Filled with Laughter

It is good to be back in Collierville after a week in Denver. We almost didn’t make it, but I will tell that dark and dismal tale on Sunday. It works well with a sermon on joy when all looks bleak. As we continue through the Psalms of Ascent, it becomes more and more clear how practical they are for a life of discipleship. Just a few Psalms toward the end of the Psalter, these songs were used specifically by the ancient people of God on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. And yet somehow they seem tailor-made for the disciple on his journey to the City of God. 

 

Fifteen songs that are mostly short and easy to get at. They are not long diatribes on discipleship, but short and specific songs that address all our fears, loss, guilt, hopes, and dreams that confront us in daily life. At least two of them are on joy. That in itself should be instructive. Joy is in short supply. I don’t mean happiness, which is circumstantial and is basically dependent on good fortune to possess. No, I'm talking about the kind of  joy—deep joy—that knows, even when weeping, that God is in control and still loves you. 

 

Joy is a Fruit of the Spirit which means it is given to us by the Holy Spirit. You can’t buy or bargain for joy. You can’t get joy by spending inordinate time trying to avoid pain. You can’t even vacation enough to possess it. No, it is a fruit of the Spirit. God has to give it to you supernaturally. And yet the Apostle Paul commands us to have joy. How can this be?  Long before Jesus shows us that weeping and joy happen at the same time and way before Paul writes about joy, our prayer masters were talking about joy—joy that happens even in the midst of hardship and pain. 

 

Joy is a characteristic of the redeemed life. Join the conversation this Sunday as we look at Psalm 126. 

 

Blessings, 

 

Jim