Rediscovering JoySample

In his Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, C.S. Lewis concludes, “Joy is the serious business of heaven,” arguing that the moments of frivolity we experience here on earth (such as dancing around our living room with arms raised and outstretched!) are anything but frivolous in heaven. Only here are we weighed down by the sin, brokenness, and distractions that make joy sometimes seem unnecessary. 

The picture that we get in Zephaniah of God’s response to his people, Israel, is important: “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing” (Zeph. 3:16-17). The Hebrew phrase translated “he will rejoice over you with singing” can also be translated as “he rejoices over you with a shout of joy.”

Stop for a minute and consider the Lord of the Universe singing joy over you! This is not a small thing. 

We are broken, sinful, and wayward. We turn to the left when we should go right; we sit when we should stand; we say no when God asks of us a yes. And yet, God rejoices over us, and with singing nonetheless! Indeed, God is holy, and wholly like no other. And yet, He is approachable and full of good gifts!

Even now, if we were to get a good picture of heaven, we’d see this gift of joy playing out even among the angels! Peak through the curtain even now and we see it—that delight that cannot be squashed. In Luke 15:10, Jesus says, “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” All around the world, people are coming to faith in Christ all the time. The delight, it seems, goes on forever and ever! 

If you have ever had the privilege to see someone give their life to Jesus, then you know that joy is high up on the emotions list. Jump to the angels’ response, and the roar is deafening! 

Joy, it seems, permeates God’s world. He is delighted in us even when it seems He shouldn’t be; He fills His angels with delight all of the time not because of what they have done, but because of what God has done. And what is it He has done? God has imparted His hope, delight, and joy to another person. The overflow of His love and delight, apparently, cannot be contained. 

Take a few minutes to consider that if joy is so rampant among God and His angels in heaven, why is it often so limited here on earth among us? How can we change that?

Tomorrow, we will look at how God’s overflow of joy to us can continue to be poured out to others through us.