THE JOY OF SALVATION

“Restore to me the JOY of Your SALVATION, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit” – Psalm 51:12

The JOY of SALVATION is the privilege of everyone who repents, believes, and accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour: “Restore to me the Joy of Your Salvation; and uphold me by Your generous Spirit” (Psa.51:12). Joy comes from knowing that your sins are forgiven because the Saviour has been given. He restores in you the Joy of Redemption! Accepting Christ’s free gift of salvation is your automatic access into His unspeakable Joy; whereas rejecting His offer is tantamount to depriving yourself of one of the most important assets in life – the Joy that only Jesus can give. When you receive Christ into your heart and give Him your life, He’ll fill you with His JOY! The new birth is a brand new beginning which provides access into a never-ending Joy. Redemption is not an invitation to gloom or doom, but a call into the exciting Kingdom-life of righteousness, peace, and Joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom.14:17). The desire of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is for all of God’s children to relish in the Joy of Salvation!

A notable Brahman in Western India embraced the Gospel and was baptized. Based on the strict law of the caste system, his decision cost him all his possessions of houses, fields, wells, as well as his wife and children. When asked how he bore his sorrows, he replied, “Ay, I am often asked that, but I am never asked how I bear my JOYS, for I have joys within that no stranger intermeddles. The Lord Jesus sought me and found me, a poor strayed sheep in the jungles, and He brought me to His fold and He will never leave me.’’ Truly, the Joy of Salvation silences all sounds of sorrow, quietens all threats of terror, casts off all facades of fear; and wipes off all anxieties and worries.

Nothing compares to the joy of salvation. Jesus likens it to a man who found a treasure in a field and FOR JOY he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field (Matthew 13:44). Think through this spiritual logic: Death is undoubtedly the deepest sorrow of humankind, and it is a consequence of man’s sin in the garden. If sin and death brought sorrow and pain, what great a joy should redemption bring? The debt of our sins has been paid in full, and death has lost its sting: “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” (1 Cor.15:55). Jesus has come to give us life and life abundantly (Jh.10:10b). Nothing else calls for greater rejoicing. We can afford to lose everything else, but never the joy of our salvation.

King David, the Psalmist, knew the significance of this joy, and what it meant to lose it. He lost it through sin, and sought it through repentance, exclaiming, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation” (v. 12). Sin robs one of this blessed Joy; it places a wedge between the soul and the Holy Spirit, who is the Fountain of Joy. As we approach the Grace of God therefore, we must eschew sin, and if perhaps we have fallen short of His grace, we can come boldly to the throne of grace, and obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb.4:16).

Salvation brings in its wake the oil of joy in place of mourning. Are you overwhelmed by life’s challenges and see no reason for joy? Do not believe the lie of Satan. Do not fall for the deception of the devil. Christ has redeemed you from the curse of the Law. You are an heir of Salvation; an inheritor of eternal blessings. There is ample reason to rejoice. There is cause for celebration. And don’t ever forget that you need joy to harvest the blessings of salvation: “with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Isa. 12:3). You are the redeemed of the Lord, so rejoice: “And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD; it shall rejoice in His salvation” (Psa.35:9).