Real Hope: JOYNäide

Joy

I asked my 4-year-old grandson what he thought the word joy means, and he said, “It’s what we feel when we think about God, that He made us and loves us”. Well, that sounds like a pretty good definition to me. Joy is different than happiness. Happiness is a feeling dependent on how we perceive our circumstances. In contrast, joy is founded in the knowledge that we are loved by the God who made us.

The verse above has found its way into the lyrics of hymns and Christian songs over the centuries. The words were first spoken to the people of God who had returned from exile. They were listening to the priest, Ezra, reading the first books of the Bible when they began weeping because they realized how far from God’s heart they had been. Nehemiah told them not to grieve – that it was a time for joy to celebrate the love God has for them.

There are other verses, too, that remind us that our relationship with our loving God will carry us through all the circumstances of life.

One of these scriptures is Romans 15:13, and it’s my prayer for you and me today: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” (ESV) Amen.

Written by KATH HENRY