Choose Joyনমুনা

DAY 35 - ASCENDING JOY

Reflection: There is scarcely a better way to reflect on joy than in this most joyful of Psalms. One of the 15 Psalms of ascent (Ps 120-134) it was likely sung by worshippers ascending to Jerusalem for a festival, and perhaps originally by exiles returning home.

For us today, it’s a celebration of being saved and restored. We were captives to our own sin and locked in a life separated from God. Through Jesus, we’ve been forgiven our wrongdoing and released into a God-infused life.

The Psalm begins with the ecstatic joy of deliverance, the kind we might experience when escaping a very difficult situation or outcome. But it’s especially a picture of when we first receive the saving grace of Jesus and feel the burden of guilt, shame, and death lift off us, and our eyes are opened to a new reality, a new kingdom. It’s like a dream, we’re pinching ourselves, our conversation is filled with laughter, and we sing joyfully and enthusiastically.

‘What joy!’ the Psalmist writes, before instantly putting us back in the place where we need God’s help again – ‘Restore our fortunes, Lord’ (Psalm 126:3,4 NLT). And we know it’s true that the Christian life is not one permanent spiritual high, but a gradual outworking of salvation that includes setbacks and yes, the suffering and tragedy of life. These desert times bring us back to God again and again for his renewing streams.

But this joy-strengthened life is producing in us and in those we serve, a lasting harvest of goodness and grace. The challenges of life are never without purpose; they are like seeds planted with tears. And we know to look through those tears with joy, to a faithful God who will bring us home, one day, to a place where there are no more tears.

Choose joy: Make a decision to continue choosing joy by opening God’s word every day, putting yourself in touch with God whose very character is joy, the Son who gives us this joy, and the Spirit who bears the fruitfulness of joy in our lives.