Week 3- Day 2JOY

Isn’t life so much better when you have something to look forward to? I tend to PACK my weekends (without meaning to), so I have things to look forward to. I love my job, but the days move faster, the winter months especially, when I have something to look forward to. 

In the book of Isaiah, God tells Isaiah that gladness and joy will overtake those who He saves. Then, hundreds of years later, shepherds watching in the fields heard a host of angels say “I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.” The shepherds would have known this reference from the Old Testament. The shepherds were full of joy because, after 400 years of silence, whispers of hope in the form of a newborn baby were being revealed.

According to the Bible project, “joy is an attitude God’s people adopt, not because of happy circumstances, but because of their HOPE in God’s love and promise.” (emphasis added). Life is not easy. Our minds are often consumed with worry and doubt about our jobs, our finances, our family members, even the state of our own souls. And while we live in a world corrupted by sin, these problems are inevitable. But we have joy because of our hope. “We have this hope as  an anchor for our souls.” Joy is not ignoring our present circumstances, but choosing to cling to hope despite our current circumstances. 

May our joy be rooted in the hope we have of the King who came and who is coming again to make all things right once again.