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Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Finding Joy {Ezra 4:1 - 6:22}


April 17, 2018

Real worship can be a challenge and when we get out of sorts due to an illness or being on vacation; we realize just what gets in our way.  And as I prepared for this post, I kept returning to the foundation being laid.  The foundation was already laid and the walls were going to be built, but the enemy was working very hard at stopping the temple from going up.  

That’s exactly what the enemy does in a lot of people’s lives.  We are brought up in Christian homes and our parents teach us as much as they know about Christianity.   They lay the foundation of Christ in our lives, but it’s up to us to complete the temple in our hearts. 

What keeps us going though?  Are we primarily concerned with our obedience with the Lord?  Or do we view joy and gladness and delight in God as a primary concern? 

Did you know that the Puritans said, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and ENJOY Him forever”?  And John Piper said, “The chief end of man is to glorify God BY enjoying Him forever.”  He also said, “God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in Him.”

We need to make glorifying God our highest aim, and finding joy and satisfaction in God must be a lifelong pursuit.  It seems we fall short of the fullness of God and we fail to glorify Him as He deserves. 

In Ezra chapter 6, the work of rebuilding the Temple had stopped for 16 years due to opposition from the people in the land.  Then the prophets Haggai and Zechariah began ministering to the people until Tattenai confronted the Jews about having permission to rebuild the temple.  

How often have you begun to return to the Lord, only to be sidetracked by something?  Perhaps it’s a job or a child, or even a hobby.  And before you know it, you’ve walked away from your studies and you are abiding in the world’s affairs. 

I personally can see how I have struggled with my relationship with God throughout my lifetime.  Just like in the biblical times, there were people in my life who were full of love and obedience in the Lord, and then something or someone comes along and I was taken captive and off to Babylon I went.  But God never forgets His people.  God uses believers and non-believers to shape our lives.  And just like Lisa Moore mentioned yesterday, “God’s not looking for perfect people to accomplish His goals. In fact, He doesn’t need our help at all.  Instead He gives us the privilege of being used by Him.

I think we can get so caught up in not believing God is happy.  It’s not that we don’t want God to be happy, it’s just that we don’t understand theology that God is always, essentially and completely happy. 

 Image result for the joy of the lord

  • Your joy rests on God’s joy.  We seem to believe that God will finally be happy when X, Y and Z all go His way.  We think God is merely happy by participation – just like us.

 But God IS happiness.  Joy is fundamental to His triune nature.  To find God is to find the fountain of all joy.  St. Augustine said, “Following after God is the desire of happiness; to reach God is happiness itself.”  We participate in joy when we reach the essence of all joy:  God Himself.

  • God really does delight in you.  When we assume that God is fundamentally angry, and simultaneously know that we are nothing special – not unique or extraordinary in our service – we cannot believe how on earth (or heaven) the God of the universe would sing over us His song of delight (Zephaniah 3:17).


Think about it – God’s song of joy over His justified children is not merely the sum of the joy we attract from Him; it’s also the multiplication of His abundant joy exponentially expressing itself out over us.  Joyful people more easily express joy, just as God delights to rejoice over His children, because He is essentially joyful.

  • The happiness of God is the strength you need.  “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”  Nehemiah 8:10.  God does not give us any joy outside of the joy He has in Himself already.  That means, God’s happiness IS our strength!


As we go through life, the pain, the trials, the triumphs, in our marriage, our children, our missions – this is where we find our strength – the essential joy of God.

When we truly put God first in all areas our lives, we discover just how joyful life truly is.