The joy of the Lord is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10
The Christmas season is behind us, the calendar has flipped to a new year, the Bulldogs are winners, COVID is still among us, and we are standing in anticipation of what the New Year will bring. It’s a bit like the Price Is Right game show where three doors are presented to the contestant, and they must choose one not knowing what lies behind any of them. This new year can hold joys, challenges, opportunities, and even sorrows, but none of us really knows what is behind the next bend.
One of the highlights of the Christmas season for me is hearing a great choir sing the Hallelujah Chorus by Handel. He wrote the entire Messiah in only three weeks even though his eyesight was failing, and he was facing the threat of dying in a debtor’s prison because of a mountain of outstanding bills. He said the music literally “came to him” in a flurry of notes and motifs, and Handel credits the completion of this masterpiece to one thing, joy. He lived to see his work become a cherished tradition as he learned the joy of the Lord being his strength.
Many of us tend to confuse joy with happiness, but there is a difference. You can’t be happy without being joyful, but you can be joyful without being happy. Joy is defined as a feeling of great pleasure and happiness, while happiness is defined as the state of being happy.
Rick Warren says, joy is the assurance that God is in control of every detail of our lives. No matter the uncertainty of our lives right now, joy is the quiet confidence that ultimately everything will be all right.
Now God is blessing us with a new year, and with it, a chance to find our joy! Joy came unexpectedly to us this past Christmas when our extended family gathered to celebrate on the day after Christmas. It had been over a year since we had seen our nieces, nephews, and their children. All ten of our Mama and Daddy’s great grandboys were here, and as we grabbed them from their game of basketball for a quick picture, I was reminded of the joy and pride that would be theirs if she and Daddy could have been here to seen them! They range in age from seventeen to almost three, and each one is special in their own way! As one of our neighbors commented, “It warmed my heart to see all those boys enjoying each other.”
After much thought, I wondered, How do we keep our joy this year? Each year seems to bring resolutions which end up being broken as we promise each year to do better, but resolutions only happen when we resolve to keep them.
Making resolutions is a good thing because it gives us a goal for which to work and hope to keep moving toward them. In the spirit of resolutions to keep our joy this year, first, we need to take time for what really matters, tackle one thing at a time, and start small and get the job done! Things like Bible Study, spending time with family and friends, helping others, and giving of our time to make things better for those who can’t do it alone.
Secondly, we keep our joy by relinquishing the things we cannot control or change and give them to God for resolution.
Next, we keep our joy by resolving to remember. It’s a year to remember all that Christ has done for us and to remember that we can never repay Him for all that He has done. In this new year, we should all resolve to do our best for Him.
Finally, we keep our joy by resolving to make each day the first day of the rest of our life. Jonathan Edwards, the great theologian, began each day with two resolutions: “First, I will live for God. Second, if no one else does, I will.”
This new year our prayer is that the day will come when the kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord. This year keep that pure joy! Happy New Year!!
The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord; And of His Christ, and of His Christ. And He shall reign forever and ever. King of kings (Forever and ever, Hallelujah! Hallelujah!) And Lord of Lords (Forever and ever, Hallelujah! Hallelujah!) And He shall reign forever and ever. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Excerpts from The Hallelujah Chorus by Handel