The God of Joy

 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. (John 15:11)

If I were to ask you to list some words that describe God, what words would you say? Would you say He is strong? Powerful? All-knowing? Justice-seeking? What about joyful? Would you say that God exemplifies joy?

Unfortunately, most of us don’t initially think of joy as a word to describe God. On the contrary, many people think God is sitting up in heaven waiting to punish them as soon as they make a mistake. But in his Old Testament book, Zephaniah encourages us saying, “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17).

The word delight in that verse literally means to jump up and down. Our God is a God of joy, so much so that He is jumping up and down, elated that we are His children. The Lord models joy for us in this way and so many others, so let us make the decision to be joyful as well. Remember, joy doesn’t come from your circumstances. It comes from knowing that God is over your circumstances. In grief, there’s God. In loss, there is the Lord. In suffering, there is the Savior. So let’s all rejoice!

Dear Lord, thank you for modeling what it looks like to be joyful. How grateful I am that you are so filled with joy and excitement by the fact that I am your child. Help me to see you as a joy- filled God, rather than a God who is waiting for me to make a mistake. I pray that your grace and mercy would be something I would never take for granted. Amen.