Choose JoySample

DAY 6 – GREATER JOY

Reflection: For a change of pace during our 50 days of Choose Joy devotions, we'll intersperse themed weeks with days featuring verses from the Old Testament book of Psalms (which may align with your weekend, depending on when you started). These are songs and poems, many written by Israel’s King David around 1000 BC. It’s an opportunity to pause and allow these ancient God-inspired words to strengthen our hearts with joy.

Psalm 4:7 is the first time the word joy appears in the Psalms, in many English translations of the Bible. The psalm is thought to be from the day David fled Jerusalem because of the rebellion of his son Absalom. What a day to experience 'greater joy' (NLT)!

The directness of David's request that God answer his call (vs. 1), may sound jarring to us. But one of the reassuring things about the Psalms is their emotional honesty. David is (understandably) anxious and is not hiding from God, but turning to him for help.

He then gives us in verses 2-6 a basis for having a heart full of joy, perhaps with the treachery of Absalom in mind. Stop dishonouring God's glory with selfish ambition (vs 2). Stop being deluded in your idolatrous pursuit of fame and wealth and power (vs 3). Remember God is the one who calls, appoints, and he looks for and listens to faithfulness and service (vs 3).

Take responsibility for your wrongdoing by searching your hearts, stilling your mind, offering the sacrifice of repentance, obedience, and trust (vs 5). Let your riches be the shining, smiling face of God, rather than material wealth (vs 6).

These steps bring us to a place where our hearts can be filled by joy (occupied by gladness and mirth to the exclusion of fear and anxiety) (vs 7).

By the time he has finished writing, David has remembered that whatever other people do or say, even on a day of great calamity, he can lie down in peace and sleep, safe in the companionship and protectiveness of God (vs 8).

What makes this so powerful is that these words weren't written from the lap of luxury, but from the dust of the road with enemies all around. It's a sure sign to us that we, too, can find peace and joy in God, whatever we face.

Choose joy: Pause and give thanks for the many things in life that make us happy. Then praise and thank Jesus, the promised Messiah in the line of David, who gives greater joy.