Joy In The Morning

YEARS AGO, A PERSON CLOSE TO ME traded her joy for bitterness when she allowed jealousy to fester until it consumed her, and she was never the same. I wrote the following poem to express my deep sadness for both her loss and mine.

Where did you lose your joy?

Was it left along the way

To where you’re going now?

Oh, I hope that you won’t stay.

How did you lose your joy?

Did you set it on the shelf,

In a place that’s gloomy and gray,

So descriptive of yourself?

Why did you trade your joy

For a self-centered way of life,

Consumed with resentment,

Bitterness, and strife?

Once upon a time,

Not too long ago,

You shared your joy with me,

But where did that joy go?

We’re all tempted to trade joy for bitterness when life is hard. But joy can be ours again when we see our challenges through the encouraging lens of Scripture. As David wrote, “Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5).

The storms of life blow in without warning and rob us of our joy. My husband witnessed firsthand the devastation Typhoon Haiyan caused to the Philippine Islands in November 2013. It was one of the largest recorded typhoons to ever hit land, and more than six thousand people died. Two of his national staff were among the million-plus people who lost their homes in a matter of minutes. Only a divine rescue saved their families. Their initial response to losing their homes was sorrow, but the sadness incredibly evolved to supernatural joy. They used their season of grief and loss to share the mercy and compassion of the Lord, and our ministry was blessed to help with disaster relief efforts. Staff member Primo wrote, “Before the typhoon, the village I lived and preached in had a very low response rate to the gospel. Although my family miraculously survived, Typhoon Haiyan destroyed my home and most of the buildings on my island, which looked like a war zone, littered with debris and coconut trees snapped in half. In the storm’s aftermath, I was appointed the sole preacher for relief distribution in forty-five villages, and I have already preached in forty of them, to the largest audiences with the highest response rate I have ever seen. I praise the Lord!”

The prophet Habakkuk wrote about similar circumstances:

Though the fig tree should not blossom

And there be no fruit on the vines,

Though the yield of the olive should fail

And the fields provide no food,

Though the flock be cut off from the fold

And there be no cattle in the stalls,

Yet I will exult in the LORD,

I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.

The Lord GOD is my strength,

And He made my feet like hinds’ feet,

And makes me walk on my high places.

In this life, we will experience sorrow and loss, challenging people and circumstances, fear of the future and pain from the past. Our enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy our joy. But by God’s grace, even in the midst of heartbreak and disappointment, we can, like Bob’s staff and Habakkuk, rejoice in the God of our salvation.

Our joy can also be diminished by less consequential happenings. My daughter Katie called me one Friday night to tell me her dryer had broken—a minor circumstance compared to the impact of the typhoon, but she still had to make a choice about how she would respond. Saturday morning, she woke up her three daughters with the exciting news: “Guess what we get to do today! Hang all of our clothes on the playhouse to dry!” She sent me pictures of smiling girls and a playhouse covered in clothes. Katie chose joy and influenced her daughters to do the same. Joy is a choice we make, morning after morning, when we face a new day with new challenges.

REFLECTION

Take a few minutes to give your disappointments, sorrows, and pains to your heavenly Father, who alone can comfort you. Then ask the Lord to restore your joy, as King David did at the lowest point in his life: “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation” (Psalm 51:12). In order to prepare for “joy robbers,” memorize a favorite “joy” verse or one from this devotion, and ask the Lord to enable you to hold on to your joy through whatever you are facing now.