will experience divine strength.
    They will rise up on soaring wings and fly like eagles,
    run their race without growing weary,
    and walk through life without giving up.
Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11, & 27-31(TPT)

I’ve been away from my blog for the past couple weeks as we’ve been doing some remodeling in our home. And boy has the world continued to change in these past two weeks! Between COVID, quarantine fatigue, politics, and now the highlight on race issues in America, my husband and I have frequently found ourselves saying, “It’s all so tiresome.”

This world has us weary.

And so today this passage was just what I needed the LORD to remind my heart of.

I love that chapter 40 begins with the word, “Comfort”:
Comfort, comfort my people with gentle, compassionate words.
Speak tenderly from the heart to revive those in Jerusalem,
and proclaim that their warfare is over.
Her debt of sin is paid for, and she will not be treated as guilty.

The Hebrew word for comfort is nacham (נָחַם). It’s so closely related to the name Noah, which means rest. When I look at the letters I see “the faithful ones (nun) fenced in (chet) among the choas (mem).” There certainly is a lot of chaos in our world today, yet God through His word gives me, gives His people, words of comfort. Words that are gentle, compassionate, and tender. Words meant to revive us. Words that proclaim the war is over, our sins have been paid for, and we will not be treated as guilty. Despite all the chaos in our world, we can find comfort and rest in knowing that God has dealt with our sins and we stand before  Him forgiven, reconciled, and redeemed.

Isaiah goes on to say that there is a thunderous voice in the wilderness crying out to make straight a way for the LORD’s arrival, to prepare a path in the desert for Him to come. The Passion Translation notes that, “Even now the voice of the Spirit is crying out in the wilderness of people’s souls, bringing them to repentance and faith in Christ.” When He comes, His radiant glory will be unveiled and all humanity will see it. I’ve written multiple posts about scriptures pointing to Jesus being the unveiled glory of the LORD, and so I can’t help but see this as pointing to His Second Coming, when all eyes will behold Him coming on the clouds.

Isaiah then challenges God’s people, the joyful messengers, to lift their voices with power and to proclaim the good news, shouting out, “Here is your God!” He is a victorious warrior who will triumph with awesome power and will bring the reward of victory to His people. Yet He is also gentle as a shepherd, gathering His lambs and gently leading them as He carries them close to His heart.

After declaring all these things, Isaiah then asks, how then can you say that the LORD isn’t paying attention to my situation or that He has lost all interest in me? He then encourages them with these words that spoke to my heart this morning:
He never gets weary or worn out.
    His intelligence is unlimited;
    he is never puzzled over what to do!
He empowers the feeble
    and infuses the powerless with increasing strength.
Even young people faint and get exhausted;
    athletic ones may stumble and fall.
But those who wait for Yahweh’s grace
    will experience divine strength.
    They will rise up on soaring wings and fly like eagles,
    run their race without growing weary,
    and walk through life without giving up.

When I am weary and worn out, He never is. When I am without wisdom or unsure of what to do, He never is. He gives power to the powerless, which despite my often lofty opinion of myself, I am so desperately powerless, so completely lacking control. But those who wait on the LORD will renew their strength, they will rise up on soaring wings, they will run without growing weary, and they will walk without giving up. I can’t read these verses without having the words of Paul echoing in my ears:

“but he told me, ‘My grace is enough for you, for my power is brought to perfection in weakness.’ Therefore, I am very happy to boast about my weaknesses, in order that the Messiah’s power will rest upon me. Yes, I am well pleased with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties endured on behalf of the Messiah; for it is when I am weak that I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:9-10

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. All that awaits me now is the crown of righteousness which the Lord, “the Righteous Judge,” will award to me on that Day — and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for him to appear.”
2 Timothy 4:7-8

I love reading Spurgeon’s commentary on scripture. Here is what he says of this idea of waiting on the LORD:

