Searching For Joy

As they studied the Law, they discovered that the LORD had commanded through Moses that the Israelites should live in shelters during the festival to be held that month.   Nehemiah 8:14

The rather unusual festival that the Israelites rediscovered involved each family making a temporary shelter from branches and then living in it for seven days. The festival reminded the people how God had protected their forefathers in the desert and that everything in this world is temporary. Like Abraham, they were to look for a heavenly city.

I love the spontaneity of this festival. These men read the teaching in the Word of God, and then they went and did it: “The people went out and cut branches and used them to build shelters on the roofs of their houses, in their courtyards, in the courtyards of God’s Temple, or in the squares” (Nehemiah 8:16). Their obedience was visible in the home, among their neighbors, in their place of worship, and in the workplace. It was a marvelous example of the power of a group of people who are committed to doing whatever the Word of God says.

Their obedience to the Word of God was infectious: “Everyone who had returned from captivity lived in these shelters during the festival, and they were all filled with great joy! The Israelites had not celebrated like this since the days of Joshua son of Nun” (Nehemiah 8:17). Eight centuries had passed since the days of Joshua! The people were never happier than when they were fully obedient.

God had spoken to his people through his Word. It had humbled them in their sins, but it had also lifted them up to see the grace and mercy of God, and then had directed them into a new life of obedience.

In all our desperate searching for ways to find joy, God is telling us that we will never find joy like the joy of knowing God, being humbled in our sins, experiencing his grace, and walking in a life of obedience.

For further reading, see Philippians 2