...I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy. (2Co 7:4 ESV)
If joy is a thing that comes from without and not from within, we are in trouble. For the world is not always a happy place. It can even get worse because the people we are with every day are not always a fine company. If you are parent, even your children can sometimes be a cause of so much exasperation. If you are an employee, your boss can sometimes be a real pain in the neck.
Circumstances and events can also add to our troubles. It can rain while we are actually expecting sunshine. We can get caught in traffic while we are trying to rush to our next destination. A typhoon can hit right on the day of our flight to that long-planned vacation.
| There is always room for joy because there is a God. And our God is not a God of misery or mourning. |
How then is joy possible? It comes if we can build it from within and not expect it to come from without. It has to come from some sort of a joy tank within us. This joy tank is replenished and filled up everytime we appreciate the little things and the blessings of life. It is replenished and ready for use when needed when we feel grateful for that few hours of rest, for that thank you with a smile from someone to whom we have done an act of kindness. It is filled up when we have also brought joy to someone's life. Joy is a mysterious thing that way. It's not diminished with giving. Instead, it is multiplied. When shared, it is infectious. When practised, it is powerful. It radiates like a light brought into a dark place.
A life of joy is not an easy thing to discover and practise. But when we have come to it, like Apostle Paul had in our passage today, we can face affliction and rejoice (2 Cor 7:5-6). We can withdraw from our joy tank when things around us are full of negativity. We can be joyful even while the blessing is not for us but for others. We can even rejoice in our and other people's grief for we know that godly grief can lead to repentance and salvation (vv. 9-10). There is always room for joy because there is a God. And our God is not a God of misery or mourning. Rather, He is a God of comfort so that when life hands us problems, the Lord brings us solutions. When life threatens us, He provides for us safety. When the weight of sorrow burdens us, He asks us to come to Him and find rest at His side.
It may not be obvious to everyone. But God has been saying the same thing for a long time. All efforts to finding joy without God is futile. Oh yes, there may be temporary joy in hobbies, vices, human interaction and even in doing sinful things. But apart from God, as soon as these joys subside, for that's the nature of temporary joy, we will surely find ourselves empty again, our joy tank hitting rock bottom, and our hearts even more hungry than before. The bible's advice to us is to find God first and then joy will come by itself. Pursue God and you will find joy. Pursue joy alone and you will miss it and God at the same time.
