December 3

Joy preserves spiritual life

“Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation” (Isa. 12:3).
“Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?” (Psa. 85:6).

Rejoicing is the salt of our salvation. It keeps it. Joy is almost the first blessing that comes with the new birth. Relief from anguish may precede it; peace may forerun it, but as soon as the soul can be trusted with it, the gracious joy of God comes streaming into the soul. Joy in the Name of the Lord! It is even more than the birthright of salvation; it is an integral part of it. And so when joy in God wavers or disappears, we must look to our soul’s safety.
Whatever His love may take from us, He must always leave us Himself, and while He is the God of all comfort, of hope, of consolation, of peace, He can always fill us with joy while we believe.
—Elizabeth S. Brengle.


And notice what joy is. It is the cataract in the stream of life. Peace is the gentle even flowing of the river. Joy is where the waters go bubbling, leaping with ecstatic bound, and forever after, as they go on, making the channel deeper for the quiet flow of peace. Paul had put his no-worry rules through the crucible of experience. He follows the Master in that. These three rules really mean living ever in that Master’s presence. When we realize that He is ever alongside, then it will be easier to be:
Anxious for nothing,
Thankful for anything,
Prayerful about everything.
—S. D. Gordon.

The other day a dull, professing Christian met a young man who was shouting, “Hallelujah to the Lamb Who died on Calvary,” and making the hills resound. “Are you drunk this morning,” asked the professor coldly, “that you are making such a noise?” “Ah, you would be drunk too, if you had been where I have been, and had what I have had this morning.” “Where have you been?” “I’ve been to Calvary, and seen Jesus bearing all my sins away; and if you had been there, you would have been as intoxicated with joy as I am.”

Now I would face the world with my new life,
With my new crown.
How soon a smile of God can change the world.
How we are made for happiness—how work
Grows play, adversity a winning fight!
—R. Browning.

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