Let every man know therefore that whatever his strength may be, of body, mind, or spirit, if it is his own it will one day fail him. Let him see to it therefore that he does not trust it, especially that he does not trust it with eternal hazards or rest upon it for his soul’s safety, for which it never can be equal. It will be a horrible thing to be leaning and to find your staff fails you when you are on the edge of a measureless precipice. It will be terrible to be building and to find your foundation washed from under you, and all your handiwork carried away by the flood! Yet so it must be if we are depending upon anything that comes of ourselves. Our own righteousness, our own thoughts, our own religiousness, our own prayers, resolves, attainments, achievements—everything that is of ourselves, must sooner or later prove themselves to be but human, and over all things human it is best to write, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” Mingled with all things human there are portions of that all-dissolving acid which fell upon man’s nature when infinite justice said, “Dust you are, and unto dust shall you return.” On the other hand, what a contrast there is as to divine strength! That never fails. It seems almost a superfluity to say as much as that; it abides in joyous fullness, never in the least diminished. With God there are no years to make Him decline with age, no labors to tax His powers. With God our lives are but as the swing of the pendulum. A thousand years in His sight are passed away as a watch in the night. Millions of ages are nothing to Him. He was God when as yet this sun, and moon, and all these stars slept in His thoughts like unborn forests in an acorn cup. And He will be God when all this brief creation shall melt back to nothing as a moment’s foam dissolves into the wave that bore it and is lost forever. God changes not in any degree whatever, the fountain of His almightiness still overflows. 
…
A church such as a church ought to be, consists of men who depend upon the Lord alone, for waiting signifies dependence. Their hope is in God. They rest in God’s righteousness as their righteousness, and they receive the great sacrifice provided by God to be their atonement and their acceptance. No man is really a Christian who finds his hope and confidence within himself; he must be looking out of himself to God in Christ Jesus.
…
But waiting upon God means something more than dependence upon God, so I go a step farther. If we depend upon God our expectation is from Him. We wait upon God as the birds in the nest wait upon the parent bird, expecting from her their food…Oh, friends, let us expect more of God, and we shall receive more. Does He not always come up to our expectations? Does He not amaze us with the blessings of His goodness? Is He not able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or even think? 
…
To make up waiting, I think there is a third thing, and that is patience—to hold out, and wait the Lord’s time and will. The three together—dependence, expectation, patience—makes up waiting upon the Lord. This “patience” is to the uttermost desirable in a thousand matters, that we may endure affliction, persevere in holiness, continue in hope, and abide in our integrity. Patience is the long life of virtue, and sets on its head the crown of experience. It is no child’s play to continue to suffer affliction with joyfulness, and to remain for years perfectly acquiescent in the will of the Lord, let that be what it may. It needs the eyes of faith to see God in the dark, to believe in His love when He is angry, and to rest in His promise when it tarries long.

This word wait has been coming up multiple times throughout the last couple months, particularly as I’ve been reading through Isaiah, and I find it so interesting that Spurgeon’s understanding of waiting so closely aligns with the Hebraic meaning of the word qavah (קָוָה) which means “to bind together (perhaps by twisting), to expect, gather (together), look, patiently, tarry, wait (for, on, upon).” When we are dependent on Him, we are entwining our lives to His. I think of a tiny fragile vine that twists around a much sturdier branch in order to climb its way up to seek light from the sun that will sustain it and help it grow. We expect from Him not only the eternal life that He promises through salvation, but also the abundant life, the redemption and restoration of this world, and the victory over sin – both in our own lives but also in its totality. And we do all of this with great patience and longsuffering, knowing that much is occurring in the unseen realm that exists beyond our perception, yet we set our hope – our thoughts, our desires, our hearts – on the things that are above.

LORD, let me not grow weary in these tiresome times. Let me wait upon You, in dependence, expectantly, and patiently – knowing that you are a victorious Warrior, a tender Shepherd, a God Who sees, Who understands, Who does not tire or grow weary, but Who gives Your divine strength to those who seek You. And may I find comfort, comfort in these truths. AMEN!

Choose JOY

Romans 15

May God, the source of hope, fill you completely with joy and shalom as you continue trusting, so that by the power of the Ruach HaKodesh you may overflow with hope.
Romans 15:13

It’s been 4 weeks since I’ve cracked open my bible after the birth of our son. It’s hard to carve out that time in my schedule, which really isn’t much of a schedule right now as I am at the mercy of a hungry sleepy newborn who loves to be snuggled more than anything. Yet in this new season of changing diapers, nursing, spit-up, and sleepless nights, I have not felt entirely disconnected from the LORD. He has continued to sustain me and encourage me through His people, midnight devotions I find on my phone as I nurse and rock a newborn, worship songs, and through lots of prayer. And while I long to have that precious time back – and I know that might be a while – I love how the LORD has held me close in a season where it would be all too easy to drift away.

