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.

When I consider your heavens

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,

The moon and stars which you have set in place.

What is man that you are mindful of him?

The son of man that you care for him?

You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings

And crowned him with glory and honour                               Psalm 8: 3 – 5

I can imagine David staring up at the moon and stars, marvelling at the beauty of the Milky Way and was blown away that the Creator of this beauty knew and cared about him.  Have you ever stood under a really dark, clear, night sky away from all the light pollution of our cities and towns and like David marvelled at the incredible beauty of the starry host?  It is truly amazing!

Today there are radio telescopes that can pick up images from farther and farther away in space of the most awesome ‘clouds’ of stars and planets.  If man were to travel to the edges of what is the known universe, it would take thousands of light years.  Yet there is so much more – all created by our God. 

Like David it makes us think, 'what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?'  The phrase ‘mindful of'’ literally means remember and remember does not mean call to mind something that is forgotten  but rather to express concern for someone and to act with loving care towards them.  So when we think we are just one of billions of people on a minute planet of a tiny solar system in a corner of a small galaxy and wonder if we matter?  The answer of course is ‘yes’.  We are loved so much that the Creator of all that we marvel at, sent his own son to die for us so we can know him and spend eternity with him. 

When we gaze up at the heavens, we can be overwhelmed by the greatness of our Creator God and feel so insignificant.  God however has graciously made us in his own image to rule over creation on his behalf. We are not to exploit, waste or spoil the creation but to care for and use it for God’s glory and purpose.  What a privilege it is to be one whom God considers and is mindful of and as David said, God has crowned us with glory and honour. We are not an insignifcant dot in the vastness of space but a treasured and valued child of God.