Today's Unshackled Echo was previously published on
December 17, 2015.
I have heard this verse so many times quoted just as it is above. This happens so much that I bet many believe that the above is Nehemiah 8:10. Occasionally you se the phrase Do not grieve, for added before it. A google search of images of Nehemiah 8:10 is dominated by the verse quoted in one of these two ways. But that's not the verse.
When it's seen like this it's harder to forget that the phrase the joy of the Lord is your strength has a context to it. It's not a stand alone mantra after all. It's easy to get caught up in some idea that joy is our strength to such an extent that when we feel weak and overwhelmed we also feel justified in trying to manufacture joy. We try to force joy, to create joy out of a hope for joy. We fake it til we make it and pretend to be happy. Choose joy we tell ourselves and others so often that trying to walk in joy begins to feel hypocritical because it's a mask we wear rather than a true state of being. No one is really that happy we tell ourselves because we're not happy under the surface. Our joy is either fleeting or a farce.
One thing to keep in mind is the context of the verse. Nehemiah declared the joy of the Lord is the strength of whom? Was he saying this to good people under good circumstances? No. These were basically refugees. They had returned to Israel from exile as slaves and prisoners of a conquering nation. They returned to destruction and devastation that had been a direct result of sin and failure to walk with God. They were surrounded by the wreckage of the past. As they tried to rebuild they found opposition rather than help and encouragement. In fact their enemies wanted to keep them from rebuilding so badly that the men had to work with a tool in one hand and a sword in the other. Finally the walls of the city were completed and they had time to reflect and read the scriptures. Nehemiah read them the law of the Lord, and upon hearing it and understand the standard their lives were to be measured by and the great extent of their failure and short comings they were mightily grieved. They were devastated. The standard is holiness. Their lives were a mess, filled with sin. In that moment of revelation and despair Nehemiah told them to eat, drink, share with others, worship God and stop grieving. It is His joy that would be their strength to go on from that point. The word translated strength is actually stronghold, a place of refuge and safety from the enemies and the elements. It's a place to hide.
When everything is messed up, when we've messed up, when life, our circumstances, our enemies and our past all say there is no hope and no point, there is a safe place where we can flee and be protected from all of that. That place of safety is the joy of the Lord. But that place is not joy. If we forget that joy is not the answer or the hiding place then we begin to search for joy as though it were the holy grail. Joy is the answer, look for joy. The enemy doesn't mind this at all, because it's looking for the wrong thing. In fact, he'll be all too happy to give suggestions of things and people that could provide joy and escape. In the end they only bring disappointment and bondage. No, joy is not the answer.
And it;s not joy in the Lord. Mentally or in practice making that little prepositional change makes a huge difference. While there is a call to delight ourselves, or take joy in, who the Lord is and in His love for us, even that is not our strength, our power to keep going in times of failure and hardship, in times of destruction and desolation. Our joy in Him and in our relationship with Him will fall short, because it is our joy. There is nothing of us or in us that is strong enough or consistent enough to rely on.
Nehemiah's call was not to remember or meditate on joy and find strength. His call was to first worship God. The refuge is a result. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. - Galatians 5:22-23. We don't run on our own anything. To do so is to walk in the flesh or to be carnally minded. We run on, are fueled by and are guided by the power of the Spirit. It is literally the Lord's joy that is our stronghold, our strength, not ours. His joy is what we can rely on, just as it is His peace that passes understanding and is there for us in the midst of storms and His love that changes how we treat others and ourselves.
Don't search for joy. Don't try to create it or maintain it. Search for the One who came at Christmas and rose on Easter. Come and worship Him. In closeness to Him we find the things we can count on. They are not ours, but His. The Lord's joy is our strength.
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December 17, 2015.
The joy of the Lord is your strength.
- Nehemiah 8:10
I have heard this verse so many times quoted just as it is above. This happens so much that I bet many believe that the above is Nehemiah 8:10. Occasionally you se the phrase Do not grieve, for added before it. A google search of images of Nehemiah 8:10 is dominated by the verse quoted in one of these two ways. But that's not the verse.
Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
- Nehemiah 8:10 in it's entirety.
When it's seen like this it's harder to forget that the phrase the joy of the Lord is your strength has a context to it. It's not a stand alone mantra after all. It's easy to get caught up in some idea that joy is our strength to such an extent that when we feel weak and overwhelmed we also feel justified in trying to manufacture joy. We try to force joy, to create joy out of a hope for joy. We fake it til we make it and pretend to be happy. Choose joy we tell ourselves and others so often that trying to walk in joy begins to feel hypocritical because it's a mask we wear rather than a true state of being. No one is really that happy we tell ourselves because we're not happy under the surface. Our joy is either fleeting or a farce.
One thing to keep in mind is the context of the verse. Nehemiah declared the joy of the Lord is the strength of whom? Was he saying this to good people under good circumstances? No. These were basically refugees. They had returned to Israel from exile as slaves and prisoners of a conquering nation. They returned to destruction and devastation that had been a direct result of sin and failure to walk with God. They were surrounded by the wreckage of the past. As they tried to rebuild they found opposition rather than help and encouragement. In fact their enemies wanted to keep them from rebuilding so badly that the men had to work with a tool in one hand and a sword in the other. Finally the walls of the city were completed and they had time to reflect and read the scriptures. Nehemiah read them the law of the Lord, and upon hearing it and understand the standard their lives were to be measured by and the great extent of their failure and short comings they were mightily grieved. They were devastated. The standard is holiness. Their lives were a mess, filled with sin. In that moment of revelation and despair Nehemiah told them to eat, drink, share with others, worship God and stop grieving. It is His joy that would be their strength to go on from that point. The word translated strength is actually stronghold, a place of refuge and safety from the enemies and the elements. It's a place to hide.
When everything is messed up, when we've messed up, when life, our circumstances, our enemies and our past all say there is no hope and no point, there is a safe place where we can flee and be protected from all of that. That place of safety is the joy of the Lord. But that place is not joy. If we forget that joy is not the answer or the hiding place then we begin to search for joy as though it were the holy grail. Joy is the answer, look for joy. The enemy doesn't mind this at all, because it's looking for the wrong thing. In fact, he'll be all too happy to give suggestions of things and people that could provide joy and escape. In the end they only bring disappointment and bondage. No, joy is not the answer.
And it;s not joy in the Lord. Mentally or in practice making that little prepositional change makes a huge difference. While there is a call to delight ourselves, or take joy in, who the Lord is and in His love for us, even that is not our strength, our power to keep going in times of failure and hardship, in times of destruction and desolation. Our joy in Him and in our relationship with Him will fall short, because it is our joy. There is nothing of us or in us that is strong enough or consistent enough to rely on.
Nehemiah's call was not to remember or meditate on joy and find strength. His call was to first worship God. The refuge is a result. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. - Galatians 5:22-23. We don't run on our own anything. To do so is to walk in the flesh or to be carnally minded. We run on, are fueled by and are guided by the power of the Spirit. It is literally the Lord's joy that is our stronghold, our strength, not ours. His joy is what we can rely on, just as it is His peace that passes understanding and is there for us in the midst of storms and His love that changes how we treat others and ourselves.
Don't search for joy. Don't try to create it or maintain it. Search for the One who came at Christmas and rose on Easter. Come and worship Him. In closeness to Him we find the things we can count on. They are not ours, but His. The Lord's joy is our strength.
This site is free. If this blessed, helped and or informed you, the best thing you can do is pass it on via the social buttons below. And please subscribe or follow Unshackled Life Ministries on Facebook.
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