Who is God? – Day 10

Joy is that profound emotion that rises up in a person and is experienced as a result of extreme happiness and jubilation when something wonderful happens in life. It is so profound an emotion that a person may even be moved to tears when it is something very significant to him, like perhaps, the wedding of his child, or news that he has been cured of cancer, or that after waiting many years he finally has a house.

In Nehemiah 8:10, Nehemiah tells the exiled Israelites not to grieve because “the joy of the LORD is your strength”, which shows that God’s joy can even sustain you through tough times.

Great joy elicits vibrant praise for God from Hannah as we see in her prayer in 1 Samuel 2:1-2. Her joy is triumphant because God has heard her cries to Him to take away her barrenness and He has provided her with a son; but this is not her prayer when she first hears that she is pregnant, when we would expect her to be elated. Her prayer is prayed when she has presented her young son, Samuel, back to God in fulfilment of her vow through Eli the priest.

Her exultation comes because God has seen her in her desperation, heard her prayer and blessed her, and she is now overjoyed to be in the proud position of fulfilling her promise to Him. Her rival, Peninnah, can no longer mock her barrenness, but it is her delight in the LORD that spills out of her again and again and she praises Him with her whole heart.

When you realise that there is Someone who is powerful and able to do anything, even the most seemingly impossible in your circumstances, and that He cares about you enough to provide for you through your prayers, is that not going to make your heart overflow with joyful praise?