This is for all of us who delight to feel the rapturous joy of God’s loving presence:
“Where is the blessedness I knew,
When first I saw the Lord?
Where is the soul refreshing view
Of Jesus and His Word?What peaceful hours I once enjoyed!
How sweet their memory still!
But they have left an aching void
The world can never fill.”
These lines were written by the 18th century English poet, William Cowper (pronounced Cooper), and they pretty much tell his story. He struggled in a rather extreme way with a lack of assurance of salvation. If you have ever felt the terrifying fear of the possibility that you may not actually be a child of God, imagine that horrifying condition lasting for decades of your life. This is what he endured.
Why was this poor soul denied a consistent and lasting experience of that sweet, joyful embrace of the Holy Comforter, or at least given some piece of mind regarding his eternal estate? A critic might say because he was in sin and failed to fully submit to God. An atheist would say, because there is no God, that the initial “blessedness” Cowper knew when he “first saw the Lord”, was just a frenzy of emotion stirred up by his imagination. Assuming Cowper pursued God sincerely, there must be another reason.
In the early 15th century, Thomas a Kempis wrote several helpful thoughts on the internal experience of God’s affirming love (which he calls “consolation”) in his classic devotional The Imitation of Christ. In the chapter, “Lacking All Consolation”, he writes,
“It is not difficult to despise human consolation while you are enjoying divine consolation. But it is great and wonderful to be able to do without all consolation, both human and divine, and for God’s honor gladly endure the heart’s interior exile and not seek one’s self nor think of one’s deserts…When God gives you some spiritual consolation accept it with thanksgiving and realize that it is a gift from God and not due you because of any merit on your part…for your hour of joy will pass and temptation will follow in its place.”
I think this is a useful application of the call to deny ourselves and carry our crosses daily, and of the principle in John 12:25, which states that, “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.” If we wish to experience joy in God (i.e., keep our lives unto life eternal), then we must deny ourselves. We must stop thinking about ourselves. We must not be preoccupied with how we feel. Rather, we must look to the cross and beyond it, to the true God who is worthy of and demands our obedience, reverence, total self-abandonment, love, and even joy. Understanding, knowing (through His Word), seeking Him through prayer and obeying Him must be our focus, first. For that is all that is really in our control.
The ecstatic experience of God’s love is often a by-product of focusing on Him and carrying out his will. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, which means that it is something that God creates in us according to His good pleasure. It is not something that we can demand or muster up ourselves, but rather something we must receive with gratitude, oftentimes after we have obeyed Him (abiding in the vine), by walking by faith and not by the sight of experience (joy).
A recent experience testifies to this principle:
I was called to preach/teach at a Sunday morning Bible study. When these things are assigned to me, I take them as a call from God, and see it as my responsibility to obey. But honestly, I didn’t want to preach. I was sick with a bad cough, hadn’t slept well for a week, and was feeling ill-prepared and inadequate. By the grace of God, I obeyed. I preached. And early on into the message, I began to feel a sense of peace and joy. A gift from God! I had been called to proclaim His Word. I had obeyed. In His good pleasure, He granted an inner affirmation and a renewed desire to know Him, love Him, and serve Him even more. This joy was a blessed by-product of obedience.
Now this is not to say that it will happen the same way every time. There is no system or formula to experiencing God. He moves whenever and wherever He wishes, according to His perfect designs. Perhaps Cowper was not overly preoccupied with experiencing God’s consolations. Perhaps he was indeed patiently waiting on the Lord, and for whatever reason, God saw fit to deny Cowper the real pleasure of experiencing Him emotionally on this earth. That was his cross. May our cross be lighter, and may He give us the grace to endure it.
Some questions to consider:
1. How preoccupied our we with our own feelings?
2. Do we trust Him enough to follow Him through the desert, really believing that “times of refreshing” are on the other side?
George, I’d like to share some things about “joy” that were taught to me by my pastor.
