Devotional Thoughts
You Can Make It
Nehemiah 8:1-12, verse 10
February 28, 2010
Have you ever seen those billboards inviting us to gamble? One shows a woman with a smile as wide as the Grand Canyon. Another portrays a man beaming with unbridled joy and enthusiasm after winning the jackpot. Reflections of light in the background give us a “Thomas Kinkade” like impression that life doesn’t get any better than winning big money with some friends and a few drinks at the casino.
Most people, of course, never hit the jackpot or win the lottery. And those who “get lucky” often ruin their lives.
I gambled once. I won a trip to Las Vegas by selling a certain number of cars in a month. While walking around the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, I decide to throw some coins into the slot machine. Bye-bye coins. I then played a round or two of blackjack. So long greenbacks.
Then I thought, “Mike, you can’t reconcile God, gambling, and being a Christian.” So that ended that.
Everyone is looking for happiness. Unfortunately, we “buy” into the “myth of more” and really believe that more of this or that will make us happy.
But the myth of more clashes with what the Bible teaches. The good book says, “The lover of money will not be satisfied with money; nor the lover of wealth, with gain” (Ecclesiastes 5:10).
Or take this nugget from the apostle Paul, “Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these” (1 Timothy 6:6-8).
Money itself isn’t bad. In fact, money allows us to pay the bills, purchase goods, and provide for the needs of others. The Scripture teaches that money is neutral, but it can be used for good or evil. The issue isn’t money but “the love of money” (1 Timothy 6:10).
When money is gambled away, tied up in credit card debt, or withheld from the Lord’s work, then we have a problem. Our problem is a misplaced search for happiness. If we are living for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, we will never know what the Bible calls “joy.”
This week’s memory verse in Nehemiah 8:10 tells us two truths about joy. Let me set the context.
The people of Israel have come together for a day of celebration. They feel like Americans do on Independence Day (July 4), or like Canadians on Canada Day (July 1), or like Mexicans on Benito Juarez’s Birthday (in March).
Israel is back in the land after decades of exile. The city wall is built again. Life and worship in the name of God has resumed. Ezra reads the Scriptures to the people “from early morning until midday” (Nehemiah 8:3). The people “wept when they heard the words of the law” (8:9) because they remembered their sin and were deeply grateful to God for bringing them home again.
The leaders then tell the people not to “mourn or weep” (8:9), but instead, “Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine…for the joy of the LORD is your strength” (8:10).
Ezra wanted God’s people to rejoice in God rather than to weep, and to seek God more than anything else in life.
Let me share with you two truths about joy you must know before the billboards draw you in.
The first truth you need to know about joy is that joy comes from God. “…for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”
Joy comes from God, not gold or silver or houses or cars. Again, these things are fine in themselves, but when they become our sole reason for living, our life’s pursuit, we’ve missed the boat.
“You have put gladness in my heart more than when their grain and wind abound” says the Psalmist (Psalm 4:7). Gladness, happiness, or joy (call it what you will), is from the Lord.
But let’s clarify between God’s “creation-joy” and “special-joy”.
Creation-joy is what every human being experiences from time to time. God “made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live” (Acts 17:26).
Creation-joy is food, clothing, shelter, marriage, kids, education, accomplishments, graduations, and many more things that come with being human.
God wants all humans to revel in creation-joy, but he wants them to do it for his glory. Unfortunately, the Bible says, the natural man or woman does not do this (Romans 3:10-18). This is where special-joy comes in.
Jesus Christ talks about a special-joy beyond creation-joy when he says, “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11).
He had been telling his disciples about his love for them, staying close to him, and keeping his commandments. Then he talks about sharing his joy with them.
Christ is teaching us that there is a special kind of joy reserved for his disciples.
When the Bible declares, “…for the Joy of the LORD is your strength,” we are indicted whenever we look for joy in the proverbial pot of gold instead of Christ.
No amount of “grain and wine” can bring special joy, only God can. And if only God can satisfy your quest for joy, doesn’t it make sense to spend the rest of your life seeking this joy that God offers and promises in Christ? Doesn’t this make you want to turn away from buying everything your eyes see and your heart desires?
It’s kind of like the husband and wife who thinks another baby will help their troubled marriage. The myth of more seldom satisfies. But God always does.
“Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live” (Isaiah 55:1-3).
I don’t want any of us to ever forget that joy, pure joy, comes from God.
The second truth you need to know about joy is that joy is your strength. Again, our memory verse says, “…for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”
God’s joy has a remarkable way of strengthening our spirit. While in jail, the apostle Paul said, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, Rejoice” (Philippians 4:4).
There’s a powerful story about this in the Old Testament. King Jehoshaphat is surrounded by his enemies. Israel is weak and afraid. Jehoshaphat prays, “For we are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us. We do no know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (2 Chronicles 20:12).
Early the next morning Jehoshaphat “appointed those who were to sing to the LORD and praise him in holy splendor, as they went before the army, saying,
‘Give thanks to the LORD, for his steadfast love endures for ever’ (20:21).
What happens next reminds us that the joy of the Lord is our strength.
The Bible says, “As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set an ambush” against their enemies who “were routed” (20:22). God made their enemies – the Ammonites, Moab, and Mount Seir – destroy each other.
All they did was find their joy in God. And when they did, God’s strength showed up.
My friend, the joy of the Lord is you strength. When you rejoice in the Lord he will crush your enemies, push away your gloom, and place your feet on solid ground.
But you need to rejoice in the Lord and all that he is for you in Jesus Christ.
“I can do all things through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:14). This strength rises up within us when we seek our joy and contentment in Christ alone.
“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water'” (John 7:37-38).
The Holy Spirit of God is the one who gives joy. And the closer you get to Christ, the more strength you will find to leap for joy (Luke 1:44).
God is the source of true joy because God is joyful within himself. And God shares his joy with us in Jesus Christ. Joy is one of the many gifts Christ won for us by his life, death, and resurrection. Only in Christ will you find your ultimate happiness in this world and the next.
Until next week,
Pastor Mike