The theme of our upcoming Poetry Jam is Unspeakable Joy! We are officially a month away from our Poetry Jam and in light of that, every devotional leading up to the event will be on the subject of joy and each writer will offer their unique perspective on this fruit of the spirit. We begin today with Phillip.
What is Joy? Is there something wrong with me if I don’t have it? How do I obtain joy? These and many other questions ruminated in my mind throughout my life when it came to the topic of joy, and maybe it has for you as well. This is coming from a person who knew how to be unhappy more than he knew how to be happy or have joy in life. You may ask yourself, how does a Christian not have joy? It’s the same question many Christians may ask themselves at one point or another in their life.
If you look at the state of the world currently, such as what the U.S. President is doing while in office, the different wars going on in countries other than your own, the different inequalities certain racial groups are going through each and every day, is it hard to see why maybe some may find it difficult to have joy right now? These are just a few of the issues going on in the world around people. We haven’t even mentioned the things going on internally within people as well. One could say the human experience seems like an uphill battle to say the least (Job 14:1 KJV). So, how are we expected to navigate life, especially as Christians? God – the answer has to start and end with God.
Honestly, I have been recently battling this state of life, of not having joy. It was hard to get a praise or prayer off my tongue each day and every church service. I felt as if I was going through the motions of life, most notably my walk with God, and it felt as if I was in a repetitive cycle.
One day recently, I was in that mental and spiritual cycle that I described earlier, heading to another church service, and a worship song came on while I was driving, Bryon Cage’s “I Will Bless the Lord”. In simple words, the song’s meaning was that no matter what happens to me, around me, or to those I love, “I will still continually praise the Lord.” It was truly hard to get the lyrics off my tongue at first because like I previously stated, my soul felt devoid of joy or happiness, but a shocking thing happened, I kept forcing and fighting myself to get those “I will praise the Lord” lyrics off my tongue.
I finally got my breakthrough one could say, and I finally felt some joy, something I had not for so long. In the aftermath of this occurrence, God impressed upon me, “Are you willing to fight for your joy?
Recently, I saw a news story about the unexpected death of this famous chef who I grew up watching. She was literally one of the most joy-filled people I had ever seen with a larger-than-life personality, and always smiling. She was who I would envision a joy-filled person to be and look like. A few weeks after the news broke about her death, outlets finally confirmed how she passed – by suicide. I and many others were shocked. How could someone who presented so happily and joyfully to the world, ultimately ended her life? This instance left me even more puzzled than I already was when it came to the topic of joy. Similarly, I saw this newly crowned PGA tour golf champion speech after he won the biggest accolade in his sport. The PGA golf champion’s speech left me and the entire world puzzled. He stated in simple words, “We train, work, and sacrifice for these accolades or accomplishments, and once we secure them, we celebrate and feel joy for 5 minutes but afterwards ultimately we feel empty.” He mentioned is this truly what life is? (Ecclesiastes 12:8-10)
These occurrences made me think about every difficult period of my life since becoming a Christian. Such as when I battled suicidal ideation and attempts in the past; it was God beckoning and strengthening me to fight those thoughts and my actions in what would have been my final moments. Or when I was about to drop out of my last year of graduate school due to me being burned out from caring for my father who was recovering from a stroke, coupled with seasonal depression and literally 5 months behind on my thesis with only 2 months left of school. I wanted to quit and give up because of my circumstances. I wanted God to make this problem go away and that was literally what my prayers to Him were. Ultimately, God did the opposite and unexpected. God spoke to me in what seemed like His championship game, 4th and inches, game on line motivational speech and said “Phillip, unless you have faith, I can’t make you stand”(Isaiah 7:9 NLT).
It was God that kept beckoning for me and ultimately strengthening me when my brother died in a car accident unexpectedly with his unborn baby at a time in my life when I was severely depressed and spiritually on the edge of walking away from God altogether.
It was God who comforted me while I was on my knees weeping “How could a good God allow this to happen?” It was God who showed me that my brother was in a better place now, and He posed the question to me, “Will you still praise me?”
It seems to me that in this life, during the hard or unwanted periods of our lives, we have two choices: tuck tail and waste away in our turmoil, or fight to overcome our circumstances in tandem with God. Which do you choose today? I know you are maybe sitting there reading this piece about joy and thinking this is very morbid. But I hope you walk away pondering about the only real and lasting joy that can only be found in walking in tandem with God in this life, and you see the benefits and the impact of walking without Him in this life.
