The Joy Of The LORD

NEHEMIAH 8:1-18

As we begin, I’m going to ask you to do as I am trying to do in this year.  Namely, forget everything you think you know about “joy” and start all over in your understanding.  In so doing, let’s strive to simply allow God to speak to us and reveal His mind to us. Look closely at verse 10, especially our “anchor phrase” for this study, “…the joy of the LORD is your strength“. Is “my” joy under discussion here?  In other words, is the Holy Spirit saying to you that YOUR joy is the source of YOUR strength?  In other words, does the phrase “of the LORD” describe the particular joy intended for us as a source of our strength?  Feel free to pause and meditate on this… OR, are you (and me, obviously) being told that the “LORD’s” joy is the source of YOUR strength?  In other words, is the phrase “of the LORD” a statement of possession or attribution revealing to us that something is giving joy to God?  If this is the case, then we draw strength from living lives that are pleasing to God.

Let’s look at the passage as a whole and see if one of these makes more sense than the other.

The Hebrews had now returned from exile and rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem.  Why the exile?  Simply put, they had not been pleasing to God and given Him joy.  Having been given the land of promise AND the Law of Moses, the people were called upon to be careful to do ALL that was written in the Law and not turn to the right or the left.  The LORD encouraged and fully intended this obedience to be from the heart out of reciprocal love.  The Hebrew people went through cycles of rebellion and repentance and spiraled farther and farther away from the One True and Living God.  When the patience of God was exhausted, He sent them into exile for 70 years.

His chosen people caused Him grief, not joy.

Now they stand while the entire Law is read.  ((Insert favorite “preacher preaches too long” joke here))  The people who “could understand” were “attentive” as Ezra reverently read God’s Word and the Levites “helped them understand” and “gave the sense” of the Law “clearly”.  What was the result?  ALL the people WEPT.  They mourned the clearly understood reality that they were not pleasing to the LORD and He found no joy in them. The question now becomes one of remedy.  Do they return to exile?  Do their neighbors attack and chastise them as in the days of the Judges?  How will they have the strength to overcome their present condition and rise up to be the people that God always desired them to become? Nehemiah gives us the astounding answer …

• This day is holy to the LORD, so do not grieve
• Go live your life
• Go enjoy the blessings God has given you
• Go and give to others

In verse 12 we find something truly amazing and insightful.  The people simply obeyed.  In that simple obedience in faith, however, something “extra” is added.  It says the people went “…to make great rejoicing.”  An obedient faith is pleasing to the LORD and gives Him joy.  The strength to endure and overcome present conditions comes from the LORD’s joy resulting from a life of obedient faith.  Armed with the strength of the LORD’s joy, a life committed to loving obedience to God produces joy in YOU.

Discover … His Joy

Access … His Joy

Share … His Joy