Fullness of Joy
By Sarah Walker
By Sarah Walker
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalm 16:11 (ESV)
At
times, it feels like joy is ever-elusive. Sometimes, it seems if only we could
control the circumstances, joy would stop slipping through our fingers. We can
even put on a happy face and fool others into thinking we are joy-filled, but we
won’t be able to deceive God or ourselves.
Today’s
verse tells us that it is only in God’s presence that we can experience fullness
of joy. In other words, we can’t have true satisfaction or joy apart from God.
The world’s version of success is not the same as what God calls success.
Achieving the greatest accolades from those around us will never truly satisfy
us.
For
me, attempting to attain success looked like achievements and striving for perfection
in academia. And by most objective standards, I was indeed successful in my endeavors.
But I learned that in the world’s version of success, there is never a “good
enough” or a resting place where you have arrived at the top. At each new
vantage point reached, I learned there were always more hills beyond that to
climb and conquer. The burden when we try to be perfect and reach the standards
of the world can be crushing, and none of it leads to true joy.
Mercifully,
striving for perfection and earning our way into God’s favor is not how God
works. He doesn’t ask us to make ourselves better to be worthy of Him and then,
therefore, experience His pleasures. We aren’t capable of that. He doesn’t ask
us to fix every broken place or situation before we are allowed to enter His
presence and attain joy. That task is too much for any person to bear.
But
we are asked to give Him everything in us: every
striving, every success and every broken place…He wants us to enter His
presence even then. In that place, He will clothe us in the righteousness of
Jesus Christ and in His joy. When we truly understand how God loves us, despite
our imperfections and His absolute perfection, we will experience life,
fullness of joy, and pleasures forevermore.
GOING
DEEPER:
1.
What kind of joy
are you chasing: the joy that is found in earthly success and pleasing others,
or the joy that is found in Jesus?
2.
Spend some time
in the presence of God today, seeking Him and His true joy.
Sarah is
married to Scott and is a full-time mom to their two young sons. She and Scott
are involved in a small group focused on prayer and are expecting to welcome
their third son in January.
