Joy Invincible

A friend tearfully told me this week that she’s coming up on a one year anniversary of a miscarriage, and she can’t believe the grief. Our neighbor’s three year old granddaughter is fighting leukemia and will soon be undergoing a blood marrow transplant. And even here in our home, we have a son who is dealing with hives- hundreds of unexplained hives that make his feet swell so badly that wearing shoes isn’t possible on some days. 

Life is so terribly hard, isn’t it? I know that each of you reading this post have something hard in your life, because we ALL do. 

So today I want to ponder JOY. How do we find joy amidst the hardships of life? Is it possible to live joyfully? Why should we try to find joy? 

Let’s start with a passage from Habakkuk 3:17-19

¹⁷ Though the fig tree should not blossom,
    nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
    and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
    and there be no herd in the stalls,
¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
    I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
¹⁹ God, the Lord, is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the deer’s;
    he makes me tread on my high places.

Here Habakkuk, a prophet of the Lord, is describing a pretty desperate situation. This year on the farm, there won’t be a harvest because there is not fruit on the trees and the fields have yielded no food. And to add to that, the sheep have somehow been cut off from the fold. In ancient Israel, there are no grocery stores to run to, so things are really, really unbelievably bad. 

But let’s take a close look at verse 18. Habakkuk starts this verse with the little word yet, and this tiny word is so significant because it signals a turning point in Habakkuk’s mind. 

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of salvation. 

Yet, but, nevertheless, still. Habakkuk tells us that even though he is in a very grave situation, yet he will “take joy.” I love the stake-in-the-ground defiant decision that he makes to “take joy.” And then he goes on to tell us why. In verse 19 he says, that “God, the Lord, is my strength.”

So we learn here that even when things are at their worst, we can “take joy” because God is our strength. 

I love what David Guzik says in his commentary, the Blue Letter Bible. He writes about Habakkuk, “He knows that this God of majesty and power is not diminished because man faces difficult trials. Sometimes we think, ‘If God is so great and powerful, how come I am going through a hard time?’ Habakkuk knew this was the wrong question and the wrong attitude. Instead, he says: ‘I know you are strong and mighty… I will praise You still, and even rejoice in You.'”

Reader, today, I implore you to remember that God is mighty and powerful and strong. He never changes. Though you and I do not understand the difficult trial that you or a loved one is facing, we can turn your thoughts to who God is and “take joy.” Joy is not a feeling; we get to decide to “take joy” by thinking about God’s strength and his promises to us. 

Here are a few more of my favorite verses about joy. 

Nehemiah 8:10 And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. 

Psalm 4:7 You have put more joy in my heart that they have when their grain and wine abound. 

Psalm 21:6 For you make him most blessed; you make him glad with the joy of your presence. 

Psalm 92:4 For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy. 

And please listen to my favorite song about joy, Switchfoot’s Joy Invincible. The theme of the song is that joy is invincible; nothing can take it away because God is unchanging. We can find joy in the Lord no matter what. 

If you’ve been a Gingham Apron reader for long, you know we love Scripture writing. I found this Scripture writing plan that’s all about Joy! Print one off for yourself.