The King's Joy

A certain king instructed his gardener to plant six trees and place statues beneath them representing prosperity, beauty, victory, strength, duty, and joy. These trees were to show to the world that the king had tried to make his reign fruitful. They were also to typify the statues beneath them.

The gardener planted six palm trees. When the king came out to inspect the work and looked at the statue of joy, he said, “I surely thought you would typify joy with some flowering tree like the tulip or magnolia. How can the stately palm symbolize joy?” “Those flowering trees,” said the gardener, “get their nourishment from open sources. They live in pleasant forests or orchards with hosts of other like trees.

But I found this palm tree in a sandy waste. Its roots had found some hidden spring creeping along far beneath the burning surface. Then, thought I, highest joy has a foundation unseen of men and a source they cannot comprehend.” Do you realize that if the light of Jesus Christ is within your heart it can be the only place in which joy is found, and yet it will be sufficient.

You do not need the company of others in order to experience the joy that the light of Christ brings. A palm tree does not need the company of other trees to flourish and bring forth fruit.

AMG Bible Illustrations. (2000). AMG Publishers.

There is Happiness, Then there is Joy

Reading through the Bible, as we are as a church family, I pray that we may appreciate the contrast between what the world holds to be joy, versus what God deems to be real joy. The need for a clear distinction leads us to join David in his expression of praise in the psalm we have read a few moments ago. Joy is the state that results from being at peace with God and enjoying the offering of salvation through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Happiness will always depend on the current set of circumstances each of us faces. Are you on top of the world today? Then you will be overwhelmed with happiness. Did you have a fight with a loved one? Did you lose your job? Did a loved one die? then you will be in the slumps of life and wandering about in your mind looking for comfort.

God is the prime source of joy. There is none higher, none equal, none as perfect as YHWH. Our faith, our very existence, and deliverance was provided before the foundation of the universe was set. Because God is constant in a world of constant change, we can trust that He alone is the trustworthy foundation of our Joy.

There is Remorse, Then there is Justification

King David expresses the need to confess the shortcomings of his human existence. The Lord is both the one who adjudicates justice due to His name, and also grants mercy, grace, and lovingkindness. The way God designed us, which works against the schemes of Satan and the corruption of this world, is our need to have meaningful connections with each other and with YHWH, our Lord, Savior, and Father.

David exclaims the wretchedness of guilt and how the justice that comes from being aware of how short we fall in comparison to a holy God wastes away at the person. Rightly do we see Paul encouraging the Church in Rome, affirming that justification is by faith alone, in Christ alone, to the Glory of God alone (Romans 4:6-8).

Dear Brother and Sister, what is weighing you down? What standard are you living by that is higher than the blood-stained cross and the empty tomb? Do we take God at His word when we read 1 John 1:9, or Psalm 64:10? God is merciful and just and in His majestic omniscience He will extend forgiveness to those who repent and believe that Jesus Christ is Lord of All!

Remorse is not for those who are His children, for our sins are forgiven and paid for by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, who is our perfect Priest and Sacrifice, atoning and justifying us once and for all time. We are justified by the man that hung on the middle cross.

There is Brokenness, Then There is Wholeness

Because God is the one who holds us together and sustains our very being and the eternal rest of our souls, we are moved from a world experience of brokenness to a reality of wholeness. God is the one who saves, sustains, and effectively leads us to a holy life, which we cannot do on our own. Think about it, Dear Ones, what was the result of doing life on your own terms and by your own power?

Contrary to the response you may formulate in your mind, King David expresses the delight of God’s redeeming work in his life. God is represented as “singing” songs of deliverance over him. Dear Ones, we read about God’s joy as He alone is the one who lifts guilt and shame only to cover our spiritual nakedness and depravity with his divine love, mercy, kindness, and grace.

You and I have a verbal picture of the salvation process as it is expressed in our lives, as we read King David’s writing as inspired by YHWH Himself. God himself covers the penalty of our sin and becomes our strong tower of deliverance, and not the gallows of our punishment against the Holy God of the Universe. What a joy and great hope!

There is Selfish Pride, Then There is Total Surrender

What are we called to do when faced with overwhelming love, mercy, and grace? We are compelled not only to hear the words of our deliverer, but to follow humbly where He leads. Here is the calling from the Lord of Lords. God desires a personal and intimate relationship with those justified by the blood-stained cross and the empty tomb near Jerusalem.

King David expresses God’s heart by the power of the Holy Spirit as we read the final verses liking us to stubborn horses and mules that must be bound and fitted with bridles to be guided and taught by force. God’s delight is to walk with his children and to guide us in peace, with His gentle and firm words. Do we take time to hear Him in the fulness of His love and grace, or do we buck and jump to test his patience and resolve? Do we look for the calmness of His presence or do we yearn for the bridle and the rains to make us understand?

Surrender Leads to God’s Joy

Dear Ones, we must heed King David’s words because those are words that God inspired and count as His very voice. looking at Psalm 32:10-11 we see the compare/contrast of God’s justification by faith through grace, while those who stand far off from such rich gift are left to experience happiness, but lack joy. And so what, you may ask?

As God's faithful love justifies us, we are overwhelmed by joy, and the joy of our redemption leads us to a transformed life.

As Paul wrote to the Philippians 4:4, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!"

Our reality is not calibrated by our experiences, our emotions, or our preferences. It is founded on Jesus' Christ and Him crucified.

Our heart surrenders to the love and grace of a King that demands more than checking off boxes, but demands our transformation by the Holy Spirit. Our disposition changes; our priorities change; our focus changes; everything changes. It shifts from us to Christ; it shifts from sin and death to the resurrected Messiah.

Closing Prayer

400 Prayers for Preachers (May the Seed of Your Word Take Deep Root)

Almighty God and most merciful Father, we humbly submit ourselves, and fall down before your majesty, asking you from the bottom of our hearts, that this seed of your Word, now sown among us, may take such deep root, that neither the burning heat of persecution cause it to wither, neither the thorny cares of this life choke it, but that as seed sown in good ground, it may bring forth thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold, as your heavenly wisdom has appointed. And because we have need continually to crave many things at your hands, we humbly ask you, O heavenly Father, to grant us your Holy Spirit to direct our petitions, so that they may proceed from such a fervent mind as may be agreeable to your most blessed --will.JOHN KNOX

The King's Joy

Bible Reading

Opening Prayer

Transition