The Lord My Joy

"The Lord is my portion, says my soul."

"Yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation." Habakkuk 3:18

The lowly bud of peace has now blown into the fragrant flower of joy--a higher grace and a more advanced stage in the happy life of the believer. That this is an attainment in the divine life to which, alas! but few Christians arrive, has already been intimated. And yet it is a kindred grace of the Spirit, growing upon the same 'tree of life,' though, as we have remarked, found upon its higher and more sunlit boughs. The apostolic precept, "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice," is as personally and as solemnly enjoined as any holy precept of God's Word. It may aid you, O my soul, in attaining in some measure to this high, holy state, if you will consider some of the reasons why the child of God should be a joyful Christian, yes, always rejoicing!

In the first place, we ought to rejoice that God is our God in an everlasting covenant. Can the wing of faith soar higher? Is there beyond this another, a loftier, or a richer spring of happiness? Surely not! To be enabled to say, in the exercise of humble, filial faith, "God is my God, my Father, my Portion, my All," is to pluck the richest, sweetest fruit that grows upon the tree of life. Oh, rise to this, my soul! Uplift your too drooping pinion and soar! Listen to the words of God Himself respecting the remnant, or third part left in Jerusalem, and whom He will bring through the fire, and refine them as silver is refined, and try them as gold is tried--"I will say, It is my people; and they shall say, The Lord is my God" (Zech. 13:9). Oh, what a joy to lay faith's hand upon Jehovah and exclaim, "This God is my God! all His perfections smile upon me, all His attributes encircle me, all His resources are at my command; He is my God forever and ever, and will be my guide even unto death."

What a rich, fathomless fountain of joy is Jesus, O my soul. All the offices He fills, all the relations He sustains, all the supplies He possesses, belong to you. His thoughts entwine you, His heart beats for you, His eye is over you, His hand guides and keeps you moment by moment. Who ought not to be joyful who can say, "Christ is my Brother, my Goel, (next of kin,) Christ is my Friend, loving me at all times; Christ is my Redeemer, ransoming me from condemnation; Christ is my High Priest, making constant and successful intercession for me within the veil. Oh, realize what a portion, what a treasure, what a very present help, what an almighty, sympathizing, full Savior Jesus is, and the water of your sorrow shall be turned into the wine of your joy.

And what a joy should it be that you have a throne of grace at all times to repair to. He who knows from personal and sweet experience the privilege and power of prayer, must be a joyful Christian. Is there a higher, holier, sweeter privilege this side of glory? Dark though the cloud is, crushing the burden, bitter the sorrow and pressing the want, the moment the believer arises and gives himself to prayer, the cloud dissolves, the burden falls, the sorrow is soothed, and the need is met and more than supplied. "They looked unto Him, and were lightened." Oh, what joy is this--access by the blood of Jesus within the holiest, lost in the effulgent glory that encircles the throne of a Father's love!

And what a joy to know that we are saved! Realizing this fact, it would be no exaggeration of our joy were we to proclaim from the house top--"I am saved! I am saved! for ever saved!" Think what hell is! think what heaven is! and then to know, to be quite sure, that we are snatched from the one and shall soon arrive at the other. Oh, this is "joy unspeakable and full of glory." The thought of being in heaven--forever with the Lord--no more sin, no more suffering, no more tears, no more death, no more separation--oh, it were enough to lift us superior to present tribulation, and to make the desert across which we journey resound with our songs of joy, until we rise to sing forever the new song before the throne of God and the Lamb.