The Joy of the Lord is My Strength

By Pastor Kevin Barnhart

Spring Grove Evangelical Free

This will be the fix we have been waiting for. It took 10 days to come, it was the third replacement part, and my wife had been numbering the days it was an official count down.   I came in triumphant when it arrived; finally, the fix had come, with over assumed confidence I said should I not take up the load of laundry to your parents because the part has arrived, we did a happy dance. It had been almost three weeks of not having a dryer! Is this the end of the world, no, have people managed forever and longer without them, yes; but did we want to hang out laundry on a four-foot indoor apparatus and look at our bedding with hope that our kiddo didn’t have another accident – YES! Life was a spiral and on top of all that there were serious sorrows too – death, terminal diagnosis, job loss, depression, anxiety, hopeless days, happy days and everything in between. Some days my wife and I would collapse in shear emotional exhaustion, sometimes physical exhaustion.   

The Joy of the Lord is my strength.   

We didn’t feel strong. We would find these words and keep saying them in our hearts and desperately out loud. But is this one of those fake it until you make it moments or does God indeed give us joy and strength? Yes!

Yes to both. Before you dismiss this let me explain, because it is why I opened with my beginnings of feeling depleted. It is here that Jesus tightens His grip on our hand, it is here that He dives deep into our heart and fills us, it is here that Jesus holds us fast, and shelters us under the power of His robe. “I have got you,” He says in a voice that commands the wind and the waves to stay themselves, with a power that holds the cosmos in His hands, with a love that defies explanation. “I have got you,” He repeats.   

That doesn’t feel true, sometimes you whisper.

Not long ago we remembered a journey that Jesus took through Holy Week. Jesus walked into the deepest valley that was, “proclaimed the love of God,” prayed for the cup to be taken if there was any other way, He was betrayed by His family (they figured he was a little crazy), deserted by his “faithful followers,” and endured a beating that no man would survive all in the name of love. The joy of the Lord is our strength. Do you think that Jesus felt that week the joy that we strive for?   When he was betrayed by Judas, abandoned by the other disciple’s, ridiculed by the leaders, beaten by the soldiers, mocked by the hands of humans, and nailed to a cross?

Not if we define joy and strength by human standards.   You see joy is one of the most misunderstood concepts. You see joy is thought in the human heart to only be reflected by smooth sailing and sunny skies in a day that is filled with good times, laughter, ease, dreams coming true, human definition of Joy is only found in rainbows and puppy dogs and buckets of luck-right joy is not found in the valley.

Jesus hit His knees in the Garden of Gethsemane and in this moment, God is inviting us to understand that His strength His joy, His heart was never stronger. The joy of dying dwelled in His saving of our souls. Jesus knows that His sorrow, His suffering, His pain, His “weakness” … was for your sin for my sin, for all sin so that we would be seated at the Fathers table next to Him! In His heart He holds fast to a vision of you right there next to Him at His Father’s table.  We need a realignment of joy and of strength.

We can have His joy and His strength if we release our worldly definition of what this means and let Him fill those voids with His truth. The end game is Him, if He is holding us isn’t that the greatest joy period? If He locks eyes with us and His hand holds us steady is that not the greatest strength we could pray for?   

The dryer still doesn’t work, people still experience the sorrow of death, of failing, of lost dreams, of frustration, of exhaustion, despair, defeat, and on and on … but God invites you to turn your heart, your eyes, your whole hope joy and strength to Him.   He does have you – He does understand, and trust me, better yet trust Him – He won’t ever let you go!