Restored Joy!
“Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice;”…
“Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”
Psalms 51: 8, 13
David, the “apple of God’s eye” had sinned. He had allowed the cares of this life to distract him from his first love…God. After praying and fasting for his illegitimate child not to succumb to sickness, the child dies. David realizes from the words of a visiting prophet and from the conviction of his own heart that he had sinned against the God that he once worshipped and loved above all else. He cries out for forgiveness and restoration, because having once had intimacy with God, he knows that nothing else will satisfy his empty, vulnerable and bruised soul.
To have something restored means to have something put back that was there before. David knew what joy felt like. The times when he was given victory over the enemy while watching the sheep of his earthly father as well as later while on the King’s battlefield. He also knew the times of joy of simply serenading his heavenly Father with psalms, hymns and instrument. So when he cried out he was asking for something he had before and wanted it back!
At the beginning of this year I found myself crying out for the same joy that David was asking for. God has been extremely faithful to me and I have no doubt that He will continue to be. But I found myself at times looking into the mirror and seeing sadness behind my eyes…weariness. Through circumstances of life, things and events have happened that I admit have affected me in a negative way. I used to be called “bubbly” and “social butterfly,” now by choice I seldom socialize. This quiet time has allowed me to draw closer to the Lord, but the “joy unspeakable” that He promises has somehow seeped out and I don’t know where it has gone.
While doing a “Google” on “Restored Joy” I came across a blog where a person was asking the same question, “Where is my joy” and in her writings two words spoke to me “surrender” and “submission.” I must surrender the cares of life totally to Him and submit my life daily; with all its consequences to Him…then I can get my joy back.
That’s what David did, he realized that he could not change the sin he had done nor could he save his child from death. He had to confess his sins and shortcomings, recognize that God is sovereign and put his life with all the consequences back into the hands of God.
To have the joy of your salvation restored we must realize where the salvation comes from in the first place. In order to have something restored we have to go to the (in the words of Myles Munroe) “originator of the thing”. God is the “originator” of our joy; let us return to Him this year to restore it.
“Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”
Psalms 51: 8, 13
David, the “apple of God’s eye” had sinned. He had allowed the cares of this life to distract him from his first love…God. After praying and fasting for his illegitimate child not to succumb to sickness, the child dies. David realizes from the words of a visiting prophet and from the conviction of his own heart that he had sinned against the God that he once worshipped and loved above all else. He cries out for forgiveness and restoration, because having once had intimacy with God, he knows that nothing else will satisfy his empty, vulnerable and bruised soul.
To have something restored means to have something put back that was there before. David knew what joy felt like. The times when he was given victory over the enemy while watching the sheep of his earthly father as well as later while on the King’s battlefield. He also knew the times of joy of simply serenading his heavenly Father with psalms, hymns and instrument. So when he cried out he was asking for something he had before and wanted it back!
At the beginning of this year I found myself crying out for the same joy that David was asking for. God has been extremely faithful to me and I have no doubt that He will continue to be. But I found myself at times looking into the mirror and seeing sadness behind my eyes…weariness. Through circumstances of life, things and events have happened that I admit have affected me in a negative way. I used to be called “bubbly” and “social butterfly,” now by choice I seldom socialize. This quiet time has allowed me to draw closer to the Lord, but the “joy unspeakable” that He promises has somehow seeped out and I don’t know where it has gone.
While doing a “Google” on “Restored Joy” I came across a blog where a person was asking the same question, “Where is my joy” and in her writings two words spoke to me “surrender” and “submission.” I must surrender the cares of life totally to Him and submit my life daily; with all its consequences to Him…then I can get my joy back.
That’s what David did, he realized that he could not change the sin he had done nor could he save his child from death. He had to confess his sins and shortcomings, recognize that God is sovereign and put his life with all the consequences back into the hands of God.
To have the joy of your salvation restored we must realize where the salvation comes from in the first place. In order to have something restored we have to go to the (in the words of Myles Munroe) “originator of the thing”. God is the “originator” of our joy; let us return to Him this year to restore it.
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