We used to have a grey and white housecat that our girls named “Joy”. She wasn’t the most sociable of cats, and to the girl’s chagrin she picked our son as her favorite person. This worked well for the most part, except in the case of our youngest daughter. Being three years old, she was enamored with the kitty. She would search the house for her, and the cat grudgingly allowed her to stroke her fur as our little girl would squeal with glee.
The cat’s patience with Anna soon began to wane, as the soft petting changed to Anna scooping the cat up to carry her around the house. The problem with this was that the cat was larger than Anna could handle. The poor cat would be sleeping soundly on a chair when our curly-haired girl would come around the corner and take “Joy” in her arms, whisking her away to her room. The cat’s size caused it to slide between Anna’s arms, and soon all we could see was the cat’s head and front legs above Anna’s arms – and the rest of the cat dangling near to but not touching the floor. It was quite a scene, Anna beaming and telling us that she had the kitty, and the cat hanging there wide-eyed with its ears crossed. One of us would come and rescue the cat, who would quickly bolt for the nearest place to hide.
One afternoon Anna got up from her nap and set out to find the kitty. She looked all through the house, checking each of the places she normally found her. Her little voice calling for “Joy” rang through the hallways. It started out as a calm query, but soon it had a concerned note that escalated to being frantic. Finally she came back into the living room with tears in her eyes and through her sobs we heard her saying, “I lost my Joy, I lost my Joy!” Somewhere hidden in the house her “Joy” was resting, but to Anna she was lost.
While it was a traumatic time for our three year old, that afternoon has been one to bring a chuckle to us from time to time. It’s also served as an object lesson. That little distraught face sobbing about losing her Joy has been a good reminder of where we can sometimes find ourselves in life. We’ve experienced joy in life and the contentment it brings, but then a time comes and it seems to be gone – nowhere to be found.
The Difference Between Happiness and Joy
It’s important to point out that happiness and joy are not the same thing. Happiness comes and goes due to circumstance, feelings or even hormonal balances, and is often defined as feeling pleasure or enjoyment about your life, situation, etc. Unlike happiness, godly joy is more than a feeling of enjoyment because everything is going your way. While happiness can be fleeting in hard times, joy can be present in the midst of adversity. Where there is joy there is fulfillment.
Happiness is a reaction to the situation at hand. It looks at things and says, “I feel great about how things are going. I’m sure hope they stay as good as they are.” It is tied to the situation being favorable. If things take a turn for the worse, happiness dissipates.
Joy can look at a situation that is not going well and say, “Things don’t look good right now, but I’m upbeat and positive that they can turn around for my good.” This joy is a state of being that you are able to function in due to it being based in God’s love and care for you. It is a buoy of the spirit and soul while you wait expectantly for the answer you are trusting God for. You could look at it as happiness being tied to circumstance, while joy is tied to relationship.
When Joy Can’t Seem To Be Found
Our joy doesn’t hide from us as the cat did, but it can seem elusive. When we can’t find it we often do just as Anna did, asking a question of where that joyful, settled feeling went. If we can’t readily locate it, we then move to concern as to why we can’t find that joy we desire. When it has been absent from our lives long enough, we become frantic as we try to find something that may bring that joy back.
Our key is to remember where that true joy can be found. It is found in a person, not a location. Paul wrote of this in Romans 15:13 –
13 I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
God, the source of hope. It is He who is able to fill you completely with joy and peace. He is able to do so because you trust in Him. The joy you seek isn’t in the cabinet or under the couch. It is found in Him.
Peter wrote of this as well in 1 Peter 1:8 –
8 You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.
Encouraging Yourself In The Lord
In 1 Samuel chapter 30 we read where David and his forces come to their home only to find it had been raided and everything including their families had been taken away. As they found this horrible turn of events, there was no happiness to be found. There was no joy. The situation became even worse for David, as his men began contemplating killing him for the disaster:
1 Samuel 30:1-2, 6 –
1 Now it happened, when David and his men came to Ziklag, on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag, attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire, 2 and had taken captive the women and those who were there, from small to great; they did not kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way.
6 Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.
Here is David, his family taken captive and his men ready to stone him to death. Joy wasn’t’ to be found in the circumstances. David knew he wouldn’t find it in the men who were with him. He went to the place He knew he could find joy and strength. He went to the Lord his God. As I thought of this it brought Psalm 138 to mind. In the midst of a mess, David would have went to the Lord his God with a heart and attitude much like in that Psalm. Reminding himself of who God is, who He is to him, and voicing his trust in Him:
I will praise You with my whole heart;
Before the gods I will sing praises to You.
2 I will worship toward Your holy temple,
And praise Your name
For Your lovingkindness and Your truth;
For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.
3 In the day when I cried out, You answered me,
And made me bold with strength in my soul.
4 All the kings of the earth shall praise You, O Lord,
When they hear the words of Your mouth.
5 Yes, they shall sing of the ways of the Lord,
For great is the glory of the Lord.
6 Though the Lord is on high,
Yet He regards the lowly;
But the proud He knows from afar.
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me;
You will stretch out Your hand
Against the wrath of my enemies,
And Your right hand will save me.
8 The Lord will perfect that which concerns me;
Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever;
Do not forsake the works of Your hands.
If you’re in search of your joy today, go to the one who you can place your trust in. Remind yourself of who He is, who He is to you, and voice your trust in Him. Remind yourself of all the times He has been there for you, brought you through things, dried your tears, etc. Strengthen and encourage yourself in the Lord. Though you walk in the midst of trouble, He will revive you – and restore your joy.
