“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” Psalms 16:11
We hear so much in the world today about what it takes to be happy in life, marriage, business, family and general society. It seems as if there are program after program developed to bring happiness into people’s life. Each year there are over 200,000 new “self help’ books produced every year.
However, only 1 in 3 Americans claim to be happy. In England, according to the Health and Social Care Information Centre, over 50 million prescriptions for anti-depressant drugs are written each year. The same report stated in Lincolnshire 75,500 anti-depressant drug prescriptions are written every month and in County Durham 63,700 are written each month.
One would have to ask the question, why in a world filled with 200,000 new ‘self-help’ books produced every year are people so unhappy? The reality is people, in general, are seeking something other than happiness, they desire joy. Joy is something different altogether and joy is good for the heart. Joy is not produced by self-help books, for that matter joy is not a product of self in any capacity. One will not find joy from a bottle or a pill. But joy, in its very essence is good for you as well as the people around you. We all have difficulties, struggles and dark times in our life. If we did not, we would not be living in the world we know. This does not mean joy cannot be prevalent in our lives. Having joy will be a much better response in difficult times for your heart and the ones you work and live around.
Some of the godliest people who are filled with joy and have a joyful attitude toward all those around have and are going through the trials of their life. The reason they have joy, as opposed to generic and synthesized happiness is they have the ability to point to the source or joy, God! They are able to be joyous by proclaiming His goodness even when their heart is in pain. These are the testimonies which challenge our faith and rightly so. It is not a time to castigate them with negatively because such joy is not found in our life. But rather a time to find their joy overflowing and contagious.
Beloved, joy doesn’t just affect you and I, but it pours into the people within our sphere of influence. Truly, joy is good medicine for the heart and soul. The Psalmist wrote, “His glory is great in thy salvation: honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him. For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance. For the king trusteth in the Lord, and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved.”(Psalms 21:5-7) Our trust is in the Lord and it is in the Lord we will find joy today, tomorrow and in the day to come. No matter where we are or what we are going through, joy can be present in our life. In everyday simple life.
I recently was listening to a pastor who was struggling greatly in a small congregation. Week after week the group would hear words like “Lord I know we are just a few, but thou are mighty” as the man would pray. Whereas, this is a true statement, it revealed where the man’s heart was, he was focused on the empty pews rather than on those sitting in the pews. He was defeated and deflated, having no joy in his life. If there was no joy, then you can forget happiness. Under great conviction, he corrected his position by stopping and looking at those who were not there and began to address those who were there, the bodies in the pews. Suddenly, when his focus was correct, joy began to spring up in his life and quickly it had a great effect on those around him. Before, his deflated, defeatist attitude was robbing those around of any joy. His wife, family and members were somber, because he expressed no joy. Just as contagious as the negative spirit infected the people, the joy pours forth into the lives of the people acting as a vaccination for such sourness, becoming the needed spark among the souls bringing forth unity as never before. The only difference was the man’s focus and this is what it will take today for us to find and have joy in our lives on a daily basis.
Seek joy today, in the common and ordinary things of life. Focus upon the source of joy, which is not your job, wealth or even your family, but rather the Lord God Almighty. When your focus is proper, your heart is filled with the needed substance to be joyful, having a positive affect on those around you.
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