Week 4:

Joy

Giving birth to the promises of God is just like giving birth to the Son of God.

Friends, we are on the edge of the precipice.  In the season of Advent, we are moving from anticipation to arrival.   From darkness to light.  Very soon, everything changes.

But today, we find ourselves in the gap.  The space between how we want life to look, and what we see when we open our eyes.  It’s hard enough to hold onto hope in these moments—how are we supposed to find joy in the darkness before the dawn, the time when the cold takes our breath away?

David knew a thing or two about the expectation gap.  He was anointed to be king of Israel as a forgotten youth, a boy considered unworthy to leave the sheep to see Samuel (see 1 Samuel 16).  You would think an event like that would change everything, favored son status and getting ready.  But instead, he went back to watching the sheep, left behind as his brothers went off to war.

He becomes an errand boy for his father, a BC version of DoorDash, delivering food to the real men on the front lines.  Except, when he gets there, he finds them cowering in fear.  He offers to fight Goliath because he learned how to fight from his time protecting his sheep.  He simply does in public what he’s had to do while forgotten.

Now he’s walking around with Goliath’s head (super gross, read 1 Samuel 17), a sign of his victory.  Surely his promotions are right around the corner.  And while he finds success on the battlefield, it turns into a problem since Saul, the current king, is paranoid and jealous.  David goes on the run, hiding once again, this time wanting to be invisible to avoid the king’s wrath (1 Samuel 18).  It is many years between the time God tells David he would be king, and the day when David accepts the crown.

But a king isn’t a king if he’s living in a tent.  David has more battles to fight, more enemies to vanquish, and other tribes to bring into alignment to create a unified Israel.  Finally, David builds his palace, a symbol of stability and power, a statement that he is the king.  And as part of the dedication, he writes Psalm 30.

“Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes in the morning.”

– Psalm 30:5

We do everything we can to avoid the weeping stage, the painful trauma of the past.  We want to pivot straight to joy, laughter, and rejoicing.  But when we numb the dark, we numb the light.  If we minimize the pain, we reduce the laughter.  We can’t have one without the other.

The same principle applies in physics, called potential.  Consider a boy with a sling shot.  When he pulls the rubber bands back, he is loading potential into the device.  The farther he pulls, the farther the rock will fly.  If we try to limit the stretching, we limit how far we can go. 

Jesus knew this paradox.  “You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy.”  He is talking about a woman in the anguish of childbirth, which seems an appropriate picture as we approach Christmas morning.

A woman in birth finds purpose and joy in her pain through the hope of what will come.  “When the baby has come, she forgets the past anguish for the overwhelming joy that a human being has been brought into the world. (John 16:21, my paraphrase)”

Joseph and Mary are on the brink of the biggest moment in the history of the world.  Maybe when Jesus spoke the words of John 16, he was remembering his mother recalling the story of his birth.  The impossibility of the promises.  The effort and fear.  The doubt.  And the unending faith in God.

She knew that giving birth to the Son of God, just like giving birth to every promise God has made, is a lot like, well, giving birth.

It takes time.

It takes pushing.

It takes pain.

But it ends in joy.

David, Mary, and Joseph had to find joy in the gap between what was promised and what they had. They had days where wondered if what God said was true. Sleepless nights, replaying the incredulous looks from others as they followed the path before them. Toward the end, tired of pushing, wondering if they could make it. Wondering if God’s promises would come to pass.

How can you find joy in the gap?  How did Jesus?

“We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.  Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross.” – Hebrews 12:2 (NLT)

What joy awaited Jesus?  What made him endure the cross?  Why did he come as a man in the first place? 

You.

You are the joy.

Jesus came because relationship with God is not possible otherwise.  And that relationship was worth humbling himself, worth all the pain and suffering of the cross, experiencing God’s wrath and judgement, even knowing God’s absence.

Jesus went through it all so that you can know him. 

Paul wrote in both Romans and 2 Corinthians about the scale between pain and joy. 

“For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long.  Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them all and will last forever.”

-2 Corinthians 4:17 (NLT)

“Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later”

–Romans 8:18 (NLT)

Many times we think that this glory is waiting for us in heaven.  We just have to hold on with gritted teeth until we get there. 

But what if it’s available now?  What if joy is available here, and not in the sweet by and by?  What if the reason we suffer in the gap is to draw us closer to God, to know him more intimately and sweetly, and discover that, in running to God’s embrace in our pain, we find the joy we so desperately seek?

In whatever area you are experiencing the pains of labor, persevere. Place your hope on the promises of God. Joy is coming.  It’s right around the corner.  Keep pushing.

Prayer

Jesus, Father, Holy Spirit, I thank you for pursuing me. For rescuing me from darkness and bringing me home into your family. Jesus, your birth brings the good news of the gospel. You bring favor, gladness, light, and joy. You repair what was broken, you restore all that is lost. Take me into my broken places and bring your healing so that I might know your joy even in the gap, loss, and disappointment. Let me become childlike and restore wonder to my soul. Remove the chains of cynicism and doubt, and free to awe and surprise. Renew my devastated areas, remove my shame and disgrace, and replace it with joy. Remove my clothes of misery, dress me in your robes of righteousness. Thank you for coming to redeem and restore my heart. Come quickly to heal the world. Amen.”

Daily Reading

Sunday (12/19) – Psalm 30:1-12

Monday (12/20) – Proverbs 13:12

Tuesday (12/21) – Hebrews 12:1-12

Wednesday (12/22) – 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Thursday (12/23) - Isaiah 61:1-11

Songs for the Week

Pick a song to listen to each day to draw close to God

Love Came Down

King of Heaven

O Come All Ye Faithful

Movie to Watch

Few movies exhibit joy more than Elf. In spite of difficult circumstances, watch how Buddy holds on to joy by knowing and holding onto the truth. How can you experience wonder during Christmas week? Allow yourself to be childlike in your anticipation of Christmas morning.