When was the last time you used the word joy? When was the last time you experienced joy? It may be a word that you haven't heard someone say recently and it might not even be an emotion that you can remember the last time you felt.
At various points our lives can feel void of joy for a myriad of reasons. The experience of losing a loved one, the feeling that nothing is going to plan and constantly comparing ourselves to others can all strip the joyfulness from our existence. But more often than not, that authentic joy was missing in the first place.
Commonly we associate positive feelings and experiences with circumstances, or as a response to a landmark life event or achievement. It's natural to hear people describe themselves as happy after they receive good news or reach a goal. Although it's undeniable that experiences generate genuine responses of this sort, this limited understanding of joy and happiness requires regular stimulants to keep the emotion topped up and we can find ourselves on an endless pursuit to acquire it.
In a biblical sense, joy isn't situational. It's detached from circumstance. Essentially, it's not a prerequisite that everything has to be going our way for us to know it. In Romans 15 and 1 Peter 8, we find two examples which allude to how this feeling of great pleasure can be obtained and unlike the widely shared societal view, it has nothing to do with acquiring possessions or how our value is interpreted by others.
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans 15:11)
"Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not seen him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy." 1 Peter 8.
Both of these verses associate joy with trust and belief in God. A lack of trust is an obstacle to our ability to feel joy in any relationship and it's no different in this case. Removing this barrier leaves us open to being overwhelmed by this emotion in a way that we wouldn't ordinarily be as a result of our quest for earthly contentment.
What's more, the joy spoken of in the Bible isn't just any joy, it's 'all joy' and 'inexpressible and glorious joy'. This suggests to us that it's beyond our regular comprehension and greater than anything we've encountered. Not only is it indescribable and overwhelming, it's also eternal.
"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).
Limiting our search for true and everlasting joy within worldly boundaries often returns momentary results, but God's version of joy comes without an expiry date.
