“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.” Psalm 16:11
Have you ever found yourself laughing so much that you started to cry or your abs started to hurt? How did you feel afterwards? I’m sure you felt uplifted despite the tears and stomachache, right?
Everybody wants to be happy. Everybody wants to have reasons to smile and to laugh but joy is probably one of the things people search for most. Are joy and happiness the same?
“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.” Psalm 16:11
When we think about happiness, usually we think of a moment in time where we felt happy about something. When the Bible talks about joy, it seems to go beyond a moment. It goes beyond being happy. The joy the bible talks about doesn’t depend on your situation or mood. Joy is not “when” or “what,” but, “where”.
Joy is not “when” or “what,” but, “where”.
In Psalms 16, we read that we can only find joy in God’s presence. If we keep looking at things or circumstances to fill us with joy, we are going to fail at being joyful. Maybe you will be able to have happiness for a season or a moment but you will never experience true joy.
What if joy is a place? What if joy can be yours no matter what is going on in your life? When we understand that because of Him, out hearts can be full of joy even when we are hurt or life is falling apart, we start looking at life differently. We also begin to experience JOY in places we would have never thought it could be found.
Joy isn’t just a warm fuzzy feeling. It’s not just a good laugh. It’s not from watching funny fail videos on facebook or youtube. The Spirit living inside of us is our source of joy. We have joy when we know the Father is close no matter what we are walking through. Joy can look like laughing, but joy is something that in the end, we can’t explain because it supersedes our understanding in the same manner it supersedes our circumstances.
In this Christmas season, I challenge you to remember that true joy is in God’s presence. Nothing can fill your heart completely apart from Him. If you choose to go to God’s presence you WILL find joy there. Not only joy, but pleasures forever! Who wouldn’t want that?
Tati is someone who has found what joy is. Growing up in Brazil, she experienced many things average Americans would never dream of seeing with their own eyes. Her love for God from an early age has helped her see things through His eyes and make the most of every moment.