The Other Half of Joy

You shall multiply the nation, You shall increase their gladness; they will be glad in Your presence as with the gladness of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. (Isaiah 9:3 NASB)

The Hebrew words for joy, śimḥâ (and śāmaḥ) more often refers to the expression than the emotion.

The most frequently occurring words for “joy,” are from a different root word. These convey the sense of “expressing joy” or “exultation.”

The last word group for joy is especially instructive; it connotes a “ringing cry,” of exultation

The psalmist exhorts his fellows to “make a joyful noise” (rû (a)ʿ, and again, joy becomes a sound and not just a state of mind

The word pāṣaḥ means “burst forth” and is used seven times of bursting into joyful sound. In short, OT “joy” was not bottled up!

This exuberance is suggested, in fact, by the very wealth of Hebrew words for joy

Gladness– One English dictionary defines joy as “a feeling of great pleasure and happiness.” This definition follows the Greek conflation of chará and hēdonḗ (rejoicing and pleasure).

But it’s not so typical in Hebrew. We immediately discover that the Hebrew term involves the whole person, not simply cognitive or emotional elements.

Bruce Waltke comments: “The root ś-m-ḥ denotes being glad or joyful with the whole disposition as indicated by its association with the heart, the soul; and with the lighting up of the eyes.”

But the Lord and his salvation are cited most frequently as the reason for joy.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation… (Psalms 51:12)

He wants to feel the joy of a healthy relationship with God again and he desires a steadfast and willing spirit in order to keep from sinning again

Indeed the joy of the Lord is a man’s strength. Moreover, many of these passages call upon man to share this joy.

Thus Israel is called upon to rejoice at its festivals and the sanctuary.

In Hebrew thought, joy is the manifestation of divine purpose fulfilled, and since everything in creation has purpose, whenever any part of the creation acts according to its design, that part expresses and experiences joy.

This has important consequences for us.  There are times when our emotions seem far from joyful.  Without minimizing this serious condition, joy reminds us that any part of creation presently fulfilling its designed purpose is an expression of joy.

When our lives feel disconnected from divine order, the bloom of a flower, the drops of rain, a bird song, or the movement of clouds should remind us that joy is built into creation.

Jim Wilder & Michel Hendricks

The Lord bless you, and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine on you, and be gracious to you; 26 The Lord lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace.’ (Numbers 6:24-26)

God designed our brains to run on joy like cars run on gas. God designed our brains for joy, and He want us to live in the glow of His delight. You could say, “May you experience the joy of God’s smiling face because He is pleased and proud of you.

My Father’s face lights up when He sees me because I’m special to Him. God designed our brains to seek joy through the eyes and facial expressions, through being with people who are glad to see us.

Joy is relational. It is what we sense when we are with someone who is happy to share time with us. It does not exist outside of relationship. [Devotion, Prayer]

Joy help us regulate our emotions and endure suffering. Jesus refused to relinquish joy even on the cross.

Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame…(Hebrews 12:2)

When we stay relationally connected to God and others, joy buoys us in suffering. God is glad to be with us in our distress. [David in the valley]

A healthy Biblical identity is built and formed by joy bonded relationships. In a performance based community, our identity becomes distorted.

Increasing Individual Joy Capacity

Start a list of grateful memories. Make of list of least 10. As you relive the memory be aware of two things: Be aware of the sensations in body. Feel connection to God.

In Church

If we desire to fulfill the great commission, we will turn our churches into high joy environments. This is a community where our faces light up when we see each other. [Now you understand why I greet everyone]

Our community is contagious when people come and see our joyful interactions. Young or old, believer or not, our brains hunger for joy.

One of new practices for Gina and I’m instituting is slowing down and being intentional at letting my faces beam with pride at my wife’s beauty, work ethic and spiritual growth. I have to let me know through my face how special she is to me.

Remember that joy is a right-brained dominant emotion requiring interactions. We need to learn to embrace eye contact and smiling.

One way to accomplish this is community is arrange the seating in circles rather than rows. Character formation and building joy are linked. Jesus prayed for the joyful character of his followers.

“But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. (John 17:13)

By embracing the truth, they’re brought into the joy of Jesus, and now God keeps them from abandoning the truth and guarantees eternally satisfying joy in Jesus.

God does the work from start to finish, yet the disciples receive the joy!

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.

29 “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. (John 10:27-29)

At this promise, every true believer will experience a surge of profound joy, which is exactly what our Lord intended. If we are convinced that character formation is the central task of the church, we will be intentional about raising joy.

1. Establish effective gratitude practices. Gratitude is the on ramp to joy.

2. Practice letting our faces light up when we see one another. Groups of 3

3. In small group, greeting one another with eye contact, a smile and telling one another how glad we are to see them.

4. Start your group by having each person share a gratitude story from their week. Tell one another what you find special in them

God is happy to spend face time with us even when our lives are a mess or when have transgressed. Remember Adam and Eve hid their face from God when they sinned, nevertheless, God came looking for them.

Joy does not require positive circumstances.

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. (James 1:2-3)

Joy Leaks

1. One cause of joy draining is lack of development around the six big emotions (sadness, anger, fear, shame, disgust and despair.)

We have to create a path between joy and the negative emotions that allows our brain to regulate the emotions instead of getting stuck in them. Regulation means we stay emotionally connected to God and others when we suffer.

2. Another cause is unresolved trauma. Trauma happens when we suffer alone. When we see an emotional reaction that is disproportionate to the stimulus, we are likely seeing the stored energy of unhealed trauma. KCLehman.com

3. Another joy leak is the prevalence of video screen in our daily lives.

Joy and screen time are inversely proportional. When our eyes and faces are staring at screens, we are not engaging with faces around us. The joy drains out of our community by depriving ourselves of each other’s faces. Our need for face-to-face time is designed into our flesh and cannot be substituted with a screen. [Infant]

Since we need facial joy like we need food and oxygen, we are starving ourselves of relational nutrition. Limit it parents.

Altar

To the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:6)

Wondrous declaration! Blessed state! The moment we are born again of water and Spirit, God makes us completely, fully ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED, His beloved Son with Whom He is well pleased

And because we are in Jesus, O amazing grace, God is also well pleased with us! ACCEPT means to receive willingly, to regard with approval, to value, to esteem, to take pleasure in or to receive with favor.

Our Father has ACCEPTED us willingly, with approval, with value, with esteem, with delight, not because we have in any way merited His approval, but because His Beloved paid the price in full for our approval.

Do you believe that the Father loves you with the same love with which He loves His BELOVED?

While our sins do disrupt our fellowship and communion with God (and call forth His Fatherly discipline), they do not disrupt our union with Christ.