Confronting Anxiety Meditations No.12: Robbed of Joy
Anxiety versus Joy: Think about the verse with which we started this series: “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?” It’s pretty obvious isn’t it, that if you are in that state, joy is the last thing you will be feeling, and yet the Bible speaks repeatedly of joy as something that the Lord wants for us.
The Biblical Promises: For example, “the fruit of the Spirit is… joy.” (Gal 5:22) In the Message paraphrase version instead of ‘joy’ it speaks of the “exuberance about life.” I like that! So God’s Spirit wants to bring in us an excitement, a sense of abounding positive energy that is expressive – joy! David wrote “the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his dwelling place.” (1 Chron16:26,27)
In the slightly unexpected place in Job, we find young Elihu declaring, “that person can pray to God and find favor with him, they will see God’s face and shout for joy.” (Job 33:26) In a book that presents the great and all-powerful God, almost seriously scary at times, we find this revelation – in His presence there is joy! David also wrote, “You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” (Psa 16:11) This seems very different from those who would want to present an awesome, vengeful God.
But then again, he wrote, “The king rejoices in your strength, Lord. How great is his joy in the victories you give! …. Surely you have granted him unending blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence.” (Psa 21:1,6) This is David attributing his victories to the Lord, and the joy that follows such times, but it is more than that, it is joy in knowing the Lord, joy in knowing His presence. Even more, he writes, “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.
My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.” (Psa 28:7) Again it is joy in knowing the Lord and knowing His provision.
Be Real, Times to Weep: Now I want to be realistic about this for there may be some who will be saying, “You don’t expect me to have joy in what I am going through, do you?” OK, Solomon wrote, “There is a time for everything… a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” (Eccle 3:1,4) So, yes, let’s be real, when you are in deep mourning and in great grief over the loss of a loved one, that isn’t the place for joy – or is it?
Our danger may be to attribute a wrong meaning to ‘joy’. Excess alcohol may give an appearance that some might consider joy (e.g. the day of Pentecost), but it is temporary. The ‘joy’ we have been referring to repeatedly in the references above, speaks of a state of expressive bliss in God’s presence, it is a feeling because of the wonder of Him being there. Our grief is anguish because of loss. It is normal and natural, so don’t hear this wrongly. We sometimes have mixed feelings about death and mostly it has nothing to do with anxiety. Grief is not anxiety, although it may contain it if we are fearful of days ahead without our loved one. When an aged saint passes peacefully and graciously into the waiting loving arms of Jesus, there can be a beauty, even serenity about it. Yes, we can mourn the loss, but the mourning is tempered by what we just described. When a person has gone through a prolonged, deeply painful period of illness, eventually resulting in death in old age, grief may also be tempered by thankfulness that their suffering has ended, and they are now in a much better place (That IS the reality.)
Possibilities: But the point we have been making in these last two studies is that anxiety will rob us of both peace and joy. But, hold on, what about death, I hear the persistent call? Well, the traditional approach produces a path that goes, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance, but I believe in the kingdom of God that is not necessarily so. I have known believers who have not gone through those stages but who are perfectly healthy emotionally but have just known the grace of God that sees the reality of where their loved one has gone and copes with their absence. The cynic may say this is indifference, but I think that demeans the grace of God – and their feelings! Have you ever been in a Christian funeral service of thanksgiving where that understanding and that grace prevail and, yes, joy prevails.
Differences: Now we are all different and having watched people a good number of times at funerals, I know there are many expressions of grief, and mostly they exclude joy, but, having watched and listened over many years, I believe it is shortsighted to say joy cannot be part of the package; it can be. And here’s a mystery; you CAN have grief AND joy at the same time; God’s grace can acknowledge and feel the loss and separation but at the same time realize the reality of heaven where they now are and His ongoing enabling presence with us.
And so: So let’s sum up. Joy is an emotional expression of knowing the glorious presence of the Lord, a deep-seated, in-depth, solid emotion that is not reliant (although it can be) on external circumstances. Joy will be pushed out of the room when we allow anxiety to prevail, hence the importance of considering how we may deal with anxieties. Check out Joy in the book of Proverbs with the help of a concordance and see the many reasons for joy to break out, and maybe Isa 35:1-10 to see that joy that comes with life transformation. Indeed, why not go further and explore joy in the New Testament. It’s part of the package!
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