Day 2
Memory Verse – Isaiah 35:10 And those the Lord has rescued will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Read Psalm 16
Yesterday we talked about the fact that having joy requires making a choice. It’s the choice to be content in any circumstance you are in. It’s the choice to put on laughter. It’s the choice to find satisfaction in the things of God and in seeking Him. And we recognise that it is His strength that allows us to make these choices.
Today we discover where we find this kind of joy. It is in His presence – at HIs right hand! When we seek the Lord, as Isaiah said, and we take refuge in Him; keeping our eyes on Him, as this Psalmist said, we find joy!
So we have the how, (it’s a choice!) and the where, (it’s in His presence!) Now for the why. Why do we have joy? Things are tough! We suffer, we struggle, we have trials. And yet, we choose joy! Why?
I Peter 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice,though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
The reason we are able to choose joy despite our circumstances is because He has brought us salvation, mercy, hope, and peace in Jesus Christ. We have every reason to be joyful, and any difficult circumstance is an opportunity to exercise genuine faith in Him.
Just a tiny little child
Three years old,
And a mother with a heart
All of gold.
Often did that mother say,
Jesus hears us when we pray,
For He’s never far away
And He always answers.
Now, that tiny little child
Had brown eyes,
And she wanted blue instead
Like blue skies.
For her mother’s eyes were blue
Like forget-me-nots. She knew
All her mother said was true,
Jesus always answered.
So she prayed for two blue eyes,
Said “Good night,”
Went to sleep in deep content
And delight.
Woke up early, climbed a chair
By a mirror. Where, O where
Could the blue eyes be? Not there;
Jesus hadn’t answered.
Hadn’t answered her at all;
Never more
Could she pray; her eyes were brown
As before.
Did a little soft wind blow?
Came a whisper soft and low,
“Jesus answered. He said, No;
Isn’t No an answer?”
This cute but profound poem written by Amy Carmichael expresses her willingness as a small child to accept that she didn’t receive what she wanted, and to be content with what she had been given. The thing is, it wouldn’t be until much later in life that Amy would see that God had bigger purposes for her brown eyes.
Amy grew to become a missionary to India in the late 1800’s. In the beginning she worked as an evangelist, but soon she identified her calling to rescue children who were sold into slavery. In an effort to find children who needed her and fit into Indian society, she would wear Indian clothes and stain her arms with coffee to appear like a local mother. If she had had blue eyes, there would have been no way that she could have passed herself off as an Indian woman, and her ability to help these kids would have been hampered.
Amy made a choice at the age of three years old to find joy despite her circumstances. And later, she received the reward of her contentment.
Has there been a time in your life that you were sad over some circumstance, but later on you realized that God had caused it for your good?
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Spend some time in the presence of the Lord. As you do, record here what you experience.
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