Joy means many things in feelings, in people, in perceptions, in character. In people there is joy in my irrevocable identity with God, my children and their families, and our friends. Joy is a part of us. A given name for one of my grandchildren is Joy – a family reminder. There is joy in my feelings that solemnizes me. For current younger generations this joy is supposed to demonstrate itself in clapping, or making loud sounds in voice or instrument, even engaging in strenuous physical activity, sometimes dangerous. Some find their highest joy in sexual experience, or in ingesting food or drink, or investing in property. There is meaningful joy when one has conquered a bad habit, and thereby measures personal improvement in character and health. Perhaps the largest of all, at least for me, is the matter of perception – natural or spiritual. What brings joy to one person may be dullness to another. A lady I counseled admitted that even though the men she generally chose as boyfriends (and had married and divorced two of them) abused her in some ways, they were more fun. The bad would pass, or the person escaped the context when it became intolerable. She believed the good guys were boring. (Counselors commonly encounter the matter.) There were no solutions for her, if her perceptions for personal excitement were to be found in flawed characters. That she was in trouble there was no doubt. She would not have chosen to see me if she were not conflicted. Her problem was not in others, but in herself, her perceptions about how to find the good (elevation) that life can give.
Scripture extensively treats joy as a product of God’s participation in one’s life. It is interesting that the word, as we have it in the concordance, does not show up until the time of Israel’s kings, when King Saul, with instruments playing, felt joy. Scripture follows with repeated references to the noise, the sounds, of joy – both of good and bad indications. Joy is distorted in the feeling of having put persons: in their place. Our joy is related to success in relation to God’s guidance, care, victories, bountifulness, and the like, and seems to have been related to worship, sometimes ecstasy. The sounds and gestures had a source in something elevating. Shouts may rise to music.
Joy belongs to ecstasy. Spiritual joy vaults along over time. When there is this joy, one feels timeless, as though he or she has already entered immortality. Our years try to hang heaviness upon us, so we look for escape. Joy can be misconstrued by mankind, as the lady counselee did in our conversations. James points out how mourning can be turned from heaviness to joy.’(4:9) Responses are sometimes seen in various ways at Christmas, when the joy of Christmas for some is made the worst of days for others. It is a day to be dreaded by those who have no affirmative meaning for the day, no one with whom they may share the joy of perception that a Child is born – who will be the Savior. That joy may be lost, is a topic for another Page, but we must know that spiritual joy is a gift of great price for those who will understand it and find place in their lives for its nourishment and courage for spiritual, even natural, health. Several times in his great discourse, recorded in John 15-17, Jesus focused on joy: that it might remain, be full, exploding out of sorrow, and that it will be permanent – no man takes it from you. Isaiah promised that: Those God has ransomed . . . shall come home . . . escorted by gladness and joy. (Isaiah 35:10) Instructed Christians may gain that joy in perpetuity. Understood, accepted, and nourished, that joy is unending, lasting forevermore. Wise persons buy that meaning for contentment, trial, endurance, humility, love and faith. That becomes attractive in an age of dark skepticism about many things, includung lasting joy. There is more, but I’ve run out of Page space. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020