On Joy – (Conversations with God)

**I started this series last year and I believe God wants me to continue with it for now.

 

“Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again–my Savior and my God!” (Psalm 43:5 – NLT)

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Me: Lord I feel so terrible right now and I don’t know why.

God: *silence

Me: *in tears. Lord, please help me! There’s so much chaos in my mind right now. I feel so bad. You are the only one I can turn to. Help me please.

God: *silence

Me: Lord, please help me push all this unpleasantness out of my mind. I feel so sad, so terrible. Pleeeeaasse!

God: I am not a feel-good medicine.

Me: *abruptly stops crying. Woah. What?

God: I am not a feel-good medicine.

Me: *silence

God: I am not something you can use to make yourself feel good when you’re feeling sad and terrible about yourself. Stop seeking me to make yourself feel good, stop using me as an escape hatch from the unpleasantness of life. That is idolatry – creating a god that serves your desires and personal happiness.

What I give is what your soul needs: life, and not a false bubble of happiness, not an emotional high. You see, this is what your flesh wants and anything that comforts or allows you to be happy in your flesh is not from Me.

Me: Lord, I get that now. But how do we address this unrest in my heart right now?

God: Look at it not from an emotional perspective (flesh) but from the spiritual perspective.

Me: How?

God: Consider what it is pointing to: the state of your soul and how it has drifted away from me.

Me: Okay?

God: This unrest in your soul should point you to Me. It should be able to make you understand that there are some lies you are believing or some things you have held on to that have made your soul restless because you see, your soul can be satisfied by none else but me.

An agitation, a lack of joy means you are clinging to something that is not Me.

Me: I see.

God: True joy is not in emotions, not in euphoria or excitement. True joy is the state of a soul that is resting securely in Me.

Christ was “a man of many sorrows”, yet the scriptures say “He was anointed with an oil of gladness far above his equals.” Why? Because “He hated iniquity and loved righteousness” (Me). He was resting in Me.

“An oil of gladness” doesn’t mean he was living in a bubble or skipping down the streets in cheerfulness (which can also be good), but He had found his resting place in Me.

That is true joy.

Me: I see.

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“Rejoice in the Lord always [delight, take pleasure in Him]; again I will say, rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4 – AMP)

 

Side Note:

I have a feeling that this conversation isn’t quite over yet. I feel like there is so much about joy that I still need to learn and that God is wanting to teach me. But we must follow as He leads.

Grace!

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