JOY: It's OK to Hope & Trust God's Grace

We live in a world that has many circumstances that we find uncomfortable, and sometimes very painful. But we are not alone, are we?

I have a client who is well known in his industry (national and internationally). He leads an enormously successful business. Life has been good. He travels internationally and has friends all over the world. He has two lovely daughters and two beautiful grandchildren. But life has not all been a bed of roses. He lost his wife five years ago after she suffered for 11 years with cancer. He has encountered painful events and moved on with his life. In the last year, he has found a new relationship, and it has brought joy back into his life. Last week, he learned that his friend has cancer. Again, he is encountering a very painful event.

The more we encounter painful events, challenging circumstances and broken relationships, we are tempted to believe the HOPE is merely an avenue of disappointment and that it is safer and maybe even more prudent to be suspicious of joy. I don’t know about you but I don’t want to miss out on my vibrant, God-given life because

 I am too busy preparing for the worst.

Throughout Scripture, God invites us to delight in Him and rejoice in what He is doing in our lives and wait with eager anticipation what He will do next. The theme of joy comes up, in Scripture, over 200 times. So let’s lay down our shields of pessimism and cynicism. Let’s open our hearts and receive more of God’s joy. Because the joy that is available through God cannot be lost, stolen, or extinguished. This is the joy we were made for—it's custom-tailored.

Because God made us in His image, we have an innate value. We have thoughts and feelings beyond our instincts and circumstances. We have the ability to understand morality and empowerment to make choices accordingly and the ability to express ourselves creatively and still be in relationship with each other and the creator. Yet given the opportunity to delight in the way God created us we often choose instead to notice and name what we struggle to accept in ourselves. But scripture assures us that no part of our story disqualifies us from the premiss that we are priceless.

The relationship God had with Adam and Eve in the garden models for us the two essential pillars of attachment that we have as human beings: LOVE and TRUST. All joy has God’s signature. If something reflects beauty, summons delight, kindles joy, inspires awe or prompts us to worship, God should be celebrated as the source of that joy.

In a book titled The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz (Psychologist) the author explains, “When people have no choice, life is almost unbearable. As the number of choices available increases as it often does in today’s culture, the autonomy, control and liberation this variety brings is powerfully positive. But as the number of choices continue to grow, negative aspects of having a multitude of options begin to appear. As the number of choices grows even further, the negatives escalate until we become overloaded. At this point choice is no longer liberating but debilitating.”

It is our dependence on God not our independence from Him that we grow in wisdom and are truly free. God calls us to a rich and full life, one of overflowing and meaningful activities under the personal favor and blessing of God and in continual fellowship with His people. Rejoicing and celebrating is a practice that keeps us connected to the reality of God’s presence and faithfulness in all seasons. It is NOT a practice that disconnects us from our troubles.

Behaviors we employ to escape our relational, emotional or mental tension or distress are a reaction to pain and do nothing but temporarily and ineffectively numb our wounds leaving us no healthier than when we made our escape. But deeply engaging our reality—even grieving and lamenting it, forms a bridge for us from escape to celebration. An attempt to escape our pain only keeps us stuck and more deeply entrenched in the very pain we were trying to avoid. Rather, naming our pain and confessing the unhealthy and unhelpfulness in which we have tried to manage it sets us on a path that leads to joy.

The bottom line is that we will enjoy God’s grace to the extent that we know that we need it. My client needs God’s grace. I need God’s grace. How about you?