Tag: Joy

Morning Musing: Psalm 4:7

Leave a comment

“You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and new wine abound.”  (CSB – Read the chapter)

David was hurt. He had been deeply offended by someone and was bothered so much by it that he couldn’t sleep. Rather than just stewing about angrily, he took all of his angst and cried out to God. And as he cried out to God, He gradually began to gain some perspective on the whole situation. Perspective doesn’t often actually solve a problem, but it does give us peace in the midst of it. For David here near the end of his prayer, he realized that his joy in the Lord was deeper than anything his enemies knew. And when we realize that we have something good our enemies don’t, we usually start to feel better. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: John 3:3

Leave a comment

“Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.'”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

One of my favorite ideas about God (and one I think is entirely true) comes from G.K. Chesterton in his book, Orthodoxy.  Here it is:

Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged.  They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead.  For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony.  But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony.  It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon.  It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daises alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them.  It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.

Read the rest…

Morning Musings: 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Leave a comment

“So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

If we let them, the troubles of this world will completely overwhelm us and leave us unable to pursue the path of Jesus with anything resembling the commitment we need in order to gain the benefits from it.  Problems in our marriages, problems with our kids, troubles at work, hardships at school, financial challenges, family issues, interpersonal doubts, and so on can fill our field of view until we don’t see anything else.  They become the lens through which we see everything else.  Depression (not clinical), discouragement, and malaise become our constant companions. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Ecclesiastes 7:10

2 Comments

“Say not, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’  For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Have you ever longed for the “good old days”?  Why?  What about them did you desire?  Simpler times?  Different social interactions?  Fewer burdens?  No social media?

I have come to the conclusion that one of the major false gods of our culture is called Nostalgia.  The thing about Nostalgia, though, is that he is subtle.  No one realizes they are worshiping him at first, and even if you were to point it out to them, they’d just respond, “No, I’m not.  I’m just reminiscing about the way things were.”

And yet, this is what the worship of Nostalgia looks like.  We come to his altar and offer sacrifices of time and memory.  We offer cynicism about the current state of the world.  We offer judgments of people who are younger than we are.  In return, he gives us warm feelings about the past that are a comforting salve for the pressures of the present.   Read the rest…