Have you ever heard the statement the joy of the Lord is my strength? Well, I believe whether you are a Christian, Buddhist, Hindu or any religion at all, the God you pray to always want you to be happy. I would not say that the above statement is mainly for Christians alone therefore, I would prefer if you will see this article as a means of reviewing how and what it means for the Joy of the Lord to be our Joy. A lot of us have different views as to what joy is and it does not end there, so many people have defined joy in such a way that anyone who does not fit into that description begins to live a life of sadness. The aim of this article is to x-ray what true joy should be and mind you this is my point of view but in any case, it suits yours, then I guess we are of the same family.
Come with me
To break this down, I would like to look at joy from the aspect of its dictionary meaning just in case we have anyone who does not understand the meaning of Joy as a word. See what the dictionary has to say.
Joy is the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying (source).
Looking at the above definition you will agree with me that joy is a wonderful feeling everyone yearns for, but the truth therein is that joy is relative to the individual who is feeling it at a particular time. One thing we know already is that joy is not seen rather it is felt and that is one of the reasons why I make bold to say that it is relative to the person feeling it.
What happens most times is that we get too connected with others in such a way that when they feel this emotional rush know as joy, we are also affected by it but this is not because we feel the same way. I am not here to talk more about how we react when others are having this emotional feeling of joy rather I am here to look at those ways by which we can feel joy as individuals and this will help to buttress the fact that the feeling of joy is relative. Let me plead that you try and follow me in this journey even though you may have heard it but I believe what I am about to say will make a little more sense to you by the time I’m done.
The Relative Nature of Joy (one man’s meat is another man’s poison)
I was listening to the radio one blessed day when the radio present started a program where they tell stories of people who are in various needs seeking help from the public in both financial and otherwise. As I was listening, one particle case struck me down to my marrows and this became a point of worry and thoughtful meditation for me. It was about a story of a young man whose occupation was barbering of hair. The presenter said that this young man came to their office crying so bitterly.
When he was asked what the problem was, he narrated the story of how his wife became pregnant just after six months of their wedding which was a great thing of joy for him at that time. He continued by narrating how his joy became a nightmare for him. This might be sounding like a fairy-tale but I tell you that it was a true-life story and I believe you may have heard such a similar story before now.
The young man continued by telling them how they went for a scan and the result showed that his wife was pregnant with sextuplet. It was at this time that his joy went on a downtrend. It was not because he was not happy about the blessing it was simply because he has checked himself and saw that financially, he cannot take care of the wife with the set of babies coming. As a vibrant young man, he began to put his hands in so many other sources of income in a way to gather a good amount of money before the time of delivery.
When the time for the delivery came, the doctor told the young man that the wife does not have the strength to go through the normal process of pushing. He told him that the only way to keep both the wife and the babies safe was through a caesarean section (delivery through operation). The biggest blow landed when the doctor told the young man what it would cost for such an operation. The young man became devastated the moment he heard that it was going to cost him over a million in Nigerian currency (over $2500).
This is someone whose annual earnings were not up to $800. The young man tried to seek help from friends and family members but he was only able to gather just a little over $1300 after three months of the wife’s delivery. The doctor was kind enough to carry out the operation even without the young man completing the payment, but the problem was that he was not able to take the wife and the newly born babies home after three months of delivery and that was why he rushed to the radio station for help the moment he heard about the program. Now, there are over a million people who would give anything to receive such a blessing but to this young man, what should have brought him Joy turned around to bring him sadness.
This is the story of so many people out there. There are some whose stories you will hear and you will begin to wonder if they should be joyful or sad. According to the definition of joy, it must be exceptionally good and satisfying before one can say he is joyful. My question is; have you ever felt exceptionally good and satisfied about something in your life? if your answer is yes then, you have truly felt what it means to have Joy. One of the biggest challenges we face is that a lot of people base their joy on physical and material things. Don’t get me wrong.
I believe the reason why the young man was sad to the extent of crying was that he has built this idea in his mind about the material and physical understand of joy. If this young man had looked above his challenges, he would have seen reasons to be joyful even amid his worries. This is why I tell you today to build your joy not on the material and physical things but on the things that are not seen because I believe that that is where the Joy of the Lord will be found.
A quick advice
· Appreciate the little things that come your way so that you will find joy even amid your worries.
· Always remember that a lot of people out there are passing through more pain than you are.
· Expect no favour from anyone but always be thankful when you receive a favour.
· Find time to look beyond your ugly situations in life because that will always keep you away from seeing reasons to be joyful in little things.
· Above all, love your God with all your heart and allow your God to direct your path. We will all experience Joy today and always.
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I say it boldly that the joy of the Lord is my strength. May the joy of the Lord keep shining in us continuously.