RESTORATION OF JOY (I)

RESTORE to me the JOY of Your salvation; and uphold me with Your generous Spirit – Psalm 51:12

Our God is the Restorer of Joy. When you encounter Jesus Christ, the lost Joy in your life can be wholly recovered. Pause to gauge the status of your Joy. Are you flowing in the fullness of joy? Or, do you find it hard to recall when last you relished in the Joy of Salvation? Does your laughter burst forth from a heart overflowing with joy? Or, is your smile plastic and merely pasted on the lips? Is your laughter hollow and void of excitement? When last did you erupt with a healthy, hearty laugh? As you choose to repent and return, the Joy of Salvation will be perfectly restored in you.

In the account of Luke 7:11-15, following the heart-rending loss of her husband and then her only son, the widow of Nain must have regressed into extreme depression, sadness, and sorrow. Praise God, her encounter with Jesus Christ the Restorer of Joy turned the tide of tragedy. The Celebration of Life swallowed the procession of death at the gate of Nain! Jesus totally wiped her tears. He terminated the thread and trend of tragedy in that family. The dead son was raised up. Hope was revived. A future was re-born. A destiny was recovered. Joy was restored.

You may be feeling like having lost your joy. God will restore it to you in overflowing measure: “And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (v.10). You may be saying: “But I have so little to show for my efforts." I exhort you to stand on God’s promise: “The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; it shall blossom abundantly…” (vv. 1-2).

Gladness eliminates sadness. Celebrating and singing replace sighing and sorrow. Pain is no longer permitted to be your companion. Whatever is not allowing you to laugh will be terminated today. Your Journey of Joy will never be truncated. Where you have sown in tears, you will reap in Joy (Psa.126:5). Every story of sadness and sorrow will give way to songs of gladness and melodies of rejoicing in your life. The Lord restores your stolen joy, causing you to blossom and flourish. Rejoice; your God is a God of restoration; your best days are just ahead of you!