I completely agree that fruits of the Spirit are available according to God’s good pleasure, but there may be a categorical distinction that might clarify this by observing the other fruits of the Spirit. Here’s a quick snapshot of them:
-Love,
-Joy,
-Peace,
-Patience,
-Kindness,
-Goodness,
-Faithfulness,
-Gentleness,
-Self-control
Now, these fruits could be considered to be the natural results of the growing relationship between a human and God. However, with each of the above (except for possibly joy and peace, which I’ll come back to in a moment), it is possible to easily imagine someone who is not maturing in these fruits to be strongly exhorted to exercise their volition to “just do it” (I restrict this exhortation to the example of someone who is converted). For example, it would be completely appropriate to command your child, your brother or sister in Christ, or your flock to:
-”Be loving”,
-”Be patient”,
-”Be kind”,
-”Be good”,
-”Be faithful”,
-”Be gentle”,
-”Control yourself.”
It would even be appropriate to tell someone who was not a Christian these things, though of course, you could not expect the Holy Spirit Himself to back you up in authority over and conviction within them.
It’s trickier (though perhaps not entirely inappropriate – I don’t know for certain) to say:
-”Have peace — and be quick about it!”
-”Have joy — so that we can move on to more important things!”
These two create a distinction that seem to outline them as being the result of something other than our efforts. Now, if God Himself is initiating the event, then a mandate would make more sense.
-”I have saved you and keep you with My strong hand. The work is completed, never to be otherwise. Be at peace.” To not have peace in light of this would seem to indicate a lack of accordance with the Person of God and His completed work.
-”I give you eternal life that will be spent in My glorious presence, to be enjoyed in fellowship with Me forever. Have joy.” Knowing that this is the reality to which everything else is an echo and a reflection, having an absence of joy would seem to indicate a lack of accordance with the Person of God and His completed work.
Now, this is probably one of those things where it seems like it’s one thing, and it might be the other thing, but in reality, it’s probably both. It seems that fruits of the Spirit, though they are available to the Christian according to the pleasure of God Almighty, are something that we have some responsibility to participate in, at least sometimes.
This brings us back to “joy”. I KNOW that I don’t always have joy. At least not the kind that makes me feel bright and happy. I was fortunate to hear a bible teacher explain the definition of the word “happy”, with the purpose of distinguishing it from the word “joy”. He pointed out that the word comes from the same word as “happen”, which is “hap” or “happ”. The word “hap” meant (in Old English, around 1150) luck or chance, suggesting that there was something uncertain or chaotic about what it might describe. If I may make a stretch to attempt an explanation of the word, it might be said that “someone feels HAPpy because of what HAPpens to them.” I’m sure there’s nothing wrong with feeling happy because of what good things might happen, but that’s pretty distinct from “joy” as a fruit of the Spirit.
Joy might be best described in contrast to “happiness” as being that gift of blessed assurance of glory that we are given and may participate in, independent of what may happen in life. I may not always feel happy (in fact, I sometimes feel that is is a rare commodity), but I may always experience joy. If I ever feel that I am not “full of joy”, then I may, at any time, praise God, speak to Him, be in His presence, fellowship with the Gentle Almighty, and my joy is complete. And sometimes, that joy even results in happiness, though certainly not always. (As a personal testimony that serves to highlight my own rigid foolishness, I have vivid memories of times where I had a clear sense of joy during times of profound unhappiness. Of course, given that joy, I really should have been happier, but it really didn’t ultimately matter. The joy was the important thing, and I was SO glad to have it.)
In this way, I can see that the fruit of joy is never restricted from me, independent of what may happen or not happen, how I feel, or how I may be burdened or persecuted. The Spirit of God within me may create me anew in an instant, and do so continually as I am blessed to be in His presence. In this, I can confidently take God at His word.
Sonny,
Good to hear from you! Thank you for your thoughtful comments.
I don’t know if you read my recent review of John Piper’s book, Desiring God, but your comments would fit nicely into that discussion. In response, several folks shared their differing perspectives on the nature of Biblical joy. And since I found the conversation so stimulating, I think I will try to dedicate my next post entirely to the topic of joy. Unfortunately, since we are in the middle of painting and moving it may be a while…
Great thoughts, George. I look forward to your follow-up blog on joy.
Thanks, Heather!
Whew! We’re finally done moving. We won’t have internet in our house until at least August 1st, so it’s been tricky getting this completed, but here is finally the the post on joy that I promised. It’s called The Happiness of Joy