A Unique Joy

A Unique Joy
Copyright 2012 by Shea Oakley
All rights reserved

Some of the truest, most powerful experiences of joy can only be felt as we are enabled by God to transcend difficult circumstances our lives. This is not to say that joy cannot be felt in favorable circumstances like a wedding or the birth of a child, these certainly are occasions when it can be known, but perhaps not in so unique a way as it can in the midst of hard experiences.

Sorrows and misery are a part of every human life. It is a basic truth of our present existence that no one is immune from the effects of the Fall of our race. While some might know pain more often and to a deeper level than others it is always only a matter of time and degree that differentiates one life from another. We all suffer. As Job 5:7 tells us “man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upwards.” The way such trouble comes into our lives is through the negative circumstances that haunt every one of us.

The believer, however, has an option for dealing with adversity which others do not. This option is found in the power of the Holy Spirit that comes from our identification with Christ, and the cross He bore. We can choose to seek this power to enable us to transcend pain even as we are experiencing it. While no one can escape bad circumstances the Christian can know the joy of Christ in the midst of them, and it is a special kind of joy.

I have tasted of it many times along the road of my own faith journey.

There have been moments when I have been able to truly focus on God while enduring some of the worst periods in my life. At such times I have been amazed to find myself suddenly knowing a kind of sublime elation where even a moment before I knew only misery and deep struggle. It is an incredible thing when one’s heart truly finds solace in the reality of the love of God. I am given to the belief that this is perhaps better than any other experience we can know on Earth. At the least it is, for me, an incredibly powerful sort of joy; this moment when the Lord invades my darkness and lightens my spirit in a way that is to some degree indescribable.

It is important to remember that entering into this state is not permanent as long as we continue to sojourn as pilgrims here. Some seasoned Christians seem to experience it far more often than others. I, myself, wish I could know it to the degree that these brothers and sisters do. Perhaps, with enough time and grace I will. I pray that you will too.

The final and eternally enduring triumph over our circumstances must wait, of course, until we enter the gates of Heaven. In the meantime this unique joy of the Lord can be our strength whenever we truly require it to be. All that is necessary is the willingness to seek Him in real time, no matter what may be afflicting our lives, and the faith to trust Him and Him alone for solace when we truly need it most.