| Nehemiah 8:10 “Don’t be dejected or sad,
for the joy of the Lord is your strength” Christians
should be full of joy. As it says in Galatians it is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Nehemiah and Ezra were encouraged in Nehemiah 7 when the people
came as people of one mind to wait on God and hear His word. They had one goal as they met
together – to hear from God and to obey what He told them to do. Are we like that
when we come to church Sunday after Sunday? What have we come for? Do we have a hunger to
hear and understand God’s word? To have it read and explained to us? The Word was
spoken and it convicted them. They cried and were filled with remorse.
God was pleased with their acknowledgement of their wretched state
and how they realised that they were far from being the people He intended them to be.
This brought Him joy and as a result He was pleased to give them His joy. This is the gift
God gives when we please Him, confess our sins with hearts broken and have a desire for
Him to change us and make us new.
Are we able to help others? We want to preach and pass on the
gospel, but can must be enabled to truly help others. We need the fullness of
Christ’s Spirit in us to do this. We need to know victory in our lives.
When Ezra and Nehemiah saw the weeping they told them to stop
crying, that this was the day the Lord would do something. They were instructed to go and
feast and give to those in need. We are to do the same - go and give to those who have not
received the Gospel, who do not know the joy of the Lord. Our lives must be a shining
testimony to all we come into contact with.
There are those who spend years, sometimes decades, labouring and
sweating hard but joylessly. They do not heed the Lord's command to "stop
weeping" and accept His victory and joy. Without walking in this joy there is no
strength to labour for our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is sad if a Christian does not go deep with the Lord to
experience that spring of joy the Lord has for him right where he is.
As we read the psalms and especially Psalm 21 we see how David was
full of joy in the Lord.
In 2 Corinthians 6:4-9 we also see that we must always have joy
whatever we go through.
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