Joy In The Lord!

Psalm 119:143”Trouble and anguish have overtaken me, Yet Your commandments are my delights."

Let me tell you something, there is no joy outside Jesus! Everything else is fleeting! Be it an outing, dating, promotion, relationship, money, fame and foreign assignment – whatsoever, nothing gives you eternal joy. Are you hearing me? David beautifully says in Psalm 118:24”This is the day the LORD has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.” Boy, that’s a good statement! The moment we wake up in the morning, we need to open our mouth with such good confessions, rather than starting the day grumbling and mumbling. Every new day will have its own new set of problems, but we can still rejoice. Amen.

I was feeling a bit low so I called little Ganesh (3 year old) who is just full of beans into my room to entertain me; but he got scared when he was called into my room and he started crying. Now, how to make him laugh? I said, ‘Ganesh, smile I will take your snap’, in a jiffy he started to laugh loudly. I tell you, he was so cute, I called few more little ones and in a few seconds my room was filled with laughter. It was so contagious! My depression vanished and I felt excited in the Lord! With the same spirit I went up to the church to preach on Saturday where the school children also attend. Little Ganesh was on his knees clapping and enjoying, this scene filled me with joy and I was smiling. Another little girl kept looking at my smiling face and she started to smile; just after a while, she moved forward so that she could see me more clearly and kept smiling. This touched me tremendously and I just couldn’t hide my joy! My staff were also filled with joy! Ultimately, after the message, towards the end, I picked up a little boy and started dancing during the worship. After the meeting, I got a message from a young engineer who attended the meeting, he said, ‘sister, what is the reason behind your joy? Watching the joy among the kids and in you, I was also filled with peace and happiness on the inside of me.’ I replied, ‘Jesus made me happy!’

Abraham Lincoln said “People were just about as happy as they made up their minds to be.” How very true!

Dear friend, just take a look at the scripture we are meditating today. David says, “though I am surrounded with trouble and anguish; yet, your commandments are my delights.” Isn’t that wonderful? I received an email from a young girl separated from her husband, she said, “ though I feel wretched and lonely, yet after reading your devotion I feel excited and happy because the Word of God has lifted me up and I know He is a faithful God.” Got that? Dear friend, we live in a world surrounded with violence, terror, uncertainty, sickness and betrayals. I am glad that God took me out from the secular work and taught me His formula of happiness so that now I could bring joy to thousands out there who are living in perpetual torment, fear and anxiety. “Would I be thrown out of the job? Or “Would I be able to make it ? or “Am I fit?” and various other factors destroy the happiness from people. There are some who hold resentment and bitterness and hence they have lost the joy. There are some out there who have no faith in God and hence they do not know to be happy.

Our lives are wilted because we have jilted God! Give God topmost priority and keep smiling!