The Joy of the Lord Is Your Strength

“Then he said to them, ‘Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.’ So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, ‘Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.’ And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.” Nehemiah 8:10-12

In Israel’s history, this passage comes directly after Ezra reads the law to the Israelites to commemorate the rebuilding of the wall in Jerusalem. They mourn because they feel convicted of their sins. Nehemiah, however, encourages them to rejoice instead of mourn. He says, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” I think this is an interesting plot twist, if you will. We are supposed to mourn over our sins. This produces repentance–we cannot repent unless we realize the gravity and offense of our actions. Repentance produces life, as we strive to leave our sins behind and look to our Savior for grace, comfort, and transformation. As I type this, I realize that’s probably what Nehemiah was getting at! Repentance requires that we move forward. Nehemiah encouraged the Israelites to move forward by rejoicing–by finding strength in the joy of the Lord.

What does it mean for the joy of the Lord to be our strength? How does the joy we have in Christ strengthen us?

The joy we have in Christ strengthens us because it is eternal. It will not fade with time; Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). The hope of the gospel can fuel us even at our weakest points for this reason. Our hope remains secure, anchored in Christ, and the joy the gospel brings us can strengthen us even when we become like faintly burning wicks. “A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench” (Isaiah 42:3). Our devotion may wax and wane, and we may at times find ourselves falling away or leaving the narrow path for a while, but Jesus will draw us back.

The joy we have in Christ strengthens us because it points us to heaven and beyond, when all we will know is joy, not sorrow or pain. We’ll probably remember those negative emotions and experiences, but we’ll see our lives the way God sees them: our suffering has an all-important purpose, which is to draw us closer to Christ and make us more like him. In times of pain and sorrow, we can look forward to the full and complete joy we’ll experience someday. This anticipation strengthens us to continue until the journey’s end.

The joy we have in Christ strengthens us because it shows us how to order our lives. When we put Jesus first–when we focus on him instead of those what-ifs and if-onlys–everything else falls into place. Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” How do we put Jesus first in our lives? We tear down any idols that have usurped his place in our hearts. We live in a way that brings glory to his name. We think of him first, praise him only, and give him the best of our time. This doesn’t mean we spend our days foregoing all other responsibilities in order to pray and read the Bible as much as possible; rather, it means that in our lives Jesus is “over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:6). Jesus covers every inch of our hearts like fresh snow dusts every inch of the landscape. We are wholly his, and the joy that flows from this devotion gives us strength.

Nehemiah reminded the Israelites that the joy of the Lord is their strength. They repented of their sins, their past mistakes, all the times they didn’t follow God’s law, and then they moved forward in faith and trust that God would forgive them. In this time, after Jesus’ fulfillment of the law through his death and resurrection, we find our way forward in the never-fading, forever-joyful, all-encompassing promises of the gospel.

Photo: Aaron Burden on Unsplash