Like many people, for the last 3 years or so I have had a word for the year. Abide, Delight, and Holy have been the ones I have focused on in the past. I hadn’t really had time to put much effort or thought into that for this year until about a week or so ago when I was watching the Today Show. They had a celebrity on who was talking about her health and weightloss goals for the year. Her weight has fluctuated over the years and she said that this time she’s going to stick to her plan because she wants to have more joy in her life. As I thought about her words it made me realize how off the world’s view of joy is. To the world joy is dependent on circumstances and is something that can be attained if you just change certain things in your life. Whether it’s weight, location, possessions, job, getting married, or having children, the world tells us if you just focus on what you want and desire you will experience joy once you achieve it. Joy is an inner feeling based on outward circumstances. But God’s word would tell us the exact opposite. Joy, true lasting joy, is an inner state of being despite our outward circumstances. It is not based on how we feel, because often we will not feel like being joyful in hard times. I can’t remember where I found this quote, but I saved it on my phone: “[The Fruit] are not fading, fragile emotions produced by willpower…Fruit is the effortless, spontaneous expression of the character of the Tree.” Paul writes that joy is a Fruit of the Spirit which means it is an attribute of a person abiding in Christ. Jesus says in John 15, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” We cannot experience real joy if we are not abiding in Christ, no matter how good or put together our lives may be; if Christ is absent, so too will be joy, along with love, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.

So as I thought about this biblical idea of joy, I realized that is exactly what I want my focus to be this year. Because in this new season of life there are going to be a LOT of days where I am going to feel anything but joyful, and yet, God’s word tells me that His joy is my strength and that it is not dependent on my circumstances, but completely available to me when I am dependent on Him.

And that’s why today, I just wanted to focus in on one of my favorite verses about joy, Romans 15:13. It is God Who fills me with joy as I trust, as I am dependent on Him. As I read the rest of chapter 15 for context, this verse took on even greater meaning for me:

“So we who are strong have a duty to bear the weaknesses of those who are not strong, rather than please ourselves. [Who is weaker than a newborn? One of my roles as a mother is to put my child’s needs before my own] Each of us should please his neighbor and act for his good, thus building him up. [In Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan, we learn that really, everyone is our neighbor…this includes my husband, my daughter, and our newborn son. My actions and words should be for their good and for the purpose of building them up] For even the Messiah did not please himself; rather, as the Tanakh says, ‘The insults of those insulting you fell on me.’ For everything written in the past was written to teach us, so that with the encouragement of the Tanakh we might patiently hold on to our hope. [Jesus gave up all His privilege, position, comfort, and entitlement for the sake of those who could do nothing for Him. I can surely give up a little sleep, comfort, and selfish desires for the sake of my child(ren)] And may God, the source of encouragement and patience, give you the same attitude among yourselves as the Messiah Yeshua had, so that with one accord and with one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. [Boy, do I need some encouragement and patience in this season – and it is God Who is the source. When I am dependent on Him I can imitate Christ’s attitude toward my family, which will bring glory to God – whether it’s dishes or diapers, folding laundry or snuggling a fussy baby, I can have Christ’s attitude and when I do God gets the glory – even if no one else sees it]

So welcome each other, just as the Messiah has welcomed you into God’s glory. For I say that the Messiah became a servant of the Jewish people in order to show God’s truthfulness by making good his promises to the Patriarchs, and in order to show his mercy by causing the Gentiles to glorify God [Everything Christ did was done as a servant, and in doing so He revealed the faithfulness of God and His mercy. When I serve my family I have the opportunity to be an instrument of His goodness and grace.]
…
I have always made it my ambition to proclaim the Good News where the Messiah was not yet known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation, but rather, as the Tanakh puts it,
“Those who have not been told about him will see,
and those who have not heard will understand.”
[My children are blank slates, little sinners who need the Gospel just as much as I do. I get to build on a bare foundation, teaching them truth, demonstrating God’s grace, and pointing them to His goodness and love. These are eternal souls that God has stewarded to me and my husband, and while their salvation is not dependent on us, it is not a role to take lightly.]

I don’t know when I’ll get to have consistent quiet times again, getting up early and spending a good hour or so in the Word, but I can choose JOY. I can lean into the LORD in moments where I feel anything but joyful and allow His joy to be what sustains me in hard moments, in sleepless nights, in days where I’ve barely gotten a moment to myself as I give up all my “rights” and entitlements for my child. Because that’s what Jesus did for me and so, so much more! Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, whose “heart was focused on the JOY of knowing that [we] would be his, he endured the agony of the cross and conquered its humiliation, and now sits exalted at the right hand of the throne of God!” (Hebrews 12:2 TPT) AMEN!!!