Where is joy?

We long to experience the soul-delighting, abundant life that Jesus spoke of in John chapter 10. Many of us catch glimpses of it, but they do not satisfy. Instead they only whet our appetite for more. When joy surprises us, it comes as almost an ache—a sharp realization that there is more to life than we are experiencing, more than we have yet laid hold of.

Richard Foster says that hurry, noise and crowds are the tools of the Enemy, who is out to rob us of joy and destroy our souls. But God stands ever ready to offer us that for which our hearts long. The psalmist wrote that joy is found in God’s presence. Meditation on God and His goodness is our answer to the Enemy’s onslaught. Someone has described meditation as a cup of tea. We are the hot water. God’s word is the tea bag. Hearing the word through a sermon or Bible study lesson is like dipping the tea bag in water. But taking time to read, study and memorize scripture is like immersing the tea bag in water and letting it steep for an extended period of time.

When we consistently combine God’s word with time and a teachable heart, His truth permeates our very lives. Like sponges, our hearts absorb more and more of Him, and we are transformed in the process.