Joy Rising-October 28, 2012 (Psalm 4:7)

Author: Andrew Comiskey
October 28, 2012
‘You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound.’ (PS 4:7)

With all due respect to our great nation, I am not sold on the concept of ‘pursuit of happiness.’ That connotes a restless quest for well-being based on externals: the gladness of abundance (‘grain and new wine’), glumness in a lean season.

Give me joy any day, the kind based on knowing God is at work deep within us to will and to do what HE wills. Some earmarks of joy to me:
How Jesus transformed my homosexual lust into same-gender friendships that are all the more powerful because of their purity. In such bonds I rejoice. Through these men, I have discovered a sustained care not subject to the fickleness of ‘eros’. A wise man said: Sex seals the bond between husband and wife; it perverts friendship between comrades. ’ Jesus alone transforms lust into enduring love.

How Jesus transformed Annette and I into really good gifts for each other. We both entered into romantic love with a low view of our capacity to love. We now rejoice in the expansive presence of Jesus in our love, summoning us to give beyond our limited self-perceptions. Besides the Mercy of God, my joy today is simply Annette. I marvel at the quality of love we share. My cup runs over.

How Jesus transformed fear concerning our kids into faith. How do you not fret over the fate of children who must grow beyond ‘thy parents will be done’? Annette and I pray together for our kids daily. What else can we do? In spite of wrecked cars and court sentences and bailouts, guess what? One Greater upholds them and uses all things to draw each child to Himself in just the way (s)he needs. When we see evidence of this, and we do, we rejoice.

Joy cannot be taken from us. Its Source is steadfast, the anchor of our soul. (Heb. 6:19)
BACK