Joy: five big implications

Joy is a unique word. It is not happiness, although they are often equated. Joy is greater and deeper than mere happiness. Happiness is often elusive and based in circumstance, whereas joy is abiding and is based in knowledge rather than experience.

An oft quoted Scripture about joy is found in Nehemiah 8:10 "Nehemiah said, 'Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." Nehemiah was a Jewish slave in exile who convinced the King to return him and others to their homeland to rebuild. Nehemiah was a great leader who recognized the practical importance of joy. I believe this verse gives us the practical implications of joy.

Joy:

1. Enjoys life: Food, drink, family, fun are not bad things. They have been given to us by God to enjoy! Life has many sorrows, but also many joys. We should enjoy the life God has given us!

2. Provide for others: It is very easy to accuse others of not being as industrious or hard working as you are, but Nehemiah instructs us to send "some to those who have nothing prepared". There is a joy in sharing with others, so do so. Even if they don't deserve it.

3. Recognize holy moments: Every day has them, look for them. A moment when God is visibly present in the words or actions of others, in a good book, or a great song or other works of art. Holy moments surround you!

4. Don't dwell in grief: Grief is a healthy part of our existence and should be fully experienced and processed, but God doesn't expect you to live there. Any emotion that isn't expressed or processed in a healthy way may become a negative emotion. Move on!

5. Walk in the strength of joy: Sometimes joy is as simple as doing the next right thing, putting one foot in front of the other and moving. Get up, get out, get going!

Joy is a gift of God, intended to provide strength in every moment, but especially in the difficult moments of rebuilding our lives. "The joy of the LORD is your strength." 

The Gospel according to a Prostitute

The opening chapters of the book of Joshua contain an amazing account of how a marginalized woman was strategic in the nation of Israel’s conquering of Jericho. Jericho was a heavily fortified city that was the first stop of Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land. Israel as a nation knew what it meant to be marginalized. Four hundred years of slavery, led to forty years of wilderness wanderings, during which an entire generation had passed on, having died without entering the land of promise due to unbelief. According to 1 Corinthians 10:1-11, although they all “ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ”, the Bible reports “with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.” 

Emerging from the generation were two leaders who were full of faith in God, Joshua and Caleb. Joshua became the successor of Moses, and was given the responsibility to lead Israel across the Jordan. Joshua dispatched two spies with the instructions to “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” (Joshua 2:1) Upon their arrival they went and “came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab”. The heroes of the Bible are often surprising in their messy realities. Rahab put her own life a risk by harboring these spies, having received the message of God’s favor that rested upon them. In Joshua 2:8-9 she said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.” In response to her kindness to them, the spies assured Rahab that she and her family would be protected in the overthrow of Jericho, a covenant that was secured by the hanging of a scarlet cord in the window of Rahab’s house. Joshua honored the covenant as Joshua 6:25 reads, “But Rahab the prostitute and her father’s household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers who Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.” 

It is important to recognize the sequence of events in Rahab’s dealing with the spies. First, at some point she heard about the nation of Israel with the rest of Jericho and this changed her disposition toward the spies when they came, next she acted in accordance with the truth she believed about who the spies represented, and finally entered into a covenant with them that resulted in her salvation and the salvation of her family when the city was destroyed. In this story and Rahab’s actions the power of the gospel is demonstrated. 

This is exactly what happens in our lives through God’s powerful intervention of grace! We hear the gospel and it changes our disposition towards God, moving us from enemy status to family status. Then, empowered by that good news, we act on what we know to be true, entering into a covenant with God through the blood of Jesus that results in the salvation of our souls.

Rahab, a marginalized prostitute, became a great hero of the Bible. And in Matthew 1:5 she is listed in the linage of Jesus Himself. The gopsel makes outsiders the ultimate insiders! Truly this is good news.