Fullness of joy

You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16: 11 NKJ

Can you imagine what fullness of joy is like? Can you imagine overflowing with joy, so wonderful, so amazing that it feels like you’re going to burst?

Joy like that is found in God’s presence because God is a joyous God. He is not as Dallas Willard says, ‘a morose and miserable monarch, a frustrated and petty parent or a policeman on the prowl.’  Instead ‘he is the most joyous being in the universe. The abundance of his love and generosity is inseparable from his infinite joy.’

Eagle Nebula - 6 trillion miles top to bottom

There can be times when we gaze at something in nature – a beautiful bird or exotic fish, a breathtaking mountain or seascape and we are filled with wonder and joy. God continuously looks on these things and much else besides. He sees the extent of the universe he created, those incredible images of nebula, pulsars, stars and planets. He hears the music of the stars and he sees us and takes joy in our stumbling steps of faith, wonder and adoration of the indescribable Creator of the unimaginable creation. No wonder God is a joyous being.

If anyone ever gets a glimpse of heaven the one thing they all talk about is the love and joy they experienced. It was so marvellous they didn’t want to return and the reason it was so marvellous was because of the manifest presence of God – all loving and full of joy.

God wants us to abide in his love which brings great joy. There are too many Christians who are miserable. However the world does not need Christians who walk in a superficial temporary happiness but those who abide in the deep joy that comes from spending time in his presence.

God our wonderful provider

‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

‘And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you – you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6: 25 – 33

When our sons were younger, they used to burst in through the front door after school and cry, ‘Feed me!’ They then rushed to the fridge and cupboard to rootle around till they found what they wanted to eat and drink.

There was no hanging back cautiously to see if it was alright to come into the house or to raid the fridge. They didn't beg or plead with me. This was their home, I was their mother and therefore it was perfectly acceptable to expect to be fed without any begging or argument. 

Not only so but provision was assured. Apart from the odd day when I may not have been shopping, it was expected that food would be on hand.  Children expect their parents to feed them as well as protect and shelter them.

Why then as Christians do we have so much trouble relying on God to be our heavenly provider?  He is our Father and wants to look after us just as we want to look after our children. Most parents would be horrified if their children spurned their provision and went off to the shops to buy their own things. It is one of the joys of parenthood to provide for your children.

God does not want us worrying about money, food, clothes, jobs, homes and so on. We can expect God to provide these. That is his privilege as our Father and it is our privilege to receive them as his children with thankful hearts.

The key to this provision is to seek first God’s Kingdom and his righteousness; to put God, his ways, his lifestyle above all else. At the start of a new year let’s resolve to seek God in all we do and to stop worrying about life and let God be the provider he longs to be.