Daring Joyنموونە

Elizabeth: The Practice of Joy

Most of us consider joy to be an experience that should come naturally without requiring much intention or effort. After all, there are so many aspects of our lives that demand discipline and intention, shouldn’t joy come easily? While we certainly experience occasions or even seasons in life when joy is at our fingertips and celebration feels effortless, it’s not in our human nature to simply drift toward joy. Joy requires practice.

When I first began to understand this, I was admittedly annoyed. Why does a pleasant experience like joy have to be something that requires intentional practice? But then I realized how freeing and empowering this idea of practicing joy is.

We see countless examples of seemingly unexplainable joy in Scripture. The more we dig into God’s Word, the more clear it becomes that celebration for the people of God doesn’t march to the beat of circumstances. More than a reaction to good news or a reward for an accomplishment, joy is a rhythm of remembering the goodness of God and a byproduct of living in relationship with Him.

Elizabeth was the mother of John the Baptist (the prophet who prepared people for Jesus’s earthly ministry) and a relative of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Her story in Luke 1 offers us a stunning example of practicing joy.

She would have seen God’s signature on the miracle taking place in her story in part because of her knowledge of the stories of women who came before her in God’s story—women like Rachel.

In Luke 1:25, when Elizabeth said, God “has looked with favor in these days to take away my disgrace,” or as some Bible translations say, “my reproach,” she was quoting Scripture (Gen. 30:22-24). Her statement was an echo from Rachel (the mother of Joseph in the Old Testament) who was also barren and became pregnant after many years of waiting and longing to bear a child. But although Elizabeth repeated Rachel’s words, there was a difference in their timing. Elizabeth’s praise came after being told that she had miraculously conceived. Rachel’s praise came after her son was born.

Of course, it is natural and good to celebrate joyous outcomes in our lives such as unexpected gifts, long-awaited good news, or breakthrough in our stories. There is nothing wrong with Rachel’s response. But Elizabeth’s praise began at the promise rather than after the product. Elizabeth had faith that God would do as He promised, taking God at His word even if she didn’t fully understand how it was possible or how the details would unfold. And her choices were guided by her desire to trust God over what she observed in her circumstances.

I don’t know what this season of life is like for you. Maybe your heart longs for a child like Rachel and Elizabeth or a spouse to share your life with. Maybe your prayer is for freedom from the bondage of chronic illness or for a loved one to come to know the Lord. Our hearts carry the weight of these longings, so it’s understandably tempting for us to attach our hope, expectancy, and joy to their fulfillment. But what if there’s more? What if that perspective shortchanges us in our relationship with God and our ability to see the wonderful ways He is at work in our hearts and in our stories?

Shifting our perspective from the product to the promise is a great example of what it looks like to have a posture of expectancy in one’s relationship with God. Practicing expectancy means that we trust what God says over what we can see as we eagerly anticipate the unfolding of the story.

An expectant heart celebrates before the miracle. Elizabeth received good news and took God at His Word, trusting Him wholeheartedly. She simply received, rejoicing in her relationship with God and not the result.

Elizabeth knew the stories of Scripture, and this cultivated expectancy about how God would move and alertness to the presence of the Spirit when He worked in her. You and I sit in the privileged seat of knowing the greatest story: Jesus’s death on the cross and the resurrection that granted us a new life in Him. And what’s more, we are filled with His Spirit! How much more expectant can we be standing in light of the most joyful news the world has ever known?

Read Luke 1:5-7,24-25 and live today with expectant joy because of God’s goodness and faithfulness in all circumstances.