Joy in Every Circumstance

Joy is an important attitude that helps us overcome the stuff in our life. Joy is more than lasting happiness; it is something deeper, something that comes from the depths of our beings. Nehemiah said, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10b (NKJV) When we focus on God, joy becomes an innate attitude that transforms our lives. Joy is not a mood that we can adopt by searching for it; it is an emotional state that comes into our lives when we seek God first. If we face the stuff in our lives with the joy of the Lord, we will have strength because His joy does not come and go. 

Joy derives from the depths of the heart of God, and only He can give it to us.

True joy is found when we are living in complete harmony with the will of God. We can find God’s example of enduring hardship for the joy that is to come by “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2 (NKJV) 

Jesus did not go to the cross grudgingly. He went to the cross for the joy that was set before Him. 

He knew that He was fulfilling His Father’s will and trusting that greater joy would be His after He obediently endured the cross. He was fixed on the joy that was to come rather than on the present evil. Even though Jesus’ body was in pain and His Spirit grieved, He bore the pain of the cross with the peace and comfort that comes from a life full of the joy of the Lord and the hope of the joyful future that God had prepared for Him.

Joy does not always imply immediate happiness; more often than not, joy means forgoing present happiness and comfort for the hope in the joy that will come at the end of our hardships. And pure joy is found by living a life that is fixed within God’s will. Paul tells us to “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” Philippians 4:4 (NKJV) When our lives are focused on doing God’s will always, we can rejoice in the Lord always. 

James 1 says, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” James 1:2-4 (NKJV) What does that mean? How are we supposed to have joy when life is not going so well? Pure joy is more than happiness; it is an attitude that permeates our lives and supersedes our circumstances. Trials do not have to produce misery, and good times do not always produce happiness. 

It is a change of focus that produces joy. 

When James said, “count it all joy... knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience... ”, he told us what to focus on. If we focus on the testing, we will find the trial, but if we focus on faith in a God who never changes, we will find joy in the midst of struggles. We can rejoice in the Lord always when we set our eyes and minds on Him and seek Him with everything we have. We are going to experience hard times, but God is greater than our trials, and His joy is greater than depression and disappointment. If we commit ourselves to following Jesus with all our hearts, then the joy of the Lord will fill our hearts, and we will be able to overcome all of the stuff that is going on in our lives. Joy is the attribute that God gives us to overcome the stuff in our life.