Joy!

It was Tuesday May 3rd and we had to take my dad to the hospital by ambulance because he was having some problems just getting up from his chair and his oxygen level had dropped below 80. Dad was dealing with Alzheimer’s as well as COPD and cancer in his right lung. This was his second bout with cancer. He had been in immunotherapy treatments for about three months dealing with the cancer in his lung. He developed pneumonia in his right lung and that started affecting the rest of his body, even his ability to get up and do anything. Though we had seen a steady decline in his health over a 2-month period, this new change occurred very, very quickly, within 24 hours.

At the ER, he became delirious, and we had decisions to make. I had a conversation with my mom, and I told her, “If dad were able to communicate right this minute with me, I know this is what he would say. He would say ‘Mark, take care of your mom and let me go.’” She agreed.

Being followers and lovers of Jesus, we aren’t exempt from the death process, but we know our ultimate destination. I know where my dad is going and that one day we will be reunited. I don’t know what that’s going to look like, but I know it’s going to be great.

We also know that this isn’t necessarily a happy time for anybody left on earth that has to miss a loved one.  And going through something like this doesn’t put a smile on my face.

Yet…we experienced the Joy of the Lord in the midst of this particular fire. Joy is like a fragrance when the Lord shows up. There’s a knowing of truth on a different level in His presence—a knowing in our spirit, not just our heads.  Along with joy comes the unexplainable overwhelming peace of God at times like this for those who love Him! The presence and the peace of the Lord!

Joy is different than happiness. Happiness comes from happenings. For example, I experienced some great happiness this year when the Georgia Bulldogs beat Alabama for the national championship. Just beating Alabama would’ve brought me a lot of happiness J; but to beat them and win the national championship gave me a lot of extra happiness. And if the Bulldogs lost, I wouldn’t necessarily have been as happy.

I think most times in life people, including myself, chase happiness and feel like that’s ultimately what we are looking for. Happiness is short-lived until the very next sad thing comes along. But the Joy of the Lord is steady. It’s ultimately what matters. Being happy is a result of our surroundings and being joyful is ultimately about our relationship with our Maker, our Heavenly Father!  Being connected to Jesus, spending time with Him on a regular basis, keeps things in perspective. To imagine how much He loves us, even dying for us as a human being, knowing at any moment, He could have called a legion of angels to come to His aide. But He continued the agonizing death and humiliation, for me!! For you! I’m sure He was not “happy” about all this.

Hebrews 12:2 says, “Jesus…who for the JOY set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

James 1:2-3 “Count it all JOY when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing”

Galatians 5:2-23 says, “…the fruit of the Spirit is love, JOY, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

Author Sam Storms says, “Joy is not necessarily the absence of suffering, it is the presence of God.” I believe this to be true.

Nehemiah 8:10 says “Do not be grieved, for the JOY of the Lord is your strength.” I experienced just that!

Ps 16:11 “In Your presence is fullness of JOY!” Your Presence! Wow!

In Daniel 3, when Nebuchadnezzar commanded Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to worship the image that he had made, they said “No”; even knowing the consequence was to be cast into a fiery furnace. Can you imagine? And they said, “If this be so, our God whom we serve (I love the word serve) will deliver us out of your hand”. I wonder if they even knew what that would look like. How would they be delivered?  Regardless, I’m sure they were not “happy” about this particular situation. But I believe the presence of the Lord, the Joy of the Lord sustained them as they were tied up. The furnace was heated up seven times its normal heat because the king was so enraged with these three God serving men (there’s that word again, serving). They were tossed into the fire–not a happy place for sure! But the Joy of the Lord sustained them, and the presence of God was there in a form that all could see as a fourth person. AMAZING!

As I was next to my dad in the hospital on his death bed, the Joy of the Lord was very overwhelming. Was I sad? Of course. But I knew where my Pop was going! Even as I was next to my mom as she slept in a chair beside my dad, the Joy of the Lord was intense and satisfying. It was sustaining me. The Joy of the Lord allowed me to pray and sing over my dad as he passed to his heavenly home! What an honor!  Just me and my dad and the Joy of the Lord!

The Joy of the Lord is rich and deep. I’ve never experienced it like this before, but now I know what it’s like and I want more! Have you ever experienced the Joy of the Lord? It is available to all of us who call ourselves Followers of Christ, God-serving people. You and I just need to recognize it, to taste it, to smell it. It will be familiar to you from that point on. And we help each other see and experience the Joy of the Lord as we “serve” each other. The Friendship Church family has served so well over the many years I have known you all. And even as we experienced the death of my dad, Bob Alewine, you served me and my family, loved on us and helped us experience the Joy of the Lord. Thank you for serving so well.