"But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish ... you have increased its joy. They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest." Isaiah 9:1, 3
This makes me think joy is something You value/desire/like/give. As a Father, you long to see your children rejoicing. Yet life brings anguish and sorrow, and you don't always remove the source of anguish instantly. On this earth we suffer, we struggle, we grieve.
Does anguish always end? "There will be no gloom." In a walk with Jesus --- it's not a walk in continual anguish, is it? Does our feeling of anguish dissipate because the source of anguish is resolved, or is it because we are changed in the midst of suffering?
I think of Betsie and Corrie Ten Boom in the concentration camp. Corrie describes Betsie as walking in joy through anguishing circumstances. For Betsie they did not change; she died in the midst of them. Both women were delivered - one straight to heaven where there is no anguish ever, and one to continue to walk the earth with struggle and joy.
You want to teach us true joy. And it doesn't come from comfort, good times, or temporal pleasure. True joy is deeper. It can be experienced in the good times, but we confuse it with just being happy and enjoying life. Perhaps anguish can purify joy by propelling us into the arms of joy itself. Perhaps joy is not a fleeting emotion but a solid presence.
No comments:
Post a Comment